Hurry Hurry Hurry!! How to Start starting over?!

[Bex]

Seeing the attorney tomorrow for an over-median no-asset Ch 7 tomorrow-- all roads lead to bk or death. So now I'm 99.99999999% certain that I am filing and filing asap, I'm consumed with all things financial. I logged into my checking (also my mtg holder and Visa holder!!) to look for various disclosures in advance of opening a new checking as advised by forum members...and voila I'm already freaking overdrawn, 6 days after payday!

Now I'm not even sure I *could* make it another 6 mos, much less 12! I was slammed with 6 NSF -type charges 2-3 wks ago (the associated Visa is maxed and I have taken their payday loans a few times over the past year--somehow they don't seem to be as forgiving on my balance issues as before?!) My finance "method", if you will, was to pay the bills, total the amounts paid against my checking balance, and then carry the balance around in my head till next pay check. Obviously this is not a sound system and has backfired a time or two.

Part of the NSF issue is obviously the bottom line, or I wouldn't be at this forum (of $2500 funds, 90% of debits were DEBT SERVICE), of the other purchases there was a single $135 grocery trip and $100 of gas, cigarettes, prescription co-pays, son's $10 allowance and fast food. With a net of -$38.97 and NSF for the last 3 items --the last one was that ever-so-necessary $10 allowance (xfer to Visa Buxx card)--yah, THAT was necessary!

Looking at this picture, even I can see that THIS IDJIT CAN'T GRASP BASIC FINANCE--you stop spending when the bucket is dry, woman! I know that, once I get a confirmed plan together, I believe I will be fine. I have been practicing the ostrich approach: there were +- 2 pay periods of funds/bills over the past week because I didn't pay anything after my last check (and the > $180 in overdraft fees) but that won't happen again--my plan is the use the monthly budget envelope system --figure out what you can spend and put that amount in an envelope...when it's gone, it's gone! I've never been good at keeping a check register, so I will deal with cash only unless the type of transaction makes that impossible--I feel confident that this will help me keep a handle on things.

My question is: how do you START starting over?? When you are a financial disaster, and you know it, how do you even pick which thread to attempt to stop the unraveling? How can I start my envelope system now? Before I even file and everything is going to be a giant mess for a little bit?






Oh GOD I think I just did something really stupid (I mean even more stupid than my behavior of the past 4 years)...I keep thinking "just maintain until you talk to the attorney" and, even where the bank account is concerned, my intention is to open a new one, but not change my behavior at my current one. I have my mortgage, Visa and checking at the same bank--I don't want to do anything to freak them out as they obviously have the most to lose in this bk. So...saw the 3 items that are over limit...thinking "I hate this so much...these mf'ers...it's for the last time...just maintain a little longer..." I did another payday loan ($500 at $50 fee--comes out of my next direct deposit on the 23rd)...now I just looked again--where they showed no actual overdraft charges before, just the negative balance, now there are 6 at $37.50 apiece!! I took a crazy high interest rate loan on my $500 just so that I could get the the current --remember the neg balance was only -$38.97-- and not be stressed over pennies for the next week. Now the piranha's just TOOK it--nearly all of it!! All I was trying to do was not make waves...

To think I even worked for this company (US Bank) for about 18 mos (processing mortgage loans, no less). If ever a bank could make more money from a single individual, I can't think of a way--first my labor...then the Visa...then the subprime mortgage...now they're snapping up every delicious, tiny little morsel as my life falls to pieces.

And to think that every member of this board has experienced the same...and is only representative of a tiny fraction of our countrymen experiencing the same...

I think I need a good cry. Maybe some illicit drugs.



Thanks for reading--I do have a serious question about starting to budget for poor money managers--sorry it got lost in the drama.

[LuciluS]

Don't be to sound Mean k? But You Do Not Need a Checking Account. Stop using that checking account. Let it lie there and put the negative balance in your Bankruptcy.

You need to go to a Cash Only System and No More PayDay Loans. You can go to the post office & pay less than a dollar for money orders. I say the post office because they are capable of easily tracking a money order, if it doesn't make it's destination.

You need to keep a receipt for Everything you purchase with Cash. I read where you give your son an allowance. Get a small notepad or some of those stickies & note the date & the amount you gave your son for his allowance. Again, You need to account for every penny you are spending.

