A little trim saves a lot of money (photo: flickr.com)

Today, many families are struggling with tight budgets. Even in better economic times, it can be difficult to find ways to save money when there’s little or none left at the end of the month. But when you take a really close look at your spending habits, there’s almost always one more way to save a little money. Small, incremental savings really do add up.  Here are a few ideas to help you trim your budget and free up some extra cash:

Food and grocery expenses

Take a look at where your food dollars really go. Make a list of how frequently you eat in a restaurant or visit the coffee shop on the way to work. Perhaps there are extra impulsive buys at the grocery store that aren’t necessary. If you are purchasing brand name items, there are usually generic brands available that can offer you the same (or nearly the same) quality.  Eating at home more often and buying generic products can save you money every week.

Gauge your utility usage carefully

Utility bills are major expenses in most household budgets. Electricity and water are necessities; however, can you usually find ways to use them more efficiently. Are you switching off the computer when you’re not using it? Are you turning off the water at appropriate times? Are you turning down the heat when you’re not home?  These and other simple things can make a big difference in the bottom line.

Check your bank statement for ATM fees

When you look closely at your bank statement, you may find fees you’ve never noticed before. If you use the ATM frequently, you may be paying several dollars for each transaction. You can avoid this unnecessary expense, by use your debit card for a purchase and asking for cash back.  It doesn’t cost anything extra to get cash back from a purchase at major grocery, drug, and hardware stores.

Cut down on bank account fees

Another thing to look for on your bank statement is fees for services you don’t use.  Some bank accounts have monthly fees for multiple transactions, and others charge you for each one that you make. Count the number of transactions that you make, and find which route is cheaper for you.  It’s easy to find banks who offer accounts with free services.  Change banks if doing so will save you money.  At some banks, you can also save a few dollars by opting for online statements rather than paper statements

Stop using credit cards

If you owe a balance on your credit card, cut the card up and throw it away. If you have any extra cash that you would normally deposit into your bank account, use it to pay down your card instead. You may be paying hundreds of dollars in interest on this debt.  Make every effort to pay it down quickly.  Once you start to make a dent in the principal balance, you’ll notice the difference in your available cash each month.

Pay your bills on time

Paying your bills when they are due will save significant amounts each month.  When money is tight, late fees and other penalties make your struggles so much worse.  Cut back on other expenditures in whatever way you can and pay your monthly bills on time.  If you’ve incurring late fees, you can save hundreds of dollars each month – literally – by make timely payments your first priority.

Add up your extra cash!

When you get serious about cutting your expenditures, you’ll notice the savings right away.  It’s surprising how quickly these little changes can make such a big difference.

If you need Extra Cash, Apply Now

Payday loans have come under a lot of scrutiny from anti industry opponents. These opponents have deceptively convinced consumers that the payday loans Industry is predatory in nature. Many of these opponents are the banks themselves who want to monopolize the loan business to their own advantage.

Ironically, some of the latest fallout from the downward spiraling of the economy is forcing the banks to increase the rates and fees they impose on consumers. Due to the severe losses the banks have incurred, they are now trying to offset the losses over the past year and a half from default mortgage loans, by imposing stricter and higher fees on their customers.

Some of the fee increases are related to the following:

Overdraft Fees

Fees, Fees, And More Fees!

Overdraft fees are probably the most famous of bank fees as their deployment on consumers has caused more than a few uproars.

These fees, which are charged when a customer overdrafts their account or exceeds their account balance, can range from a set fee per overdraft to an escalating scale of charges for each subsequent overdraft. A typical overdraft charge can be anywhere from $25 to $60, which are higher than the fees for most payday loans.

Cash Advance Fees

Cash Advance Fees are charged based upon a set percentage of the amount withdrawn from an available credit line.

Minimum Balance Fees

Minimum balance fees are charged when a customer fails to maintain a set minimum balance predetermined by the bank. These fees are in place most likely to help secure a percentage of the bank’s assets.

ATM Fees

ATM Fees are typically charged when a consumer withdraws funds from an ATM machine that doesn’t belong to their own personal bank. These fees can cost upwards of $4 per transaction depending on the bank.

Consumers Should Beware

For consumers with bank issued credit cards, it is highly advised that attention is paid to these rising fees. These banking institutions have the right under law to change their rates but are also required by the law to notify their customer base of any and all changes they make to the terms and conditions of the customers’ account.

