AVOID FEES FROM THE BANK

If you're looking to keep better track of your expenses, take a look at the fees you pay for your bank accounts.

You may be able to help avoid bank fees and save money by reducing your banking costs.

Find out what you can do to help avoid monthly maintenance fees

Some banks charge monthly maintenance fees to keep your accounts open and to perform transactions. You can find out if you're currently being charged fees by talking to a bank associate or checking your bank account statement. Some banks will waive these fees under certain conditions. For example:

• Your checking account maintenance fee may be waived if you set up direct deposit for your paychecks
• Checking or savings account fees may be waived if you maintain a minimum daily balance in those accounts
• Some banks may waive fees if the combined balance of both your checking and savings accounts meets a certain threshold
• Savings account fees may be waived if you set up a repeating automatic transfer from your checking account

For Bank of America accounts, you can check the Personal Schedule of Fees to get more information on how to avoid monthly maintenance fees.

Be smart about ATM use

Using ATMs that are outside of your own bank's network can cost you extra money. Depending on your bank, you may have to pay a fee for every transaction to the bank that owns the ATM plus a fee to your own bank. The simplest way to help avoid ATM fees is to use your own bank's ATMs whenever possible. To make it easier, research the location of your bank's ATMs or choose a bank with either a wide network of ATMs or one that waives ATM fees.

Be mindful of overdraft fees

If you make a transaction that exceeds what you have in your checking or savings account, you may be charged an overdraft fee. Alternatively, your bank may choose to not allow the transaction and instead charge you a fee for having insufficient funds. Thankfully, it's not hard to help avoid overdraft fees if you protect yourself with a few safeguards:

• Have your employer use direct deposit to put your pay check into your checking account. You get your money faster, and it saves you the hassle of going to the bank to ensure you have sufficient funds in your account.
• Keep some money in your checking account to act as a cushion in case of unexpected expenses. It’s suggested that you maintain at least $500 in your savings account as a backup in case that first cushion isn't enough and you need to transfer money into your checking account.
• Take advantage of both Online and Mobile Banking to access your balance information anytime, almost anywhere. Remember to factor in recent transactions that haven't appeared yet when determining your balance.
• Set up alerts on your accounts to help you track your balance and spending. Your bank may enable you to set up alerts to be sent to your email or mobile phone if your balance goes below a specific threshold.
• Consider overdraft services. For example, most Bank of America accounts are automatically set to a standard overdraft setting that helps reduce your chances of inadvertently overdrawing your eligible checking account. This service stops (non-recurring) debit purchases if there isn't enough money in your account or eligible linked overdraft protection account. Learn more about Bank of America's overdraft solutions.

These tips can help you avoid unnecessary bank fees and keep better track of the money in your checking and savings accounts.