If you don't realize where your money is going and don't have a sound way of budgeting in the future, filing Bankruptcy is NOT going to do squat for you. Yes, the first couple of month's will be very tough. There is no more driving through the fast food restaurant's. It's time to eat beans and rice for awhile if that is what it takes to get you and your family on the right track.

Please do not go open another checking account as you are not capable of keeping control of it. Just face that fact and start living on cash & using money orders for paying utilities, etc. and Remember, Get a Receipt For Everything. I don't care if you spent $.44 for a postage stamp, the post office will give you a receipt.

Again, I am not trying to be mean or ugly. With the facts you gave, I'm giving you my advice back.

Good Luck!

Luci

[bk2009]

Envelopes are great, but your behavior has to change. You can't rob peter to pay paul. You really need to have a budget - even if you're paying for everything in cash/money orders. So, time to sit down and draw up a budget. Start with your mortgage/rent, utilities, food, car expenses (gas/insurance/maintenance/payments) and work your way down. Include that $10 allowance if you intend on giving it. Include costs for medical (like that prescription cost you mentioned before). Give yourself (and your husband if you have one) an allowance as well - buy your smokes from there. Have a grocery budget, make a list of what you need, cut coupons if it will help and remember, when the money is out in the envelope, you can't buy any more food until it's time to refill the money. That might mean some creative meals.

Also, some employers require direct deposit, so you might have to have an account. No matter, withdraw your money on pay day and don't use checks or debit cards.

[JRScott]

Envelopes work if you go to a cash only policy.

You have an envelope for gas, one for food, one for electric, etc.

When an envelope is out of money you stop spending in that category.

The very first thing if you must continue a checking account is to stop the direct deposit. Open a new account that has no attachments to your debt, and then move the direct deposit there.

Next you must start filling out the checking account balance ledger. It is the only way to stop your current behavior if you fail to go to cash only.

Sit down and write a budget. You can get free budget paper from lds.org (under provident living), daveramsey.com or any number of other sites. Sit down and make a monthly budget and then stick to it.

Stop paying any debt you plan to discharge in the bankruptcy, don't worry about the overdrawn charges etc on the current account...just include it in the bankruptcy. Stop all autowithdrawals from the current account.

[keepmine]

I agree with the others. First thing you do is stop paying all debt that'll be discharged and that means the overdrawn bank accounts. Use that money for basic living expenses.

[Bex]

Don't be to sound Mean k? But You Do Not Need a Checking Account. Stop using that checking account. Let it lie there and put the negative balance in your Bankruptcy.

You don't sound mean at all--this is exactly what I want and I'm so thankful that someone that's been down this road has taken the time to share their wisdom with me!


Please do not go open another checking account as you are not capable of keeping control of it. Just face that fact and start living on cash & using money orders for paying utilities, etc. and Remember, Get a Receipt For Everything. I don't care if you spent $.44 for a postage stamp, the post office will give you a receipt.

I'm really not trying to be obstinate or stay in denial here, I want to be very honest with myself, yet do what's going to be best in the long run for my family--

Wow, this is such a discovery process, huh?

I was about to engage in some rationalization, saying it (my bk) was "only partially my fault" due to the facts that everyone here is familiar with: over my head in the mortgage and the ccs keep racking up unfair charges (the over-limit after limit decrease trick, etc, etc), had a couple of surgeries to pay for, etc, when my logical mind put the brakes on: "wait a minute, chicky, those things are factors affecting and maybe even accelerating this situation but the single cause is the fact that you did not manage your money properly."

I do get it...it just keeps getting ever more clear as the days go by...and I am relying on those old rationalizations less and less as I can smell my own bs a lot easier!

Having said that, I still want to ask: how do I know that I am truly "not capable of keeping control of it" --I know that part of my (past) accounting problem is the fact that I avoid looking at the unpleasant. After bk removes a giant mass of unpleasant, if I'm following a strict budget, with EVERYTHING accounted for (from savings, toenail clippers to playing poker once every 5 years--as much as humanly possible, anyway) I intend to have complete knowledge and control of my finances at any given moment.

Here is my plan, so far--it's early days yet and this keeps getting refined as I obsess, I mean plan, for the future. My intent for having a checking account is twofold: first, I have to have direct deposit of my pay and second, obviously, convenience.

