3 On Your Side: Save In 15 Minutes Or Less
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Do you feel like every time you turn around there is another fee to pay or a cost that you're held responsible for? You're not alone. But as 3 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan finds, making some small changes when it comes to your money matters, could result in big savings.
By now, extra fees may seem like a fact of life. Janet Bodnar of Kiplinger's Personal Finance says, "People are very keyed in to fees nowadays because there are bank fees, there are airline fees, there are cell phone fees, that sort of thing. But there are ways to avoid those."
Kiplinger's Personal Finance has a list of tips in their February issue that you can do in 15 minutes or less. For example if you're prone to overdraft fees, have your bank link your checking account, and a savings account. Bodnar says, "They will simply transfer money from the savings account to the checking account. It might cost you $10, maybe as much as $20 to make the transfer, but that's a lot less than the $35 charge for insufficient funds."
If you're grappling with paying federal student loans, give yourself a break. Go to the student loan website www.myedaccount.com and put your account on automatic debit. "What you can do is authorize an automatic transfer to pay your student loans, and you get a lower interest rate, .25% comes right off your interest rate," says Bodnar.
The savings might seem small month to month, but when you think about what you'll be saving over the course of a year and how that money might be put to better use, those changes probably are worth your effort.
To check out more ways to save from Kiplinger's Personal Finance, visit: http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/save-thousands-in-15-minutes-or-less.html
