With this post, the aim is to put mechanisms in place to eliminate as much as possible the fees that stem from routine overdrafts and bounced checks. Although they are costly problems, they’re symptomatic of a more serious issue: poor financial management skills. This can really jeopardize your future.

What’s an overdraft? Anytime you make a transaction for more than the amount available in your checking account, you overdraw it. That transaction can be the writing of a check, an ATM withdrawal, a debit card purchase, an online bill payment, and so on. What matters is that you used more than your available balance, and the negative balance that ensues is called an overdraft.

Your transaction puts your bank in a position where it has to decide whether whether or not it’s going to pay the amount. Either way, the bank will assess you a fee. If the amount is paid for although you didn’t have enough funds, the bank will assess you an overdraft fee. In case the bank decides that the check should be returned unpaid, it will assess you a bounced check fee.

You can certainly eliminate such fees if you do what you need to do to manage your bank account properly. That means doing your best so that your account does end up with a negative balance by keeping track of how much money you have available at all times. It’s suggested that you register your transactions as they happen. You should also keep tabs on any bank fees so that you record them too.

Be on the lookout when it comes to transactions where you don’t have to write a check or pay with cash: ATM withdrawals and fees, debit card purchases, and online payments just to name a few. Online bill payments on a monthly basis for utilities, insurance, or loan payments should also be thrown into the mix. Always be on top of your account balance and in case it shows a higher amount than what it’s supposed to, be careful and look for transactions that haven’t cleared yet.

Make balancing your accounts part of your monthly routine. If you need to check, at any given moment, which of your transactions have cleared and which ones haven’t, make a phone call to your bank, view your account online, or visit an in-network ATM to avoid fees for checking your balance.

If, unfortunately, you find yourself having overdrawn your account, you best bet would be to deposit some money back into it as soon as you have cash available. Remember that you will also have to account for your bank’s overdraft fees. Some banks will take the opportunity to sell you on alternative ways to to cover overdrafts.

Most likely you will get to choose one of those options. You can either link a savings account of yours (at the bank) to your checking account, or apply for an overdraft limit of credit with the bank. In the first case, every time there is a transaction that would result in your checking account being overdrawn, funds are automatically transferred from your savings account to prevent that. In the case of the line of credit (which you will have to apply for and will be treated as a loan application when it comes to eligibility), your account will be allowed to operate with a negative balance, up to your credit limit. That balance will generate interest, and the credit line itself may be subject to an annual maintenance fee.