Think this will ever happen in the states? Barclaycard will automatically lower your interest rate if you make more than the minimum payment… I wonder if companies in the US will follow Barclaycard’s lead?

Bouncing a check sucks, besides the ridiculous not-sufficient-funds fee, banks can cut you loose if you bounce one too many checks. With the spread of information with the advent of the internet and a mysterious black list database, banks could deem you and your account to be more of a liability than an asset and actually close your account. I’ve never heard of this but I’ve never bounced a check and never known anyone to bounce more than a check or two by accident - never done in an attempt to play the float.

If you ever bounce a check and are forced to pay an NSF or any other fee, be sure to kindly ask them to reverse the charges. If it’s your first (or at least the first in a long while), they’ll like it remove it without incident. If they don’t, threaten to take your business elsewhere… and if they let you leave, then leave.

3. Bouncing a couple of checks can cost you your bank account.
Not only can your own bank kick you to the curb, but it can put you in a financial database that acts as a kind of black list, says Rutter. Result: For up to five years, other banks could be leery of giving you an account.

A host of technological advances have exacerbated the problem. Among them: widespread use of debit cards, which don’t necessarily stop working when the account is empty and new financial regulations and processing methods that have cut the “float time” (the period it takes to process a check) that many people build into their bill-paying schedule.

Use online banking or toll-free numbers to keep tabs on your accounts, especially if you’re a debit card addict.

This is part of a series of articles taking a closer look at the tips provided by Bankrate’s Debt Counselors’s 15 tips article.

Source: Bankrate

Oh man oh man, please don’t ever just make minimum payments on your credit card bill unless you want to be paying for that cheeseburger for the next ten years. According to the calculator at Bankrate, if you had a $1000 credit card bill and only made the minimum payment of 5% each billing cycle, it would take seventy months (five years and 10 months!) to completely pay off the bill. You would also have paid $382.47 in interest, or a whopping 38.25% premium onto the existing bill.

The minimum payment might seem nice (only paying $50 a month on something that costs $1,000) but in the long run it’s you who will be paying… 38% more than what you were supposed to.