Balancing Your Account to the Penny
June 22nd, 2009 Loans
One would think that if you balance your check book and you are a few pennies off, no big deal. After all, what’s a few cents between you and the bank?
It can turn out to be a lot, in fact. When you balance an account, you are checking off both deposits and withdrawals. In the end, there should be no difference between your results and those of the bank.
But how much you are off is actually a result of a combination of deposits and withdrawals. So while it may appear to be pennies, it can actually mean that you are way off in one or more transactions, and the combination of deposits and withdrawal only appears to be in the range of a few cents. Those few pennies can mean overdrawing your account.
If you are balancing your books and you are still getting a difference between what you say and what the bank says, then check the amount of each transaction. Compare each transaction from your records with the bank’s records. If your writing is messy on a check, what you thought you wrote and what they actually read (and took out) can be two different things. Sometimes you’ll get distracted and record the wrong thing. Usually when you make sure the transaction amounts are correct, the numbers will balance.
You can also double check for a long time back by going to your bank’s website and looking at your transaction history. Many banks even include images of your checks and deposits so you can make sure you know what is happening in your account. Looking back over several months of transactions can help you to find a problem.
If you are still having a problem, the bank will help you, although sometimes this will cost money. Nevertheless, part of being able to manage money wisely involves knowing exactly what you have in the first place.
