5 Reasons to Check Your Bank Account Every Day

1. To Check Your Balance

In the era of online and mobile banking, it's simple to log in to your bank account and check the balance. Here are a few good reasons to monitor your balance daily.

• You can see whether your balance is getting low. If it's too low to cover pending transactions, you can move money from another account into this account to avoid rejected transactions and overdraft fees. In 2019, overdraft and non-sufficient fund fees charged by U.S. banks approached $15.5 billion, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• You can break bad habits. Reviewing your account balance each day can help you spot problem areas. For instance, perhaps you'll notice a pattern of blowing a lot of money at bars and restaurants. Checking your balance on a regular basis may help you detect and correct this behavior.
• You can ease your anxiety. Financial matters can trigger a lot of stress. Realizing from day to day that your bank account is in good shape can help alleviate some of this stress.
• You can question unusual activity. Keeping up with the account balance enables you to catch strange items, such as a debit card purchase that's twice the amount of what it actually was.

2. To Stay on Top of Your Spending

That debit card in your wallet may feel like a ticket to freely spend money. But it's not.

Checking your balance every day can help you rein in overspending. Maybe you've been splurging on shoes at your favorite store or you've been indulging in a lot of fancy dinners at your favorite restaurant. Keeping an eye on your balance can enable you to cut back on spending so that your bank account isn't constantly being drained.

Given that 58% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a 2023 survey commissioned by CNBC, it's vital to stay on top of your spending.

3. To Verify Deposits and Withdrawals

Looking every day at your bank balance gives you a chance to verify whether deposits and withdrawals are being made properly.

For instance, maybe you're counting on a federal tax refund to be automatically deposited into your account but it hasn't shown up yet. If you're monitoring your account every day, you'll be able to quickly investigate why the refund may be delayed.

The same holds true for withdrawals. For example, perhaps you withdrew $500 at an ATM but your bank balance reflects a $5,000 withdrawal. Promptly catching an error like this can prevent overdrafts and other issues.

4. To Look for Fraud

Fraudsters constantly take advantage of bank account holders—to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

In 2022 alone, the Federal Trade Commission received reports of more than $407 million in financial losses stemming from fraudulent bank transfers or payments. Meanwhile, wire transfer fraud accounted for more than $78 million in reported losses, with debit card fraud at nearly $50 million and check fraud at almost $47 million.

Reviewing your bank account each day can help you discover fraudulent activity that, if it goes unnoticed, could cause plenty of financial pain. If you do notice potential fraud, contact your bank immediately.

5. To Boost Your Savings

You check your bank balance and see that you've got more money parked in your account than you realized. But none of that money is earning interest. Therefore, you may decide to shift some of that money to a savings account that does earn interest. Or you might move some of the spare cash into an investment account.

In this scenario, monitoring your bank account each day can truly pay dividends.

The Bottom Line

From keeping your spending under control to spotting potential fraud, checking your bank account every day can help you avoid financial trouble and help you better manage your money. There's no right or wrong number of times to check your bank account, but doing so every day can give you peace of mind. After all, it's your money, and you want to make sure nothing stands in the way of depositing, withdrawing or spending it.