Be Truthfull: Checking Accounts

[SithSolo1]

I can't read.

 

[SWScorch]

I never balance it. I suck too much at math. I check the balance every other day or so on the ATM, and see if it corresponds to how much I think should be in there. I know it's stupid of me, but I trust the bank not to screw up my account, and if the balance is off, I'll check my statement to see what's up.

 

[AnimeKnight]

since I opened my checking account... 1997

 

[Apathetic]

Years and years.

Dave

 

[dquan97]

Dont remember ever balancing my checkbook since 1996, when I opened by first checking account at 17

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: dullard

I don't lend money to people who would cheat me out of it. And I wouldn't lend more than 20 bucks anyway. I really don't understand your argument anyway, can you please clarify?

I don't use a teller, I get charged if I do. So no error there.

And I log into my online banking 2-3 times a week. I know what's going on. No reason to write all this sh!t down, not worth the effort.

You loan money to the bank. Then you tell the bank to keep track of everything and you will just periodically check up to see how much is left. You just trust them completely. If there is an error you will never know unless you add up how much should be there. If you DO add it up, then you are already balancing.

Every check, every ATM withdrawl, every deposit, etc all can have an error. It is nice to catch those errors and keep your money - rather than trust the person you loaned your money to do to the math. They are just human - and they can make mistakes.

Sundog listed an example of where "trusting" the bank cost $250+. I listed an example of how trusting the bank would have cost me $20 - but since I added up the amount I caught it.

And if you check your balance and transactions daily, you will catch these types of errors, unless you are very forgetful.

KK

 

[Jynx980]

I went for a couple of months untill I noticed I was being charged for porno subscriptions that I didnt make. I lost 300$. Bummer

 

[dullard]

And if you check your balance and transactions daily, you will catch these types of errors, unless you are very forgetful.

If you don't do any math at all, then checking it daily won't catch the errors.

Take this as an example
Monday you have $10000 in the bank.
Tuesday you withdraw $20 at an ATM and see you have one $20 withdrawal online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9980 balance.
Wednesday you write a $20 a check and see you have one $20 withdrawal online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9960 balance.
Thursday you withdraw $20 at an ATM and see you have one $20 withdrawal online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9940 balance.
Friday you write a $20 check and see you have one $20 withdrawal online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9620 balance.
Saturday you withdraw $20 at an ATM and see you have one $20 withdrawal online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9600 balance.
Sunday you withdraw $20 at an ATM and see you have one $20 withdrawal online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9580 balance.

You look online and you see your 6 withdrawals each for $20 - exactly what it should say. You also note that there are no extra withdrawls that don't belong there. Perfect. Wait a minute, you are short $300 and without doing the math yourself you would never have known that. Things like this happen all the time. Sure all the withdrawals match perfectly, there are no extra withdrawals, but the balance isn't right. Humans are entering the balance in, they can make mistakes. Things exactly like this happen all the time. Would you have caught it. If so how would you without doing math? If you did the math (even in your head), then you balanced your checking account.

Edit: changed some of bad spelling.

 

[blakeatwork]

Originally posted by: Sundog
What is the longest time period you have ever gone without completely balancing you checking account. I know quite a few people that check over the phone or online to see how much they have, but they never balance out the account. The keep an approximate virtual balance in their minds---but never know for sure.

Years I think... I have a whiteboard with all payments going out by PAPP, and usually am able to keep a clear idea of what's in the bank in my head... doesn't take much. The wife takes cash for the week every Monday when we shop for groceries, so she doesn't need to hit the bank account if she purchases something that often..

 

[Winchester]

Originally posted by: dquan97
Dont remember ever balancing my checkbook since 1996, when I opened by first checking account at 17

About the same here. I keep it all in my head. I know exactly how much everything I own cost as well as food and gas purchases.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

It's been years for me.

I almost always know within $20 at the end of the month, and I keep a balence of about $1000 in it. The $1000 is a rainy day buffer, and to keep my well above the MDB that my bank would charge for the checking account at.

The way it works for me:
I know the amount that comes in
I know the amount from last month
I know the amount that I will be spending on bills
Since gas and lunches are fairly constant rates, I just take it out of the amount that comes in on my normal checks

Example:
Start with $1050
Two $900 paychecks (after gas+food) $2850
$500 car payment $2350
$500 student loan $1850
$250 car insurance $1600
$350 rent $1250
$100 for misc. expenditures (ie: phone bill, oil changes, etc.) $1150
After $1000 buffer: $150 expendable.

Whatever amount of the expendable I don't spend gets rolled over. If something large comes around unexpectadly, I can easily take it out of my student loan payment (I'm paid up until mid 2005).

I also know my student loan amount w/in $25 (that's going down REAL quick, should be done by christmas). It's $6250 right now, will be $3600 in a month. Should make me paid up until late 2006, early 2007. Yay tax returns


I'm expecting that once I get a house (will happen when I build up a down payment), I'll have to balence it as the amount moving around will be a bit high.

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: dullard

Things like this happen all the time. Sure all the withdrawls and match perfectly, there are no extra withdrawls, but the balance isn't right. Humans are entering the balance in, they can make mistakes. Things exactly like this happen all the time. Would you have caught it. If so how would you without doing math? If you did the math (even in your head), then you balanced your checking account.

What humans are entering the balance? I do everything electronically. My paycheck is direct deposited. My debit card doesn't go through human hands. My bills are all paid electronically. I print out my ATM receipts if I withdraw cash.

Check balancing:
Benefit - Saving myself the $250 that I might lose, which might happen once in my life.
Cost - Wasting time recording what I bought, how much, from whom, on what date, and what I received, how much, from whom, on what date, for everything I do.

