How Do I Stop Overdraft and Late Fees Fast?

What's the first thing you do if something's bleeding? You don't start with long term wellness at that point, do you? You stop the bleeding first. You're calm, you're clear, step by step and methodical.Let me ask you this. Do you ever feel like you're being punished for being broke? It's not just that $35 overdraft fee. It's the humiliation, it's the frustration.It's that feeling of I can't get my head above water. And the worst part, the fee hits you, and now you're more behind than you were before.If overdrafts and late fees are eating your paycheck, today's about stopping the bleeding and stopping it fast. Hey, friend. Ralph Estep Jr.Here, this is Financially Confident Christian, where we're breaking the cycle of financial shame and doing it with confidence. And today we're going to talk about how to stop overdrafts and late feasts. Quickly, let's get right into today's listener question.I can't keep up with all these fees. It feels like every time I turn around, there's another $35 overdraft fee or a late charge hit in my account. I'm drowning.And it's so discouraging to see my money disappear on mistakes and penalties instead of going towards something that matters. I need help now. What's the easiest system I can set up this week to stop this cycle? Thank you so much for sending in that question.Because the truth is, fees stop when your money has a simple lane system and your bills have a single calendar. So let's talk about how to break free of this cycle once and for all. Now, I'm going to say something sort of counterintuitive at the beginning.Number one thing I want you to do is turn off overdraft coverage right away. And you might be saying, wait a minute, Ralph, I want these things to be overdraft. But listen, this is the fastest win.Call your bank, log in and do two things. Number one thing, disable overdraft coverage on your debit card purchases. If you have to opt out, opt out now. What does this mean?It means that transactions are going to get declined instead of approving them with a fee. And yes, you might feel a little embarrassed. But listen, one declined transaction is cheaper than five overdraft fees.I had a client not too long ago, they wanted to buy something for $5. Their account was short. The bank paid it for $5 and charged them $35 fee. They just paid $40 for a $5 purchase.Second thing I want to encourage you to do is create a hundred dollar cushion and treat it like it's not yours. If you've listened to me for a while, you know, I used to run a credit union. I was an executive vice president.One of the things that I trained all of our people with is encourage our members to put $100 in their savings account and never spend it. Just assume it wasn't there. Because you don't need a full emergency fund to stop fees. You just need a buffer. And you can build a buffer.Start with $25 this week and then add $25 the next week until you hit $100. And then once you hit it, play a game of pretend. Pretend it doesn't even exist.Because that cushion prevents that one small mist timing from turning into a fee spiral. Here's another thing I'm going to encourage you to do. Set up a two account system. I talked earlier about simple liens. I love this approach.Have two accounts. Have a bills account and a spending account. Here's how it works. When your income lands the bill, money moves to the bills account.Everything else goes into the spending account. That way when you swipe your card, you're not gambling with your rent money.You know what's available and you never get in that position where you've got a check out standing or an automatic bill payment. This is one of the fastest ways that I can tell you to stop those overdrafts. But in order to do that, you gotta have a little exposure.You gotta have an understanding of what you're doing. So put every bill on one list and one date checklist. Here's what I found. Late fees happen when bills live in 12 different places. So do this.This will save you. Make a single list and on that list write the bill. Name the due date, the minimum payment, and then tell us if it's auto pay, yes or no.And then what I want you to do is to pick two money days every week could be Monday, Thursday. And on those days you check the list and pay what's due. When you do that, you're not panicked. You're not doing it every day. It's twice a week.And you're building that rhythm. And that rhythm prevents late fees. Here's another pro tip. A lot of people don't think about this one. Ask for fee reversals.If you don't ask, you're never going to get it. And negotiate those due dates.Many banks and credit card companies are actually going to reverse Those fees, if you ask them, all you've got to do is call them, do a chat with them. Especially if you've been a customer for a long time, you can call them and saying things like, I'm working on stopping this cycle.Can you waive these fees as a one time courtesy? Most of the time they will. I'm going to be honest with you, if this is an every month thing, you're probably not going to get anywhere with them.You got a system problem you got to fix. But maybe the issue is not that, it's that all your bills are due the same date. Reach out to your creditors, ask them to change the due dates.They are usually super cooperative that match it. When you actually get paid, if you get paid weekly, match some things up weekly. If you get paid bi weekly, match some things up there.If you've got some heavy bills at the beginning of the month, see if you can shuffle those to the end of the month. Because when you have that alignment, it reduces those late fees more than motivation ever will.As I said at the beginning, stop the bleeding first and then build some strength. Here's today's win for you. Today I want you to do just one thing. Turn off overdraft coverage and then start that $100 cushion with whatever you can.Hey, listen, even if it's 10 bucks because the goal this week. And listen, the goal in this show is not perfection, it's protection. Let's get to today's Bible verse.Come list on the Book of James, chapter one, verse five. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault.And it will be given to you, friend, you don't need more shame today. I get it. I've been in that position where I've had that, that, that $35 fear.That transaction get canceled right in front of me and it's embarrassing. I get it. But I'm not here to shame you. You need wisdom. You need a system. And the cool thing is what scripture tell us God gives us to us generously.How about we pray together, Father God, you see the pressure and the panic. You see how discouraging it feels to lose money to fees. So Lord, right now I ask that you would give my friend wisdom today.Break that feeling of guilt, that feeling a condemnation. Just give them wisdom, Lord. Help them make some simple changes that protect them this very week. Give them courage to face the numbers.Give them clarity to set up a system. And Father, I pray that you will provide open doors, bring stability to them and bring them peace.We just thank you so much for what you give us and you give wisdom generously without ever finding fault in us. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen. I just want to encourage you friend. You're not bad with money. You just need a better system.If you've got a question for this show, I would love to talk about it on the show. You can get to it by sending it to me at financiallyconfidentchristian.com/question when I give you that again, it'll be in the show notes.It's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/question. Thank you so much for joining me today. I just encourage you stay financially savvy. May God bless you and you have a great day today.