#22 Don't think of your overdraft as your own money

by Jane Baker on 21 August 2009  |  0 comments
Tweet

Today's 'what not to do with money' advice is for anyone with a current account that regularly slips into the red.

Today's 'what not to do with money' advice is for anyone with a current account that regularly slips into the red.

#22 Don't think of your overdraft as your own money

Rule 22 is one I was guilty of breaking in my pre lovemoney.com days. If you end every single month in the red, then after a while there's a risk you start to see your overdraft as your own money, and simply as an extension of your available funds.

But the trouble is, this money does NOT belong to you. It never has. It belongs to your bank, and they have the right to demand it back from you whenever they see fit.

If this sounds like you, it's time you started to view your overdraft in exactly the same way as your other debts. In other words, it has to be repaid.

You can tackle this quite easily by being disciplined enough to spend a little less each month. Eventually, you'll find payday has arrived and amazingly enough your account has stayed in the black for the entire time!

If you can't trust yourself to budget more and spend less, then take some even more decisive action by moving your overdraft to an interest-free home.

There are two clever ways you could do that. Find out all about them here.