Look for fraudulent activity, make sure you have full access to your funds and update your passwords as needed. Review your credit card statements and credit report along with your bank statements to do a pulse check of your overall financial picture. Monitoring your checking account is an essential part of maintaining your financial well-being.
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There are several reasons why you should monitor your accounts regularly. Monitoring your checking account is a crucial activity that many account holders don’t do frequently enough. While this used to be a common practice, more and more banks are charging fees to receive paper statements. Think of your bank statement like a report to help you understand how you’re managing your money. It contains all of the information you need to set a budget and organize your finances.
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The quicker you spot fraud, the faster you may access the tools you need to fix it. However, if you take longer than two business days to report, you’re liable for up to $500 in fraudulent charges. If you wait more than 60 calendar days after your statement is sent to you, you could be liable for all of the money that was taken from you. Older generations remember the days of manually recording every deposit and withdrawal made from their bank accounts — otherwise known as balancing your checkbook.
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- If you make ATM withdrawals, use your debit card or have your account connected to a third-party app like CashApp, you’ll want to check your statement often.
- Please consult with a bankruptcy attorney for more information on bankruptcy.
- While research shows that this may be a good idea for your relationship, having two people dipping into the same pot of money can complicate things.
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- While logging into your account takes mere seconds, monitoring your bank account means more than merely checking the total balance.
We will also weigh the pros and cons of daily, weekly, and monthly monitoring, providing you with insights to help you make an informed decision. Lastly, we will share some best practices to streamline the process and ensure effective monitoring of your checking account. It can be important to monitor your checking account for a low balance or overdraft, for errors, for hidden fees, and for unauthorized transactions and other signs of fraudulent activity. To make monitoring your checking account even easier, set up a browser window with tabs open to the login page of each account and save it as your browser’s homepage. That way each time you open your browser, you’ll be reminded to check in with your various accounts.
Benefits of monitoring your checking account
Whether you decide that the right cadence for checking your bank account is daily, weekly, or another frequency, here are some of the rewards of keeping tabs on your checking. With Chase for Business you’ll receive guidance from a team of business professionals who specialize in helping improve cash flow, providing credit solutions, and managing payroll. Choose from business checking, business credit cards, merchant services or visit our business resource center. Make purchases with your debit card, and bank from almost anywhere by phone, tablet or computer and more than 15,000 ATMs and more than 4,700 branches.
Most banks have their own mobile applications now, so download the mobile apps for your various accounts and keep a section on your phone for banking. If you have trouble sticking to a budget, monitoring your checking account is the first step to getting a sense of where you need to cut costs. Now that online banking is ubiquitous, all you have to do in order to make sure you’re not overspending is log into your account and check your balance. You should also go through recent deposits and purchases, though, to make sure that you’re receiving money that’s expected and get a sense of how your purchases add up. Monitoring your checking account can help you spot these and other fees your bank may be charging you.
We strive to provide up-to-date information, but make no warranties regarding the accuracy of our information. FinanceBuzz does not provide credit cards or any other financial products. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline, how often should you typically monitor your checking account or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by these entities. Maintain clear, open, and regular communication with your partner so that neither of you gets blindsided by an empty bank account because you didn’t account for the spending of the other.
By considering these factors, you can determine the ideal frequency for monitoring your checking account that suits your unique financial circumstances and preferences. If you see suspicious activity, it’s critical to act fast and report the charges to your bank. You may also report identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission to work on recovering your identity.