Using a Checking Account

Using a Checking Account Losing your job can create an unexpected financial burden, which can lead to even bigger problems and the accumulation of debt. Luckily, there are steps you can take to improve the situation more quickly. In this podcast, we will cover those tips and discuss how you can lessen the severity of the impacts a job loss can have on your financial stability.

Using a Checking Account: Learn how to handle the financial challenges of unemployment.

Transcript

Welcome to another edition of our CredAbility [now Clearpoint Credit Counseling Solutions] Podcast. Along with your host Mechel Glass, here’s Steve Moore to bring balance to the world of checking accounts.
Steve: Well, Mechel, we know that when people are struggling financially, often there is a problem with their checking account. Either they have one, and they don’t manage it well or maybe hard to believe, but some people today don’t even have a checking account. So what are your recommendations? How can we help?
Mechel: Well, if they don’t have a checking account, they can come to us, because we have a fantastic class called Check Wise that can teach them the basics about understanding checking accounts, and finding the right account for them. There are different types of accounts out there. Basic accounts, there are interest-bearing accounts, joint accounts, there are money market accounts. There are so many different things, and it’s confusing.
Steve: And are you going to tell me which is the best one for me, or is that for another day?
Mechel: Well, what I’d like to mention here is, find the right account for you. Some people do best when they go into the bank, and they talk with a teller, and they have that relationship. For those people, they need to find an institution that will cater to that particular need, and not charge them to talk to a teller. Other people don’t like going into the bank at all. They prefer to work online. They have online accounts, and they’re comfortable with that. They have direct deposit, so there’s no need for them to go into an institution. They need to find a banking institution that works best for them, so that they’re not charged for their online banking. So the important thing to remember here is, a person needs to figure out how they like to bank and find the account that works best for them where they won’t get charged for the services that they use the most.
Steve: One service we provide here is something that we’re really excited about is called Check Wise. Explain that.
Mechel: Well, Check Wise is an online education course that basically teaches people how to handle their checking account, how to find the right banking institution for them, and it also shows them how to reconcile their checking accounts. So if they’ve had trouble with balancing their accounts in the past, or they’ve written checks where there have been insufficient funds, this course is going to teach them how to handle that going forward in the future.
Steve: Yeah, and then ultimately prepare them to manage their own checking account better, and give the bank they might be working with in the future a real positive feel that these folks are a good risk. These are people we want as customers.
Mechel: Right. The course is going to teach them how to go back to those creditors where they may have written checks that were insufficient, and make restitution to those institutions. And that will show up in their ChexSystems Report. And this course will talk to them about ChexSystems, and how they can pull their own ChexSystems Report to find out if there are any insufficient funds where they need to make restitution.
Steve: Yeah, this is a report that the industry, the banking industry uses to determine whether or not you’re a good risk.
Mechel: That’s absolutely right. And the great thing about Check Wise is that at the end of the completion of their program, they will get a certificate that they can then take to a participating institution who will know that this person has gone through this education, they know how to handle their account in the future, and they’ll be more willing to open an account for that person.
Steve: Thanks, Mechel.
Mechel: Thank you.