Unfortunately however, most consumers fail to get these updates which are usually included with a mailed notice such as a newsletter or bank statement. Failure to get these mailed notices may result in fees which offset a customers’ perceived balance and eventually incur the more costlier overdraft charges.

JPMorgan Chase Raises Fees

JP Morgan Chase has publicly announced that it will be raising rates on overdraft protection, cash advances, as well as its default rate. The default rate is usually the imposed Annual Percentage Rate that is applied to accounts when a customer surpasses their credit limit or is late on their payments. Also if a larger balance has been carried for longer than two years, expect a new $10 monthly service fee to start showing up on your banking statement. Your minimum payment each month will also be rising from 2% of the total balance owed to 5%. This is obviously the bank’s attempt to motivate consumers to pay back what is owed, thus Increasing the percentage of liquid assets available to the bank.

Expect to see your minimum payments increase!

Do You Have Perfect Credit? So What!

It is nothing out of the ordinary to see someone with poor or mediocre credit to come under increased scrutiny or be penalized by banks or other creditors when applying for an account. Now however, even those who have been diligent about maintaining a high credit score will likely see their available credit dropped and the current rate on their existing balance raised.

Alternatives to consider

Unfortunately for many consumers, the banks changing of the rules at half time may prove to be devastating. The economy is picking on more than just the banking sector as consumers everywhere are struggling to make ends meet from one month to the next. For those who are currently strapped financially with economic troubles of their own, changing rates and minimum payment requirements may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Are You Facing Financial Trouble?

If you happen to be one of these struggling consumers, it is important to note that the speed in which you choose to take control of your situation will prove to be the most valuable. The higher your credit score the more opportunity you may have to take control of your debt. You can read more about your available options in the following article entitled,

“Debt Consolidation | What Are Your Options.”

In the meantime, customers may find it profitable to pull payday loans to avoid pending overdraft charges from being charged to your bank account. It is more important now than ever before to both pay attention and be aware of your options.

When was the last time you had an overdraft fee? It’s typically a memorable event that is usually accompanied by some self induced growling and occasional profanity. In short it’s an experience that doesn’t just roll off your back. Most of us will carry it around with us like a bad growth, and some people get payday loans to circumvent it.

Most feel tricked or betrayed when hit by an overdraft charge. Banks have gotten very constructive and even sneaky in there efforts to take advantage of this window of opportunity and they are not making a big effort in helping their clients avoid such situations either.

With the recent mortgage crisis their has been a sharp rise in the cost of banking fees. Many speculate that this is because of the revenue lost due to the increased number of mortgage defaults. Bank fees are at all time highs and getting nailed now can really put the hurt on your finances, and it may just be worth it to look into payday loans instead.

Here are some tips to help you avoid getting struck by overdraft fees.

Balance Your Account Often

Are your banks fees sneaking up on you?

Many of us may not give our bank account an appropriate amount of maintenance. In fact, a large majority will balance there account balance and check book only when they receive their monthly statement. This is indeed a good time to do so, but it should be balanced more than once a month. Loosing track of how much money is remaining in your account is the number one way to get hit by fees for insufficient funds.

At the very least take a few minutes at the end of each week to crunch the numbers and make sure everything balances out. The more often the better but at the very least strive for once a week and always compare the outcome with your monthly bank statement.

Open All Mail From Your Bank

Be sure to open your mail! If you have a habit of just throwing your mail from the bank into a miscellaneous pile on your desk or file them as they are, you may miss an important notice letting you know that your account has hit the red zone. Every check that hits the bank at this point is going to bounce and you are going to accrue an outrageous amount of overdraft charges. Always open you bank mail!.

Also if the mistake happens to be the banks fault, it is better to catch and dispute the problem early as the more fees that hit your account and compound’s the problem, the more difficult and frustrating it may be to sort the problem out.

Also, you must remember that the bank does everything by mail. When you overdraft your account you will not receive a phone call. This means that by the time you have found out about the discrepancy, a couple days may have already passed. Additional overdraft charges may have hit your account already.

Be Cautious of Rising Fees

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) reported that 80% of our countries largest banks charge their customers high overdraft fees without their permission. It may come as a shock to you that your bank doesn’t need to get your permission to raise fees that will effect your banking experience, but they don’t. They are however, required to notify you by mail, but there is no requirement as to how small the fine print can be.

These notices will usually come with your bank statement. So once again, be sure to read your mail, including the fine print.