My intention is to use the account strictly for regular household expenses:

mortgage
utilities (on a levelized payment plan)
student loan payment
car payment (if there is one)
savings (if it's still there after bk, my ingdirect account allows any number if different "accounts" --I'd like to be able to budget for replacement costs, say my ancient furnace or other large, non-regular expeditures--eventually, vacation-planning and have all those amounts go into their proper fund automatically)

Any monthly payments that are consistently the same $ amount, I would like to have paid automatically (bank to payee, not payee taking an automatic draft). Then, since savings has already been addressed automatically, withdraw whatever budgeted amount is needed for day-to-day incidental purchases for the period: gas, food, clothes, etc. Put those each in their own envelope in a safe place in the home and away we go...

Envelope empty? Go without or borrow from another envelope in emergencies. If Peter's envelope was robbed (AGAIN?!? poor Peter!!), adjust budget next month to accurately reflect reality. If Peter caught a break this time, examine situation to see if expense is merely forestalled or if it truly was an impulse/emotional thing. If envelope is not empty at period end, why not?? It should be--reevaluate.

NEVER will I go back to the bank in that same period without threat to life or limb--truthfully, there will not be much there-- it should be a zero balance if the budget is sound, but realistically, probably will have to keep a minimum balance...even so, I think they're low with direct deposit.

No debit card transactions. I may destroy the card, I may not. If not, I will not carry it. Avoiding temptation has never been my problem--I have all 5 of my credit cards in my wallet right now, but have used none in over a year--however I AM in the habit of using the heck out of that debit card --don't know yet how hard that will be to do without, so I won't take any chances.

And then I lived happily ever after!!


Oh, for the sake of contrast and evaluation, I have NEVER had a budget before in my life. The only thing that has kept me out of bk until now was a combination of decent income and modest lifestyle (for illustration: the no $500 cc purchases in 90 days pre-filing test will be no issue for me: I have not used any of my ccs in over a year; my largest purchase this past year was $300, paid for with xmas gift monies!).

Please let me know if you see any issues with my plan? If you see any traps or loopholes?

Do you still think that the checking is unadvisable? I am a single mom of a teenager--we have a household of 2 + 2 dogs, of which I am chief cook, bottle washer, bus driver, you name it --my time is already pretty dear, I do not want to set up unnecessary burdens on myself, but I DO want to give myself the best shot at the peace and freedom of having my financial house in order. Doing all the household finances with cash and MOs, while I know it can be done, would add a significant "chore burden" to my life as I am accustomed to paying bills electronically. The whole point of filing bk is relief--I don't want to just start arbitrarily punishing myself.



Again, I am not trying to be mean or ugly. With the facts you gave, I'm giving you my advice back.

Nope, not atall, I think you are being very generous and I soooooooo appreciate your time and attention!!

On my behalf, please don't think I'm being obstinate and "special" as we humans tend to do--"oh no, I'm different--it was because my dog died and I happened to pick the single day the bank was closed and blawblawblaw!!" I'm trying very hard to catch myself in all of this illogical thinking that does nothing but complicate my life in the end, so my intention is to be as open and honest with the people here so that I can get some real help! I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you see me BEING special, please call me on it!! I know it's much easier to go "eh, I did what I could, she'll find out on her own sooner or later" but I truly want the honest feedback.

So, if you believe that my plan does not look sound and I will eventually pay more "stupid tax" in the form of bank charges due to my mismanagement, I will absolutely take it under advisement! I will be going over my plans ad infinitum with my dad, who has the expertise of being a CPA in addition to having great familiarity with my "money personality", if you will, and I intend to run this whole conversation by him (Mom, too, just because she's not a licensed financial pro, she's no slouch!) to get his realistic take.


Good Luck!

Thank you so much


Hopefully this verbal diarrhea clears up soon--this has to be the longest post in the history of the internets!!

[needachance]

Read Dave Ramsey's book, aside from the part about don't do BK of course, but he has lots of excellent advice about how to budget and keep track of things, even exercises and worksheets.

Total Money Makeover...or any other of dozens of finance books out there.

[OhioFiler]

We are using You Need a Budget

The trial version is free and it works similarly to the envelope principle. You set your expense category limits each month and work hard to not exceed them.

It's also a zero sum budget meaning you must budget every cent of income for any given month. This forces you to put extra cash into savings.

It also is designed to get you to a point where the money you earn in the current month is used to pay nect month's expenses.

It really helped us to see where our money went and give us a tool to manage it.

