6 Key Reasons You Should Regularly Review Your Bank Account Terms
Written by
Chris Adam
Edited by
Chris Cluff
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You may already be a consumer who regularly reviews your bank account statements and activity online or on an app. Perhaps you review your items on a daily or weekly basis. It may be a financial move you started at an early age or picked up over the years.
It can be a practice to help you spot errors earlier and have a general idea of your weekly or monthly budget at any point. Further, you may be able to see if there is suspicious or fraudulent activity.
Even if you regularly check your account and statements, it’s not a guarantee you’re also reviewing another key part of your banking situation. Here’s a look at six key reasons you should regularly review your bank account terms.
Also learn how to withdraw your money from a bank account.
Discover Unexpected Benefits
Here’s the good news: Regularly reviewing the bank account terms can bring you unexpected reasons to celebrate. You may discover new benefits or ones you’d previously overlooked in your accounts.
As Chase noted, “Consider reviewing the bank account agreement in addition to any schedule of fees to fully understand the features of your account.” Who doesn’t enjoy discovering a feature that can mean more money in your pocket or a chance for rewards?
Here’s some more good news: It may be easier today than ever before to regularly review your bank account terms. You not only have paper statements and banking representatives, but there are bank websites and apps.
Earn More Rewards
Along the same lines, you may discover some other good news if you regularly review your bank account terms. For instance, your bank may have new rules or options through your rewards program.
By reading the terms, you might also discover the bank has promotional bonuses or other offerings you didn’t realize were available to you as a customer. Sometimes these are limited-time offers that you might miss if you don’t take the time to review your bank account terms regularly.
Avoid Some Fees
Now to the bad news. You may want to regularly review your bank account terms to make sure you’re not being hit with or going to experience some fees. These could include fees for ATM use or receiving paper statements.
“Depending on your financial institution, checking accounts may charge a monthly maintenance fee if you don’t use or maintain a minimum balance,” according to Chase. “Regularly reviewing your account activity may help you avoid fees charged to your bank account for not maintaining a minimum balance by allowing you to transfer funds before being assessed a fee.”
Find Other Ways to Make Money
If you don’t regularly review your bank account terms, you may not know about the products, tools and opportunities available to you as a customer. These could help you in lots of different ways within varying areas of finance.
For instance, according to Experian, one reason to regularly review your bank activity is to boost your savings. Perhaps you didn’t realize you’re eligible for certain investment or savings opportunities through your bank. In fact, you may be able to take advantage of investment professionals or advisors located there at your bank.
Consider Your Banking Options
You may want to regularly review the account terms from your bank to ensure you’re still receiving the best benefits and options as a customer. With so many banking options these days, including digital and app platforms, you may discover updated account terms that make you want to search for a different banking option.
At the same time, if you do discover some unfavorable terms, you could talk to your banking representative about other options. If they’re not able to satisfy you, it might be time to start looking for another banking option. And this time, you’ll probably be more likely to regularly review the bank account terms to make sure you’re taking advantage of all the opportunities available to you as a customer.
Answer Your Questions
Dealing with your finances can come with anxious moments and times of uncertainty. One way to lessen these times? Check out your bank account terms.
You can give yourself more peace of mind by regularly looking at the bank account terms. In addition, reading these terms could make you an overall better informed consumer. Perhaps you read over the latest update to the terms and have a few questions. You could then take those questions to your banking representative, who is already armed with the basic information, and maybe walk away with a better understanding of what’s available to you as a customer.
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