Just Ask!

I received a statement from the bank with a $8 maintenance fee for last month for our business account. We have had the account for over 6 years and I honestly didn't remember what the minimum balance I was required to have to avoid fees was. In finishing up the end of year expenses that needed to go on this tax year, I let the balance drop lower than usual. Hating extra fees, I put in a quick call to the bank to find out if there was "grace" for this happening one time in over six years? The gal at the bank was happy to reverse the charge for me. She also told me that since it was over the end of the month, I would have the same charge for January too, and to just give her a call and she would reverse that charge as well. She went on to tell me how much they appreciated that we had been customers for many years with them and asked if there was anything else I needed help with. I appreciated their being willing to reverse the charge and I also appreciate the great customer service I received. So, if you end up with extra fees, give a call and see if the company is willing to reverse them for you. Thankfully, I got to talk to a real person right away and the call took less than five minutes.

Check out those online banking rates

If you have money you are saving, you should to check out where you can get the best interest on your money while it sits. Even though the interest rates aren't very good right now, it all adds up. The Internet makes it incredibly easy to research who has the best rates. Just go to http://www.bankrate.com/ . For information on high yield checking accounts you can go to http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/mmmf_highratehome.asp?params=US,416&product=33 . They will show you many banks, which ones have the best interest rates, how much you have to deposit to open an account, if there are any monthly fees, and a star system they rate the banks on. It has been obvious in recent months how important it is for banks to be FDIC insured. We have two online savings accounts that we use. We use one for our emergency fund. The other one we use for things we are saving or accruing for (vehicle registration, property taxes, vacation, Christmas, bills that we pay once a year like life insurance, and home repairs). These savings accounts are not a good place to put large sums of money for long periods of time, but we appreciate the ability to earn better interest (than we can with our local checking account) on our money that we need to have more readily available.