Do You Take Responsibility for Your Finances?

Part of eliminating your debts is taking responsibility for your finances. It is your name that is on your accounts and the bottom line is, it is you that the lender will call if your credit cared payment is not made on time. So just how much attention do you pay to that credit card statement when it comes in the mail each month?

Let’s start with your checkbook. Is it balanced? Do you know how much money is in it? Or do you always keep enough money in it that you know none of your checks are going to be returned. I guess that is better than not having enough in it when the checks come in. But, what happens if somebody is automatically deducting a monthly charge from your account and you are not aware of it. The charge may be small enough that you are not noticing it in your balance.

If you don’t balance your checkbook and don’t pay much attention to your bank statement, how long is it going to take you to discover this amount is being charged to your account every month? It could take you a while. It is your checking account. Take responsibility for it and know what is going on with it. It could save you a lot of problems and money in the end.

Now let’s talk about credit card statements. I worked in the credit card industry for quite a while and I can’t count the times somebody called me and wanted a late fee removed, because they did not know they had been charged for something and did not pay their bill as a result. If a credit card company goes to the trouble to send you correspondence, you better look at it. If these people had been reconciling their statements they would have noticed that they had been charged for something they had not authorized.

Then the other one I heard a lot was that their spouse takes care of the bills. Well that may be true but if the account is in your name it is still going on your credit record, no matter who takes care of paying your bills. My personal feeling is if you went to the trouble to open the account, you should take responsibility for it and something tells me the financial industry feels the same way. Taking responsibility for your finances will keep them under control and you from having problems in the future.

Marjorie Salada is the owner of debtmanagement1.com, a website that contains information on debt consolidation, debt settlement, debt counseling and how to manage credit card debt.