When I wrote a few days ago about overdraft protection, I received this interesting comment from James (capitalcouplesfinance.com):
Overdraft protection can be worth it…but not if it’s tied to a line of credit. I don’t know if all banks are like this, but mine allows you to tie it to another account that you hold there, such as your savings account. Then you only get hit with the transaction fee. No annual. No interest.
I thought this was interesting, and asked my bank about it, only to find that it is not a possibility. The “customer service manager” told me that the …read more

I love me some questions from readers, and I thought this one, in light of my recent adventures in banking, was a great one:
Is overdraft protection worth it?
One of the things I love about personal finances is that they’re, well, so personal. Really, it depends on your habits. First, though, a little background on overdraft protection.
What is overdraft protection?
Overdraft protection is a loan. It is a line of credit that you are allowed (usually between $1,000 and $10,000, depending on what you are approved for) to use when your account goes into the red. The idea is to help you …read more

SO, I’ve had a bit of a rough go with the debit card the past few days. For me, it started on Friday, when a purchase I was trying to make with the debit card was rejected. First thing I did when I got home (after using one of my husband’s credit cards for the purchase; I don’t carry credit cards with me normally) was check my online account balance. Everything appeared to be in order.
I should have looked deeper.
I went to the bank Saturday morning to talk to someone about this. They looked at my account history and found …read more