Using Mobile Banking Tools to Avoid Stupid Mistakes

We can all agree that it’s hard to keep track of personal finances. You’ve got so many bills to pay, paychecks coming in from multiple jobs, and loans to keep track of. You’re handling car payments, rental payments, phone bills, utilities, school tuition, all while attempting to maintain a social life on the weekends and save for retirement.

On top of that, fees can come out of unexpected places. The average out-of-network ATM fee is now $4.52, up 21 percent from 2010. Chances are, if you’ve got a checking or savings account, you’ve been hit with a bank fee. Notifications from banks come few and far between, and sometimes they might even come in through unexpected channels like snail mail, so sometimes customers don’t even notice them. What’s $5.00 here and there, right? Wrong. Business Insider reports that Americans spend more on overdraft fees than they do on fresh vegetables. Imagine what you could be doing with all of that hard-earned green. The diets you could embark upon! The vacations you could have!

Listen: Managing your money doesn’t have to be this hard. Or this expensive.

There are a multitude of tools out there to assist you with de-coding your finances so that the next time you go out for a drink with some friends, you won’t fall prey to a dreaded overdraft fee from your bank. Here are a few of those tools and how to use them.

1. Bank-provided Online Banking Tools

Log in to your bank and take a look around the website. Chances are, your bank has taken a variety of steps within the last few years to remain competitive. For example, say I’m a customer with Arizona Central Credit Union and I’ve just started using their comprehensive eBranch services to stay on top of my cash flow. I can enroll in text or email messaging alerts when my balance falls below a certain dollar amount of my choosing, when a check deposits successfully into my account, or when my certificate of deposit has reached maturity. Each of these alerts helps to avoid unnecessary overdraft fees, which saves you money directly.

1. Download your bank’s mobile app

When I use mobile banking tools I have the ability to pay bills on the spot, deposit checks without going to the bank, transfer funds between eligible accounts, and check my balance and transaction history all from my phone. Chances are, your bank has this capability too and if it doesn’t, it might be time to switch to a bank that’s ready to help you manage your finances more conveniently.

Mobile banking makes it easy to transfer money from your checking to your savings account for goal attainment or to pay off debt. Using your banking app, try the snowflake method to chip away at mounting credit card bills or to save for your next vacation. In simplest terms, snowflaking refers to any little action you take that immediately saves money, then that money is directly applied to the debt on top of your debt repayment plan. Instead of going out for lunch one day, apply that $10 to your credit card and eat some leftovers (spaghetti is always better the second day, anyway). If done over time, this method plus your monthly payment plan can help make climbing out of debt a bit less intimidating. Mobile banking makes it easy to try the snowflake method because it’s quick and easy to use.

1. Mint Personal Finance Management

Though we wish they offered percentage-based savings options, Mint.com offers a highly-automated banking service rich with enough diversified features to fit most lifestyles. Mint is great to use in conjunction with your bank’s online banking suite, and works even more seamlessly for people who have more than one bank account or different types of accounts at different institutions. Simply enter your bank account login information, your bills, your loans, and your savings goals. Mint then takes all of that information and creates automated, real-time reports to help users keep track of where their money is going. Users can track spending using a variety of built-in categorizations or they can input their own for easy, customized management.

1. Digit Savings

Their slogan is, "Save money, without thinking about it" for a reason. This free, automated savings service quietly moves money from your checking account after analyzing your spending habits. After connecting your bank, the app will transfer some money from your checking account to your Digit account. Digit never transfers more than you can afford, so you don't have to worry about over-drafting your account. They are FDIC insured and even offer a no-overdraft guarantee. Unlike other savings strategies, where you have to sit down and manage when you’ll move money over and how often you’ll do it, there is no human interaction or decision-making involved because Digit does it all for you. After four months or so, you’ll have saved hundreds without ever feeling the loss of that cash from your checking account.