How Often Do You Check Your Bank Account? (Don't be this guy)

[dullard]

I check about once per week when I pay bills and/or update my spreadsheets.

A former boss that I had didn't check his for years. He finally opened up a statement and found that he had been charged about $25/ month for some bogus fee that should not have been charged. He was out nearly $2000. The back reimbursed him for the last 3 months but said that he had ample opportunity to check his statements and fix the error years ago.

He just kept going to the mailbox and throwing all statements directly into the trash. I couldn't believe that anyone just didn't care to open them. I'm wiser now about the level of ignorance of others.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I make sure to quickly scan my primary account + credit card daily. Thanks to mobile banking apps, I can literally check what I need to in a couple of minutes while taking my morning dump.

I have a primary bank account and a secondary back up Credit Union account, so its not like my money is scattered to the winds or anything.

I've worked too hard and too long to not know where my money is on the daily.

 

[shortylickens]

Navy Federal Credit Union is relentless about following my habits. If I do something weird they lock all my accounts and phone me constantly until I pick up.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I keep all my stuff on a very old copy of Quicken (2003). It does everything I need, but I'm not sure it would even still talk to the web systems anymore.

 

[StinkyPinky]

A few times a week.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Damn that has to suck. Though I wonder how he never noticed THAT much money gone. Like, stuff starting to bounce etc.

I tend to login to my bank and cc account at least once a week just to check up everything. I used to keep track of all my purchases so I can make sure things match up then kinda just gave up doing that. I probably should start again though. Sometimes I end up with a huge CC bill and it's like "wtf?". I can always trace it back to just having spent more since the last payment, but sometimes it just creeps up on you and it does not look right.

 

[dasherHampton]

Wow. I'm going to assume it's legit and I do feel for the guy but that is just a comedy of errors.

Since I first started using banks I don't think I've ever seen a deposit receipt that doesn't state your balance. I would personally never be able to just accept that my money was ok without proof on paper.

And this guy kept his life savings in an account linked to a debit card? In an account whose balance he never checked?

I have most of my money in a savings account that certainly doesn't have debit card attached to it. I pay about $2000 a month in credit card bills over 2 cards and before I do I use telephone banking to transfer money from my savings account to my checking account. I never have much more cash in the checking account than is needed to pay the bills.

Every time I use telephone banking I check balances on both accounts so I guess the answer is: I check my accounts twice a month.

 

[Spacehead]

Wow. I'm going to assume it's legit and I do feel for the guy but that is just a comedy of errors.
And this guy kept his life savings in an account linked to a debit card? In an account whose balance he never checked?

Seems odd that the guy kept his life savings in a business account, even if it was a one man shop. And how do you not check the account balance for over a year?

Since I first started using banks I don't think I've ever seen a deposit receipt that doesn't state your balance. I would personally never be able to just accept that my money was ok without proof on paper.

My bank doesn't show your balance on your receipt. I think they will if you ask but you have to ask each time. I still get a monthly statement from them or i can check over the phone.
Credit Union only has quarterly statements but does show the balance on the receipt.

 

[sandorski]

2 or 3 times a month, specifically for the Balance.

On this general subject, I recently received a letter from my Bank. The last time I was there I Deposited 3 Cheques logged out and left. The machine read a $250 cheque as $200. So the letter was Bank error in your favour collect $50. I might buy a monocle.

 

[spacejamz]

Have a whole slew of alerts that I can setup for my credit union accounts. For my main checking account, I get a daily text of my balance around 8PM. I also get a text of any transaction greater than $250.

 

[lxskllr]

Trick if you want to use a debit-card is a second separate (and NON-linked) checking account. I've done this for Paypal/Ebay for many years.

I use a debit card for all my not-in-person transactions, which is to say not all that much. I keep a small amount of money in the account in case something pops up, but if I lost it all, it wouldn't be the end of the world, just annoying.

 

[takeru]

just set up a transaction alert for your account from your bank. i set the lowest amount possible to set, so any transaction higher than $5 will send me a text message to my phone listing the amount and by who. easy account activity notification.