[LuciluS]

K. So got to have bank account for direct deposit of paycheck. Dang It! LOL! What's funny is my husband's employer refuses to go to direct deposit & I want him to.

First off...good luck in find a bank who is going to give you a checking account with the other checking acct. being overdrawn. I would start with a small bank or small credit union to see if you can even open one. If you cannot, there is another way, but it's complicated.

IF you are able to get a checking account, you WILL record every night and balance your checkbook. Then you will go the bank's website & verify your balance is correct. You do NOT pay a bill Unless the FUNDS are in the banking account. Yes, I sometimes will set up some bills to be paid a week or two in advance, but I know what $$ are coming in as I receive Social Security Disability the same time each month. But I don't want you doing that. No money in bank..no payments until money is there.

Being a single mom is tough and you have to do it all. Running through the drive thru is so appealing when you've worked all day. A Good thing to do is maybe on Sundays is cook up a bunch of meals, like spaghetti and place it in gallon freezer bags. You can do a lot of meals that way. I use the bags as you can put them on a plate & unzip a tad bit & defrost in the microwave. Then take & transfer it to a regular bowl or dip on individual plate to get them hot. I don't like using plastic containers as the plastic tends to melt & they are heck to clean especially with a red sauce in them. I've read they are not good to heat up stuff in the microwave.

We cannot eat beef as my husband is a cardiac patient. But you can get an offbrand of a George Foreman at a fairly decent price. Buy hamburger meat in bulk. Mix in some spices like garlic powder, onion powder, Cavender's seasoning, worschestorshire (sp?) or soy sauce & make your own hamburger paddies. Wrap them individually in wax paper & put them in a freezer bag. Heat up that off brand George Foreman, spray some oil on it & slap those hamburger paddies on there & in about 7-9 min. they will be done. Take a bowl of 1/2 vinegar & water, dip paper towels in it & lay them on the thingie you just cooked on. Let is set overnight & wipe clean the next day. Cottage cheese, microwaved green beans or some easy Mac N Cheese goes good with a hamburger paddy or make a hamburger.

If your Dad is a CPA, he should be able to help you with a Budget. Do you get any money for child support? Maybe that could be put back for savings?

Over median Chapter 7 possible filing? How Much? Do you have anything on paper to show the Attorney tomorrow? like how much you pay for rent or mortgage & bills associated with house/apt/condo or Tent LOL! Do you have your paystubs in order or something in print of the gross less the taxes = net?

Luci

[Bex]

Really not THAT much of a naif...

First off...good luck in find a bank who is going to give you a checking account with the other checking acct. being overdrawn.
If you'll recall, I am not overdrawn, that's how I authored the gripping novella "How to Lose > $300 in Milliseconds" this morning.

you WILL record every night and balance your checkbook
Not sure that's really going to be necessary, given that there will be something like 8-10 transactions once a month. Daily reconciliation of that account seems a bit like overkill.

But I don't want you doing that.
This, too, I will take under advisement.
Where meals are concerned, while I do appreciate the tips, feeding the fam has not driven me to bk.

If your Dad is a CPA, he should be able to help you with a Budget.
Yes

Do you get any money for child support?
No

Do you have anything on paper to show the Attorney tomorrow?
Yes

My chest.



I kid! I kid!

I have 2 most recent paystubs (before and after annual increase) on which I have annualized/12 all withholdings (I am paid bi-weekly).

I have the completed means testing form 22A:

a.) using my maximum monthly income (with annual cost of living increase) if I file at any time in the next 5 months, my monthly income will be less than this max
b.) only the standard IRS allowances--no adjustments

after application of my student loan payment to my monthly obligations, my MDI is $110. There a several ways I can document $11 per month, but my favorite and the most obvious is to file ASAP to have more of my "old" income in the lookback period.

I don't think I'm going to bother with more docs than that for tomorrow--this is probably not the guy I'm going to retain, but the guy I could get in to see ASAP. He's not going to want to bother with a whole lot of calculations for a freebie, is he?

I have been putting together a "real" expenses spreadsheet for my own purposes--I may bring that along, just in case.

Anyway, thanks for reading over my plan! Again, appreciate all input!

[LuciluS]

Yes, it's best to get under your State's Median Income..less scrutiny.

