Most people never or rarely look at their bank account or credit card statements.
And when they do, there are often strange amounts deducted for things they haven’t authorised.
Mr Wikus Olivier, debt management expert at DebtSafe says the easiest way to notice any strange amounts going off your accounts, is to plan debit orders for more or less the same time each month.
DebtSafe, warns that scammers get hold of people’s money by taking less than R99 off someone’s bank account; a person will not get a notification on their smart phone for this amount and the only way to check this, is to check your bank statements every month.
“Consumers must take control over their finances and take responsibility for any strange amounts going off their accounts,” Mr Olivier says. “If you update your budget monthly, and you check it against your bank statements, you will know exactly what goes on in your finances. Keep track of your spending through the month.”
5 Ways to keep your bank statements in check:
- Construct your monthly budget with your banks statements next to you. It will give you good insight into what you are actually spending
- Make sure each and every debit order going off your account is accounted for. Take action against unauthorized debit orders.
- Check that the debit orders are in fact the correct amounts according to your credit agreement. Many consumers have expected a certain amount and found that they are paying more than they should.
- Check bank fees while you are at it. Maybe it is time that you consider changing your type of bank account. The type of bank account might not be the best fit for your finances.
- Total all the small amounts that you spend at the grocery store. Take that amount minus 10% and budget for the next month to buy all your groceries once off. We usually buy all sorts of unnecessary stuff if we go to the store every day.
