Swiss American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross discovered that we all tend to go through five stages of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.\u00a0 These stages were originally associated with people who are suffering from terminal illness, but since then they\u2019ve been found to apply more broadly to other types of loss, including financial loss.\u00a0 And not just financial losses of the Bernie Madoff magnitude but even to relatively small setbacks like late payment penalties and bounced check fees.<\/p>\n
Sounds like a stretch?\u00a0 Not really.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why: \u00a0Those dreaded penalty fees trigger emotional responses \u2013 feelings of frustration and loss of control over our finances.\u00a0 Here\u2019s how it plays out:<\/p>\n
Stage 1: Denial \u2013 \u201cI can\u2019t believe I received this outrageous penalty fee!\u201d<\/p>\n
Stage 2: Anger \u2013 \u201cI could have really used the money they\u2019re taking from me.\u00a0 It makes me so angry!\u201d<\/p>\n
Stage 3: Bargaining \u2013 \u201cMaybe I can work out a deal with them to waive the fee this one time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stage 4: Depression \u2013 \u201cThey just won\u2019t budge.\u00a0 I feel so helpless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stage 5: Acceptance \u2013 \u201cWell, I guess I\u2019ll just have to accept not having control over the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately, tools are available to help you steer clear of penalty fees, giving you back a little more control over your finances.<\/p>\n
Time Your Bill Payments with Online Precision<\/strong><\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t yet set up online bill payment with your bank you\u2019re missing out on a great tool to precisely control the timing of your payments.\u00a0\u00a0 No more guessing when to drop a check payment in the mail, hoping it will reach the billing party before the deadline.\u00a0 In fact, no need to even visit a mailbox.\u00a0 And no more postage stamp purchases.\u00a0\u00a0 Couldn\u2019t be much simpler or more convenient.<\/p>\n With online bill pay you can maximize the \u201cfloat\u201d in your checking account by waiting to pay a bill until a day or so before its due date.\u00a0 You\u2019ll receive a written confirmation from the recipient when the payment was submitted.\u00a0 If that recipient is a credit card company the confirmation will help ensure you avoid late interest charges or, worse still, a hefty late payment fee and APR penalty.\u00a0 Not to mention damage to your credit score.<\/p>\n Practice grief avoidance.\u00a0 Use online bill pay <\/strong><\/p>\n and a checking account credit line<\/strong><\/p>\n to make penalty fees disappear for good.<\/strong><\/p>\n Before making the effort to set up online bill pay with each of your creditors, first make sure your bank doesn\u2019t charge you for this service.\u00a0 To avoid a charge, most banks require keeping your primary checking account with them.\u00a0 That\u2019s fair.\u00a0 But if they charge a per-transaction fee (sometimes as high as 30 or 40 cents per payment) it might serve you well to shop for another bank.<\/p>\n Create a Buffer Against Bounced Check Fees<\/strong><\/p>\n Now let\u2019s turn to one of my favorite day-to-day cash flow management tools: a checking account line of credit.\u00a0 If used properly, this resource can help to ensure you never again see the dreaded words \u201cinsufficient funds\u201d on your bank statement \u2013 or incur the hefty bounced check fees.\u00a0\u00a0 Those fees now average $30.*\u00a0 And that\u2019s just the amount your<\/em> bank charges you.\u00a0 More often than not, the recipient\u2019s bank will also charge a similar amount.\u00a0\u00a0 Now we\u2019re up to $60 per mistake.\u00a0 If it\u2019s one of those infamous multiple bounced check events, the total penalty can easily climb to over $100.<\/p>\n To help regain the upper hand over these cash flow morale-killers, see if your bank offers — and you qualify for — a credit line tied to your checking account. \u00a0Choose a modest amount, say $3,000. \u00a0Then if for any reason your checking account balance falls below zero you’ll have peace of mind knowing that you’re covered. \u00a0Instead of a bounced check fee your bank will charge you interest on the amount drawn down from your credit line. \u00a0If you repay that amount quickly the interest charge will be very small, usually a dollar or so.<\/p>\n One caution, though:\u00a0 Don\u2019t think the extra $3,000 is yours.\u00a0\u00a0 I once made that mistake.\u00a0 Knowing that the credit line would cover me, I became less and less concerned about keeping a low or even slightly negative balance.\u00a0 Soon my balance was almost always negative, sometimes even dropping close to the credit limit.\u00a0 And that\u2019s when I found out that you can still bounce checks with a credit line.\u00a0 Those bounced check fees were just as painful as the pre-credit line ones.<\/p>\n Oh, and don\u2019t confuse a checking account credit line with checking account \u201coverdraft protection.\u201d\u00a0 They\u2019re not the same!\u00a0 With overdraft protection the bank might cover an insufficient fund transaction but you\u2019ll be charged \u2013 usually around $30 \u2013 for the favor.<\/p>\n So practice grief avoidance. \u00a0Use online bill pay and a checking account credit line to make penalty fees disappear for good.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *\u00a0 Source: Bankrate\u2019s 2010 Checking Study<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Swiss American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross discovered that we all tend to go through five stages of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.\u00a0 These stages were originally associated with people who are suffering from terminal illness, but since then they\u2019ve been found to apply more broadly to other types of loss, including financial loss.\u00a0 And 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