Working with a credit counsleor will help you pay off debt fast and manage your personal finances more efficiently. Our free credit advice is personalized to your unique situation.
The details on your credit report, like your credit score, directly impact your everyday financial well-being. Your credit score influences your ability to secure the best interest rates on loans, helps you qualify for housing, rentals or a mortgage, and even plays a role in obtaining employment for certain types of positions.
Your credit report can influence your ability to find housing, employment and secure a loan. Knowing your score and understanding your report are the first steps towards your financial health. Our certified financial counselors will guide you through your credit report, answer questions, and give personalized guidance towards improving your score.
Learn about the process of getting a bank account with BankOn. Learn all there is to know about opening a bank account and the responsible usage of the bank account.
Speak with a Debt Coach to review all your options and discuss the best strategies for getting debt relief. We’ll point you in the right direction, whether that’s DIY debt relief or a debt program, like Debt Management Plans or Debt Settlement.
Debt is common and manageable. Our certified financial counselors are standing by ready to answer your questions, provide guidance, and help you reach your financial goals. Speaking to one of our certified debt counselors is completely free. Our counselors will be able to review all of your options for getting out of debt and guide you toward the best path forward.
A financial counselor will help you determine whether a Debt Management Plan is your best path toward effectively managing debt levels. Once you enroll in a plan, we become your personal advocates, working closely with you and your creditors to pay off debt in a timely fashion.
Debt settlement is a process that allows you to pay off debt by paying a single lump sum that is lower than the total amount you owe. Settlements are achieved through negotiation between lenders and consumers or a third-party debt settlement company. Our counselors will help you assess if debt settlement is the best debt relief option for you.
Credit.org is an Executive Office for United States Trustees ‘EOUST‘ approved agency. Our experienced financial counselors work with people in all stages of their financial life, including the challenging decision of bankruptcy. Our cousnelors can help you obtain the certificate you need to file for bankruptcy or discharge debts in bankruptcy.
Credit.org offers expert student loan counseling to help you manage your education debt. Our certified counselors guide you through loan repayment options, consolidation, and strategies to alleviate student loan stress. Get personalized assistance to navigate your student loan journey and find the best solutions for your financial goals.
Whether you are current on your mortgage payments, experiencing a financial hardship, or ready to begin your homeownership journey, take action and reach out to a HUD Certified Housing Counselor today!
Work with our HUD Certified Counselors who will assess your current mortgage needs and help guide you to the options that are best suited for your specific situation.
If you are 62 or older, have equity in your home, and are considering a Reverse Mortgage loan, it is important to speak with one of our HUD Certified Counselors to understand the benefits and risk of this product.
Our award-winning counselors are here to help prepare you to own a home. We provide education, resources, and guidance to make your home buying process efficient, stress-free, and rewarding.
Don’t start your home buying journey without getting the facts first! Whether you’re a first-time home buyer or someone looking to get back into home ownership, you will need a well laid plan. Our HUD-approved Home Buyer Classes will help you navigate the home buying process and equip you with useful tools & resources for purchasing a home.
If you are seeking guidance regarding renting, call us to speak with one of our financial counselors who will help you develop a budget, create a detailed action plan, and who can provide you with local, statewide, and national resources.
Community Affordable Loan Solution™ is designed to create homeownership access for clients who have never envisioned themselves as a homeowner. Credit.org has partnered with Bank of America to assist first-time homebuyers with pre-purchase counseling and homebuyer education.
Credit.org has partnered with Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta to provide your pre-purchase or owner-occupied credit counseling.
Helping San Diego County, Riverside County & San Bernardino County residents CLIMB to financial freedom!
Since 2010, financial institutions are required to get your permission for overdraft protection, a service that you would opt in to receive. If you’ve opted in, you will be charged overdraft fees if you exceed your account balance.
Many banks and credit unions offer overdraft programs, and these can vary by institution.
