Financially Fab Enjoying Life And Working Your Money

Top 5 Financially Fab Essentials

1. Know your credit score—the bank does, you should too!
2. Track down your cash
3. Knock Out Fees, Kapow!
   
4. Save!
5. KISS – Keep It Simple, Stupid

This is the 3^rd in a 5-post series on the Top 5 Financially Fab Essentials, a foundation for being financially savvy. In the last post, I wrote about tracking down your cash (aka knowing your net worth) and figuring out your account fees.  This week’s topic is how to Knock Out Fees and stop throwing cash at banks and credit card companies.

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Do you like throwing cash down the gutter?

• That’s the same thing as paying fees for a checking or savings account. A $15 account fee equals giving the bank $180 of your cold hard cash each year. Banks already take the money in your accounts, loan it to people, and profit from the loan interest.  They don’t need a handout from you!
  
• Miss your minimum payment by just one day, and your credit card interest rate can be raised sky-high or your credit limit slashed. This has always been possible, and now it’s worse.  Since the CARD Act of 2009 helped consumers by limiting the unscrupulous (aka sketchy) ways that credit card companies can exploit you, they’re raising fees and interest rates to maintain profits. Don’t make it easy for them to gouge you.  Always pay ON TIME.
  

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Avoid Fees While You Sleep

• Here’s an easy trick to avoid late payments. Set up automatic bill pay for the minimum payments on credit cards, loans, etc. You’ll never miss a payment again, and you don’t even have to think about. Be savvy. Make your financial life simple. I set bill pays to start the day after my salary hits in my checking account, ensuring that I have enough to cover the payments.
• Set it and forget it: A new bill pay takes 3 minutes to set up (I timed my last one).  After double checking the payments for the first 2 months (5 minutes per bill pay) to make sure they’re alright, there’s no more worrying about missing a payment—even if you’re on vacation.
  

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Get Your Bank Account for $Free.99

• $Free.99 (pronounced, free-ninety-nine) is my favorite price.
• Most major banks offer free bill pay if you have direct deposit on your checking account. My Bank of America and HSBC checking accounts have bill pay for $Free.99. To find out your options, you can call customer service and ask for an account with online bill pay and no fees. If your bank doesn’t offer it, then kick the bank to the curb.

Time to go knock out your fees, kapow! And keep your money in your pocket. Let me know how it goes by adding comments or questions.