Savings Resolutions to Kickstart the New Year

Home Blog Savings Resolutions to Kickstart the New Year

Posted On: January 11, 2021 by Peoples Bank of Kankakee County in: Budget Personal Finances Saving Seasonal

2020 brought a lot for us to handle, so we’re hoping 2021 will be the best year yet! Now is the time to start thinking about the changes you want to make with yourself and your habits this year. That’s why Peoples Bank of Kankakee County wants to offer our favorite savings resolutions to kickstart the new year.

Improve Your Credit Score

Improving your credit score will allow for a higher credit limit, better rates on loans and so much more! To do this, work on creating a plan to pay off any current debt on your card. Think of what you can afford to pay off each month until you’re at $0 – while also factoring in any other expenses that will be put on the card while you’re paying it off. Once you’ve done this, be sure to set reminders on your phone or app to know when to pay at least the minimum balance on time. Paying late harms your score. Lastly, if you already have one or more credit cards, don’t open any more and/or close a card you no longer use. The length of time you’ve had your newest card plays into your overall credit score as well, so you don’t want more new cards until you have your debt paid off and make payments on time.

Build an Emergency Fund

People may think that they have money in their Savings or Checking account, so they don’t need an emergency fund. But what if your car were to breakdown or your furnace stopped working? That’s more than a few hundred dollars to fix which will make a large dent in your account. Then, all of sudden, you realize you have very little money in your Savings or Checking account and now need to figure out how to pay for your mortgage and car payment, as well as gas, groceries and utilities. This is why it’s important to have an emergency fund – that way, you know exactly what you have in your other accounts and have specific money set aside for emergencies.

Pay Off Debt

You don’t need to pay off all debt this year, as that’s unrealistic. You do, however, need to start a plan of attack to get on track with your payments on what you owe. When it comes to your mortgage, continue to make your normal payments. For other debts, like credit card debt, student loans, car payments and so on, work on seeing what you can put towards those each month and see if you can increase payments anywhere. Starting with your smallest debt can be a place to begin.

Create a Budget

Once you start writing down what you spend every month on every little thing, you will start to see how much money is going out of your account. By sitting down and going over your expenses, you’ll be able to see what you should cut or begin to limit. Then, you can come up with a realistic budget to work on sticking to each month which will help leave you extra money to spend on paying off your debt or putting in your emergency fund!

These are just a few ways you can start to save this year and help put yourself on the track to financial success. If you need a savings account to store your emergency fund, open one with us today!

An overdraft occurs when you do not have enough money in your account to cover a transaction, but we pay it anyway. We can cover your overdrafts in two different ways:

We have standard overdraft practices that are available after your account has been open for 30 days and as long as you maintain your account in good standing.
We also offer an overdraft protection plan, Overdraft Protection Sweep, a link to a savings account. It may be less expensive than our standard overdraft practices. To learn more, ask us about this plan.

This notice explains our standard overdraft practices.

What are the standard overdraft practices that come with my account?

After your account has been open for 30 days and as long as you maintain your account in good standing, we do authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions:

Checks and other transactions made using your checking account number
Automatic bill payments

We do not authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions unless you ask us to (see below):

ATM transactions
Everyday debit card transactions

We pay overdrafts at our discretion, which means we do not guarantee that we will always authorize and pay any type of transaction.

If we do not authorize and pay an overdraft, your transaction will be declined.

What fees will I be charged if Peoples Bank of Kankakee County pays my overdraft?

Under our standard overdraft practices:

We will charge you a fee of up to $30 each time we pay an overdraft.
The maximum daily overdraft fee per presentment or item paid using the Overdraft Reserve Program is $150.00 per day.
No per item handling fee will be charged on de minimis overdrafts. De minimis overdraft for this policy means transactions that overdraw your account by $30 or less.
There is an overdraft fee of $5 per day that will be charged beginning the 4th consecutive business day your account is overdrawn.

Nonsufficient funds (NSF) fees - if an item drafted by you (such as a check) or a transaction you set up (such as a preauthorized transfer) is presented for payment in an amount that is more than the amount of money in your account and we decide not to pay the item or transaction, you agree that we can charge you an NSF fee for returning the payment. Be aware that such an item or payment may be presented multiple times by the merchant or other payee until it is paid, and that we do not monitor or control the number of times a transaction is presented for payment. You agree that we may charge you an NSF fee each time a payment is presented if the amount of money in your account is not sufficient to cover the payment, regardless of the number of times the payment is presented.

PAYMENT ORDER OF ITEMS - The law permits us to pay items drawn on your account in any order (for purposes of this section "items" means checks, orders and electronic transactions). To assist you in handling your account with us, we are providing you with the following information regarding how we process those items. When processing checks and orders drawn on your account our policy is to pay lower numbered checks and orders in numerical sequence, but electronic transactions are paid first in the order received. The order in which items are paid is important if there is not enough money in your account to pay all of the items that are presented. There is no policy that is favorable in every instance. If the smallest items are paid first, you may have fewer NSF or overdraft fees, but the largest, and perhaps more important items (such as rent or mortgage payments) might not be paid. However, if the largest items are paid first, your most important items might be paid but it may increase the overdraft or NSF fees if funds are not available to pay all of the items. We think our policy attains a reasonable balance between minimizing additional costs to you and paying your more important items. We encourage you to make careful records and practice good account management. This will help you to avoid creating items without sufficient funds and incurring the resulting fees.

What if I want Peoples Bank of Kankakee County to authorize and pay overdrafts on my ATM and everyday debit card transactions?

If you also want us to authorize and pay overdrafts on ATM and everyday debit card transactions after your account has been open for 30 days, you may opt in.

You have an ongoing right to change this consent at any time. If your overdraft privilege has been revoked for any reason, the opt-in or opt-out selection may not apply. Please contact your nearest office for more information.

Alternate ways to Opt In/Out or make changes:

By Phone. Our Customer Care Representatives can be reached at 815-936-7600.
By Mail. Peoples Bank of Kankakee County, 333 E. Court Street, Kankakee, IL 60901
In Person. Please visit your local office and ask a representative to help you decide which plan is best for you.