It might seem like overdraft fees are a problem of the past: in the old days, people mostly wrote paper checks that would take some time to clear, and if money got withdrawn in the meantime, there would be insufficient funds for the check, triggering an overdraft fee.
Now, with the new laws regarding overdraft fees, the speed with which banks process payments, and the spread of electronic payments instead of paper checks, it would seem that overdrafts would be less common.
It’s not true, though. There are more reasons than ever for overdrafts to happen. People have more online subscriptions than ever. They use online bill pay, where the money is scheduled to come out of their account at a later date. And some people still write old-fashioned paper checks. On top of that, some purchases won’t go through as fast as we expect. If you order something online and it’s not in stock, the merchant might process your payment days or weeks later when the item becomes available again. That timing might not be good for your budget, and trigger overdraft fees when the delayed purchase goes through.
How to avoid overdraft fees
The first thing to do is opt out of overdraft protection. This is the default setting for bank accounts by law, but if you’ve opted in to overdraft protection, you need to change that. If you’re not opted in, then one-time transactions will be declined if there aren’t sufficient funds, so you won’t be charged overdraft fees.
Yes, it’s inconvenient and potentially embarrassing to be told at the register that your transaction was declined, but overdraft fees can severely hurt your finances—that $5 latte can become a $40 cup of coffee when overdraft fees are applied.
Notice we said one-time transactions are declined. Banks may still process your payment if you have recurring automatic deductions, online bill pay, or other regular payments deducted from your account. This means you will still have plenty of opportunities to trigger overdraft fees even if you haven’t opted in.
Use your bank’s bill pay. It’s better to set up bill pay from your bank’s side, rather than direct debit—with the latter, you authorize your biller to withdraw the funds required straight from your account. It’s convenient for you, but puts you at greater risk of overdrafts, since you aren’t involved in the bill payment process. By using your bank’s online bill pay instead, you still have to log in and authorize the payments, so you know how much money is available and there are no surprises.
Beware of temporary holds. If you buy gas at the pump, your debit card will typically be charged a pre-set amount that might be greater than the real purchase. You might only want to get $10 worth of gas, but a gas station might put a hold on your funds that could be 10 times that amount. We’ve seen reports of gas station holds of $125 or more, just to make sure you have enough funds to pay for your fill-up. Tip: One way to prevent this is to avoid using debit at a gas pump, and go directly into the store and prepay for the exact amount of gas that you want. Eventually, that money is released back into your account, but while it’s being held, you could have much less available than you think, putting you at risk of overdrafts. Another place temporary holds are common is at restaurants, where a default amount is added for a tip, and then the real tip you authorize is calculated later. If the default hold is higher than the actual tip, you risk coming up short.
Use your financial institution’s app. Keep track of your balance all the time. Use your bank’s web site or app so you always have a quick way to check your balance. While you’re at it, sign up for alerts, so you’ll get a text message if your balance drops below a certain amount. Many people don’t like to think about their bank balances, especially when they get too low, but it’s critical to your budget and financial well-being to be aware of what’s in the bank at all times. This will also help you spot things like fraudulent charges quickly so you can get them resolved before they do too much damage.
Link your savings account to your checking so that if you are overdrawn, money is automatically transferred from one account to the other. This might not be free, but a transfer of this nature will be much less than an overdraft fee. Think $10 for the transfer vs. a $35 overdraft fee.
Use prepaid cards. If you continue to have problems with overdrafts on your account, you could set up a prepaid card, so that there’s no way you can spend more than is available.
Get budgeting/debt counseling. If you have a lot of credit card debt, they can set up a debt management program or self-administered plan that will teach you to live on a cash basis while paying off that debt. This budgeting help is worth seeking out if you’re in any danger of overdraft fees.
Article written by
Melinda Opperman
Melinda Opperman is an exceptional educator who lives and breathes the creation and implementation of innovative ways to motivate and educate community members and students about financial literacy. Melinda joined credit.org in 2003 and has over two decades of experience in the industry.