My mom always said to me “Nothing in life is free” and I always agreed with her. However, there are some things that do come damn close to being free! Last month, my dad informed me that a person from a bank had left me a message on the house phone about opening up a checking account. I blew it off because my current checking service was fulfilling my daily needs. A few days later, the bank somehow obtained my cell phone number and offered me a deal I could not refuse.
I already had a vehicle loan account with this bank and they wanted me to open a checking account. Every month I drop a check off at this bank and the teller asks me why I do not have a checking account with them. I usually reply with some sort of excuse about how I don’t mind manually paying it every month and how I am happy with my current checking account.
It is funny how $342 in free money can easily persuade you! All I had to do to receive one free car payment was open up a checking account, set up automatic direct deposit, and set up an automatic bill pay every month for my vehicle loan. The only catch here was that they would deposit the equivalent of one free car payment to me by February of 2010, pledging my loyalty to them for a minimum of a few months. This is a no brain-er in my books.
Every pay period, I have $200 from my paycheck deposited into this new checking account and on the last day of every month, $400 is transferred towards the vehicle loan. No other strings attached. No contracts. I looked for any other types of fine print and, so far, have found nothing. So far it is not resembling a free credit report that is not too free.
This is the first time I have automated my finances and I have avoided doing so for a long time, probably because of my fear of commitment (don’t tell The Fiancee). Maybe this is step one in the right direction, although it would be easier to automate everything if I did not have the Evil Sallie Mae in my life or a minor Credit Card problem. One step at time. Right now I will take this FREE money a run.
One Comment
Automating your bills is seriously amazing! I did this about a year ago. I have a credit union account I had a loan with (paid it off $$$) and I use that account for all of my recurring bills and monthly payments. I put half of my payment amounts and estimated bills from every paycheck, and have bills automatically paid and write checks for bills only from that account. Everything that goes into my checking account is spending money since my savings is also automated.