We’re always trying to think of fun and easy ways to save money. We wrote about New Year’s Savings Resolutions at the beginning of the year, and those are some great ways to start saving. But, if you’re having trouble sticking to a Savings Resolution, we can help—with our Save the Change checking account!
Our Save the Change checking is a great way to save that “spare change” in your checking account. What’s great about it is that aside from using your AmeriChoice VISA debit card, you don’t have to do anything. We do all the work for you and you start saving money without thinking about it!
When you use your VISA debit card, those purchases are rounded to the nearest dollar and at the end of the day, the difference is transferred to a special Saved Change account. Another great thing about our Save the Change account is easy math! Instead of subtracting the change in your checkbook register, you can do whole dollar amounts.
Think about your daily purchases, a morning coffee is $3.75, the grocery store trip is $47.95, a stop at the gas station was $20.50 and your purchase at the pet store was $15.20. You would subtract $4 for the coffee, $48 for the grocery store, $21 for gas and $16 for the pet store. Then, at the end of the day, a transfer for $1.60 would go from your checking account to your Saved Change account.
The best way to think about it is like that change jar you have at home, but it’s electronic, and your family can’t “borrow” money from it without you knowing, like they can with your change jar at home. Those funds are available to you whenever you want to transfer them (but they are subject to Regulation D).
There are some days where you might only have a few pennies transfer over, but on average members can save about $20 a month and that would mean you could save $240 a year without having to do anything!
Our personal financial management system, FOCUS is another great (FREE!) tool to use along with our Save the Change account. You’re able to get your full financial picture in one place, set up financial goals and alerts, as well as see your transactions through all of your accounts and best of all, FOCUS is already included with your Online Banking, so you can get started right away!
If you’re interested in switching to a Save the Change account or need help setting up FOCUS, talk with one of our representatives. They’ll be happy to get you set up!