The problem that usually arises with rising fees is that the unaware consumer may be getting charged for dipping below a newly set minimum balance limit. These fees if left unrecorded, can eventually catch up with you in a big way as you get closer to zeroing out your account balance.

Another area that may sneak up on you are ATM fees. Usually your banks ATM fees won’t charge you for making a withdrawal but other banks ATM machines can get you into a whole lot of trouble. These charges can be close to four dollars in places. Leaving these fees unrecorded as said before, will eventually catch up to you so you must make sure that you are aware of any and all fees. Your bank is always ready to catch your mistake so be sure that you catch yourself from making them – which payday loans are great for.

At a time when more consumers are struggling to pay their bills, large banks are raising some account fees to record levels.

Quoted With Edits From: Rising bank fees are setting records (USA Today)

Record Fees are Being Charged for ATM’s, Bounced Checks and Monthly Service

Bank fees have been climbing steadily over the last 10 years, and now, since banks are “having a tough time” after their loan losses, they are charging all-time highs for bounced-check fees, ATM fees, monthly service fees and even now have balance requirements for interest checking accounts. Some banks even charge one fee for the first bounced check and significantly higher fees for additional bounced checks. Have you seen payday loan fees rising?  Not so much!

Not another bounced check charge!

Banks say we Should Pay Attention but Hope we Don’t!

The banks’ defense in all of this is first, if we pay attention to what we are doing, we shouldn’t have to incur any fees and second, the percentage of banks that offer accounts with no monthly fees has increased.

Aren’t our personal finances hard enough to deal with, without having to worry that a momentary “lack of attention” might cost us in exorbitant bank fees? I’d rather get a payday loan than worry about the bank’s sneakiness.

Where is my Friendly-Neighborhood Bank?

What happened to customer service? Remember the day when you could go into your bank, admit your mistake and they would waive fees for you? Those days seem to be long past. Now, it’s all about the bank. I’m just glad that if things get out of control for me, I know where to turn, and it won’t be a bank. It will be my friendly payday loan company, who has no hidden fees.

At a time when more consumers are struggling to pay their bills, large banks are raising some account fees to record levels.

Your Cash Advance Loans News Source Quoted With Edits From: Bank fees are setting records

The Banks are setting more records then Micheal Phelps!

Overdrafting your account could lead you to Cash Advance Loans

2008 continues to set records in more ways than one. USA Today reported that according to a survey released;

Last Monday by Bankrate.com, the banking industries Bounced-check fees, ATM fees, monthly service fees and balance requirements for interest checking accounts hit all time highs.

The article went on to say that the fees still have not been adjusted for inflation this year which will push the bar a little further.

What is causing the record high fee’s?

As we all well know, Americans are not the only ones having a tough time in today’s economy. Business and industry is also, including the banks. Because of tough times, It’s quite likely that the high fees are an effort to stay on budget. This of course is frustrating to the average consumer, especially after the near 700 billion dollar bailout bill last month. If anybody was doing well in today’s economy you would think it would be the banks.

Not only are they raising fees, the rules are changing

Apart from the rising fees, the banks are coming under scrutiny for the way they are now charging for those fees as well. Looking at overdraft fees for example, the banks have changed the rules. Many are charging a smaller fee for the first overdraft charge while increasing the fee’s with each additional occurrence. Many feel these restructured fee’s are predatory in nature, as a small oversight balancing your checkbook can compound into an outrageous sum before the mistake is caught.

One thing is for certain, we can’t change the bank’s policies and procedures but we can exercise more diligence with our finances to avoid these so called “booby traps” ourselves. If you are fortunate to
find a mistake before it hits, stop any pending withdrawals immediately. In the case that you are not fortunate enough to catch the mistake, you can apply for cash advance loans to put some extra cash back into your bank account before more fees hit.

Banks are also charging individuals who are not customers, fees for cashing checks written by customers. See this video above.

Q. Credit card fraud led to me receiving a £2,000 American Express bill. AmEx told me to cancel my direct debit with my bank, Alliance & Leicester, to avoid this payment being processed. I tried to cancel using A&L’s online service and thought I had done this when I entered a “cancel” instruction – but it turned out that this just canceled the cancellation request. This led to the direct …

Your No Fax Payday Loans News Source Quoted With Edits From: Questions of Cash: I want a refund for these unfair overdraft charges (Independent)

Overdraft Charges – Today’s Hot Topic!

