With the availability of online banking, we are able to check our bank account balances daily. One thing that you can do to spot any discrepancies is to check your bank account balance every day. You'd be surprised by some of the charges that you can get. I signed up for an anti-virus protection program for my brother and didn't read the fine print. I checked my account a few days ago and $80 was charged in my account! I called them up and got rid of the charge immediately. I now know to be careful of offers and to keep checking my account! Has anything like this happened to you?
Yes and the majority of the discrepancies happened when I was Union Bank. It took me a minute but once I realized this was a pattern, I called them on it. Say if a customer makes a deposit and has a check or debit due to clear on the same day. This bank would process the checks or debits before processing the deposits. Now a person would say don't write checks too close or link their checking to a savings account. What I noticed is that if the deposit was made in the morning and the debit did not arrive until evening, the debit was still being processed first. I closed my account years ago but still get small checks from a class action lawsuit as reimbursement.
The only thing you can do is check your balances and know what your account balance should be. It's important to scrutinize every transaction, especially those that can change after processing, such as hotel and rental car charges or even restaurant bills after tips are included. A diligent eye can help avoid most discrepancies, and I've found that a majority of banks are pretty good about making sure that your balance is exactly what it's supposed to be. I've rarely had any issues in this department.