Crap! We retained our Attorney late last Sept. & stopped paying all but 1 Credit Card as I had a Balance Transfer of $3,500 in 8/08. He advised me to make 3 min. mthly payments and add a little bit. He wanted us to file in Dec. or Jan.09.

Thanks to hubby finding this forum, I found out some monthly monies I was receiving was deemed taxable or we would be in a Chapter 13 paying for 5 years. That money dropped off in Feb. So we will be filing in 9/09 using Mar - Aug.09 gross Income.

Local Standards or ok for Free Consult. When you figure out what month you will be filing..I would go back for a year and see if your utilities are higher than the local standards. I know our mortgage payment is higher than the Local Standards and our Electric bill also. Our medical insurance and out of pocket medical bills are a Lot higher than the norm.

Well Good Luck Tomorrow. Let us know how your appt. went when you can.

Luci

[Bex]

Still soooooo much to learn

1st things 1st: my checking

Even tho I haven't officially "decided" to file (on traceable record!), I want to be ever so careful about my behavior, of course. Yet I'm still seething about the giant gift I made to US Bank earlier...

Turns out, as long as I get the request in by close of business, Friday, next Thursday's payroll check will go wherever I designate--USB is not getting that $500 nor its $50 fee!

Soooo... hope I haven't fudged things up further--I immediately forgot about opening the new checking while this one was in the black (um, DUH, I know this--what is WRONG with my brain??)...and I promptly forgot that the deposit will not go through, anyway...still thinking "I need to get at least some of that money back, plus I can't use my debit at all now--I have to open an account AND live until Thursday!"

With $186.xx Available Funds, I withdrew $180 from the ATM. I have canceled all the BillPays and the VisaBuxx draft, put Netflix on hold, canceled my wee little $15/mo deposit to INGDirect...I think I've broken all links with the exception of my regular bills where I have to initiate the transfer. Hopefully I will still be $6 to the good in the morning when I go to open a new checking.

Why oh why could have just not logged into the account? Or just left it alone?? My plan was to do NOTHING (but research) until I talked to an atty and I couldn't even sit on my hands for 72 hours?!?!!?

I am just feeling so...adrift at the moment. I'm normally a bit spacey and do bonehead things like that with fair regularity, but it's just so important now! Doesn't help that I'm barely sleeping at night and having night terrors when I do. I look at all of the signatures on this forum and I know I'm looking at 4 months of this at a minimum--not sure I can survive.

Okay, I want to say more on means testing and such but I feel just real beat up right now--I'm headed over to Mom and Dad's to see if there's any tea and sympathy lying around. I want my mommy!!

Thanks very much for the advice and the ear, Luci! Still haven't figured out why you said "Crap!" about your taxable income --sounds like you pretty much have everything moving forward? But I'll be back around later (if anyone wants to feel better about themselves "well, at least I'm not a total space cadet like THAT chick!") ;)

[LuciluS]

You are not a Space Cadet! Sounds like you try to overcome your challenges with your witticsm. You are getting on the right track. Just admitting you need to do Something in order to help your financial situation is a Big Step.

You stated people talking about being in this for 4 months...get prepared Dear. Each month Bankruptcies are setting an all time high. In fact in the Credit News Section on this forum there is a post where Trustees are overworked and they need to hire more.

When I first found out late last Sept. by a Debt Management Co. we needed to see a BK Attorney, I had no clue what a Chapter 7, 11, 13 or 20 meant. Then we met with the Attorney the next week. I came home and cried for a week and 'wallored' in my own self pity and tried to take the whole blame as I'm home day/night (disabled) and pay the bills and hubby is out working his butt off driving a truck all over the US six days a week.

He found this forum for me and it has been a godsend. I started reading posts after posts, using the Search button & then started asking questions.
'Google' has become my Best Friend LOL!

I'm confident our Chapter 7 will be a breeze, but I'm prepared for the worst, if need be. I have every receipt, whether it was cash, check or debit card. I have spreadsheets out the wazoo. My husband said 'Gee, we're paying this Attorney and you are doing all the work'. I told him, no, Sweetie..I don't have a Law License nor do I have a good repore with the Trustees like our BK Attorney does.

I can now sit back and say I've enjoyed this journey and being able to plan a portion of our BK being under the median. What I hadn't planned on was all the medical bills we've incurred this year. But, I will get what I can paid before filing and the rest will have to wait until we are discharged.