No thanks.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Oh yeah, and my checks are carbon copy style. Lets me keep track of what I actually sent out.

 

[Night201]

Call me anal, but I make sure it is all balanced everyday. I use Quicken to keep track of all my finances. I know to the penny what is in every account. I also use Pocket Quicken for when I am on the road. Then I just sync up when I get home. Works like a charm!

 

[glugglug]

I think the last time I balanced it was my first semester in college, almost 11 years ago.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: dullard

And if you check your balance and transactions daily, you will catch these types of errors, unless you are very forgetful.

If you don't do any math at all, then checking it daily won't catch the errors.

Take this as an example
Monday you have $10000 in the bank.
Tuesday you withdraw $20 at an ATM and see you have one $20 withdrawl online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9980 balance.
Wednesday you write a $20 a check and see you have one $20 withdrawl online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9960 balance.
Thursday you withdraw $20 at an ATM and see you have one $20 withdrawl online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9940 balance.
Friday you write a $20 check and see you have one $20 withdrawl online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9620 balance.
Saturday you withdraw $20 at an ATM and see you have one $20 withdrawl online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9600 balance.
Sunday you withdraw $20 at an ATM and see you have one $20 withdrawl online. If you bother to look further online you will see it reports $9580 balance.

You look online and you see your 6 withdrawls each for $20 - exactly what it should say. You also note that there are no extra withdrawls that don't belong there. Perfect. Wait a minute, you are short $300 and without doing the math yourself you would never have known that. Things like this happen all the time. Sure all the withdrawls and match perfectly, there are no extra withdrawls, but the balance isn't right. Humans are entering the balance in, they can make mistakes. Things exactly like this happen all the time. Would you have caught it. If so how would you without doing math? If you did the math (even in your head), then you balanced your checking account.

good post but I have to be an anal jerk and say that it's "withdrawal".

"withdrawl" is how a Texan speaks.

 

[TheShiz]

prob 7 years, but i never have much in it, at the most maybe 400 dollars. i check the balance on the phone every once in a while to make sure it sounds right.

 

[dullard]

Check balancing:
Benefit - Saving myself the $250 that I might lose, which might happen once in my life.
Cost - Wasting time recording what I bought, how much, from whom, on what date, and what I received, how much, from whom, on what date, for everything I do.

It takes me 2 minutes each month when I get the monthly statement - pull out my TI-85, add up 10-15 numbers and I'm done. No need to write what you bought, from whom, or even the date (and the corresponding receiving parts). Just write down each withdrawal or deposit amount. At the end of the month you add the numbers and see if it matches. A calculator can do that in no time flat.

Hmm 2 mintues or $250. I'll choose the $250.

Edit: Did I spell withdrawal correctly? There is a reason I'm a Dullard - a complete lack of verbal skills.

 

[Noirish]

Whenever I need to write a check, I'll calculate the balance and make necessary changes.
Then again, I don't write checks that often anymore, probably 1 check every 3 months or so.

 

[xirtam]

I learned how to balance a checkbook for a class in 7th grade.

After trying it out a few years later when I opened a checking account, I decided, "this is stupid."

And I haven't balanced it since. I guess I'm just not all that concerned about money.

 

I don't balance it on paper.
I have a computer.

 

[Sundog]

I still can not believe that most of you do not balance or have never balanced accounts.


You will after you have a decent sized problem. Oh well, IMO you will be learning the hard way.

 

[BatmanNate]

I have never paper balanced my account, I keep it mentally and verify online to see when things go through. Have never overdrawn in the 5 years I've had this account, seems to work well.

 

[Cerebus451]

Originally posted by: Sundog
I still can not believe that most of you do not balance or have never balanced accounts.


You will after you have a decent sized problem. Oh well, IMO you will be learning the hard way.

I think a lot of the "I don't" resonses are really people that in fact balance, just not in the traditional sense. I have not sat down with a check register and balanced it against a statement in over 10 years. That is because I have had Quicken/Money for that time. I record all my transactions on the computer and then once a month when I get a bank/credit card statement I send a minute to reconcile with what the computer has. I constantly have future dated transactions (either a check that hasn't cleared on a future dated online payment), so no ATM machine could ever tell me my true balance, nor could any web page, so I need to track things with the computer. The plus side is that I can balance not only my accounts but also my mortgage escrow account to make sure they are keeping things in line. Additionally I have my tax forms filled out and read to go before the first W-2 or 1099 arrives in the mail. Those of you that check your balance on-line are balancing your checkbook, you are just doing it the 21st century way.

 

[Sundog]

Originally posted by: Cerebus451

Originally posted by: Sundog
I still can not believe that most of you do not balance or have never balanced accounts.


You will after you have a decent sized problem. Oh well, IMO you will be learning the hard way.

I think a lot of the "I don't" resonses are really people that in fact balance, just not in the traditional sense. I have not sat down with a check register and balanced it against a statement in over 10 years. That is because I have had Quicken/Money for that time. I record all my transactions on the computer and then once a month when I get a bank/credit card statement I send a minute to reconcile with what the computer has. I constantly have future dated transactions (either a check that hasn't cleared on a future dated online payment), so no ATM machine could ever tell me my true balance, nor could any web page, so I need to track things with the computer. The plus side is that I can balance not only my accounts but also my mortgage escrow account to make sure they are keeping things in line. Additionally I have my tax forms filled out and read to go before the first W-2 or 1099 arrives in the mail. Those of you that check your balance on-line are balancing your checkbook, you are just doing it the 21st century way.

Exactly......I do the quicken reconcile, and keep track of everything from car loans to 401Ks to mortgage escrow accts.