Overdraft charges seem to be dominating the conversation in the baking industry as consumers become more outraged with their banks practices. The above article is just one of many examples that you will find on the web.

Why all the fuss?

Do you need no fax payday loans

In light of the recent events regarding the banking industry, we can only assume that the banks are trying to make up lost financial resources by more aggressively restructuring their fee policies and schedules. Customers are outraged at this idea as they feel the recent bailout funded by their own tax dollars covered the losses originally accrued by the banks more than shady practices. This begs the question as to why the fallout is being passed on to the customer.

Just One Of Many Fees

Overdraft fees are just one of the many fees that are being increased. ATM fees as well as monthly service fees have see a new highs as well.

The argument from the banks standpoint is not so much an issue of self preservation as it is customer responsibility, there are not many ways to get the customer to pay more attention to there finances except for making it cost them their hard earned cash.

There’s a lot of truth in the last statement. I don’t like getting hit with fees anymore then the next individual but ultimately I can’t blame anyone but myself. An individuals efforts to avoid these fee’s will naturally create a better financial manager. Just what the banks want.

What you can do!

The biggest mistakes made usually result from a lack of communication between couples that hold a joint bank account. Another common mistake as simple as it may seem is using a debit card. These charges hit your account immediately and remembering to record your receipts in the check book can prove difficult sometimes.

Find the time each day to to balance your checkbook as not to loose track of transactions that have taken place. If it’s a joint account, don’t forget to check for transactions made by your partner as well.

Just a little time and diligence can save a lot of heart and head ache. If overdrafts have hit your checking account, don’t stress you can always apply for no fax payday loans to help get your account back on the positive side.

It’s hard to live without a checking account. But it’s also hard to live with the fees you can rack up if you overdraw it, and banks are only too happy to help you do it. For example, many clear checks by size rather than sequence.

Quoted With Edits From: Overdraft Traps and How to Avoid Them (WYMT Mountain News)

Does Plastic Equal Convenience?

You may have seen the Visa commercials that portray consumers who are paying for consumer goods with cash as, behind the times, uncool or a wrench in a well oil machine. This is of course Visa’s attempt to persuade viewers to use their payment methods however, we can all attest to the fact that plastic is a far more convenient payment solution than cash. Just like payday loans are far more convenient than getting a loan through the bank.

With the media and technology industry relentlessly promoting a cashless society it is hard to live without a checking account and debit card today. Unfortunately, this subjects us to a slew of other inconveniences as well.

Fees, What Fee’s?

Namely, it’s the fees that we have to pay just to have the privilege of using a checking account.

ATM's Can Cost You!

These range from things like, monthly service charges, overdraft fees, check fees, ATM fees, minimum balance fees, and a host of others that seems to nickel and dime our financial well being.

The most dreaded of all banking fees is the overdraft charge. Unfortunately it’s not in the banks best interest to help you avoid these fees so a small misstep can find you falling down a slippery and costly slope that could require you to take out payday loans.

Overdraft fees are the outcome of over drafting your account, or in other words spending money that you don’t have. These fee’s cost on average about $28 to $35 per overdraft but some banks have a tiered structure which increases the amount of each successive overdraft charge that hits the bank.

Your Next ATM Cash Advance May Give You More Trouble Than Cash.

Many make the mistake of overdrawing their account when pulling cash out of ATM machines. Because folks are more likely to carry there ATM cards with them rather than their checkbooks, they are often left guessing what they have left in their checking accounts when making withdrawals. The downside to this is that the withdrawals made at ATM’s are immediate deducted and the bank does not prevent you from overdrawing your account therefore, accidentally requesting more money from the machine then you have funds in your account to cover, will result in an overdraft charge.

The banks calls these overdraft transactions “courtesy overdrafts”, which are really no more than a loan which you did not ask for but are held to the terms and conditions thereof. These loans may be as small as a penny but will require a payment of $30 to be made within a week’s period of time before additional fees and charges are accrued.

What Can You Do?

The solution to this problem although simple, is quite difficult for many. It requires a more persistent and careful eye on your finances. Taking a few minutes each evening to record your day’s transactions and balance your checkbook will likely save you a lot of trouble sooner or later. If this proves to be to difficult, it would be wiser to make all your transactions on a credit card which you could then payoff at the end of the month. This would prevent overdrafts but may encourage unhealthy spending habits. If you have found yourself with too many costly overdraft fees, you can apply for payday loans to get your checking account back on track.