I am also prepared for our Chapter 7 to go into next year because of all the Bankruptcies. O That's another ? for your Attorney. If you normally get a refund on Federal/State Tax Returns, use last year's figures and see if he can get you 2009 tax return exempted.

Well, I'm tired. So I'm taking my meds and off to bed.

Luci

[Bex]

I just can't get to the attorney soon enough--I just realized that I may not be able to stop the deposit and the $550 w/out some kind of fraud or something--GRR. Well, I will find that out tomorrow afternoon.

I came home and cried for a week and 'wallored' in my own self pity and tried to take the whole blame as I'm home day/night (disabled) and pay the bills and hubby is out working his butt off driving a truck all over the US six days a week.

Girl, that just breaks my heart--of course, if you were able, I'm sure you would contribute your share financially. As it is, you contribute your "sweat equity." Your DH is too busy to do all of this research and education (probably would work plenty of hours, looming bk or not!) so you have contributed enormously by doing what you're doing (plus you help ME--doesn't put food in your pantry, but you're definitely filling the karma bank!!)

But it really troubles me that so many people--people that really and truly are insolvent and in dire need-- have to work and stress and struggle at possibly the worst time of their lives just for this $%^& means test! Killing themselves for the "privilege" of declaring themselves insolvent and laying waste to the vestiges of the life they had before they were enslaved to the credit card companies!

And though I am in exactly the same boat, I hesitate to put myself in the same category because of this ludicrous means test!! Mine is nowhere near a slam dunk --$10k/yr over the median--but it doesn't cause me THAT much worry ...as I said earlier, I'm within a few dollars of the 2nd criteria (less than $100 MDI) without any special treatment at all and the last criteria (the 60 x MDI < 1/4 unsecured nonpriority debt) is easypeasy. The kicker being my house...you're thinking I must live in a mansion, huh? Nerp, it's 47 years old, 1400 sq ft, 3 br/2 ba and ordinary in every way except for my mortgage.

So...going through all the standard guilt and recriminations PLUS guilt that I make "soooo much money" and still can't make it work!

If you believe the fiction that the bk reforms were to protect the consumer, then they totally missed the boat: as all my "extra" income is eaten up by housing and student loans, I'm no better able to pay than the man in the moon and could only WISH I could have enough assets to need my pitiful (KY) state exemptions!

But I'm seeing the reforms anew:
1) above median income, you were probably granted more credit initially and likely have higher balances and credit cards companies have more to "lose"
2) the credit cards companies now can go NUTS with the predatory tactics because it doesn't matter when (not IF) they drive you to bk --they get paid on both ends, thanks to their pals in congress!


And thinking about it just makes the top of my head want to come off! But then my good old American Puritan work ethic jumps in and (correctly!) reminds me: they could have been charging 7000% interest with $7000 late and over-limit fees and I STILL wouldn't be here if I'd only managed my money properly!

Now I know that there are a good many that have had extreme circumstances--reversals of fortune due to health emergencies and such, but even a number of those (and I've had 2 necessary surgeries over the past 5 years and am still in chronic pain, myself) can point to poor decisions at some point.

Oh geez, I thought I was leading to one last point. I've lost my way!

Oh, I do have another question for you on means testing: is the pass/fail thing a 1-time thing and then you file ch 7/ch 13 and from then on the only concern is your "reasonable and necessary" expenses? Like a snapshot for the means test? Because, if need be, I can be even poorer on paper real quick--I haven't seen the doctor for months, though I've needed to, because I couldn't really afford the copay. I need labs and all kind of stuff--my medical out-of-pocket will go wayyyyy up after bk (hopefully temporarily) but, if NOW matters at all, not just the 6 month lookback, I'll get moving--I made an appt today just to see about some Ambien or something till this mess is done--melatonin used to make me sleep like a baby but these days, I think only a plastic bag over my head will give me rest!!

But I will have to try...hope you are having restful, peaceful sleep already!

And I enjoyed our "conversation" very much today--and learned a LOT. Oh yah, tax refund 2009 will be nearly non-issue: I changed my withholding last year to have more to pay monthly bills--I may even come up a little short the way it is now. But thanks very much for the heads up on the exemption!

[cinderella]

I would open another checking or savings account somewhere else ASAP before these NSFS are reported to the check system. Paying cash is great but sometimes you cant always carry cash around and you want somewhere to put your money and direct deposit.