By carefully managing your money, tracking personal finances and familiarizing yourself with your financial institution’s policies, you can avoid paying unnecessary fees. Take adequate time to ask questions and understand how much any institution will charge you to access your money. The money you save could mean the difference between an overdraft charge and a positive account balance.

Some examples of fees than can be avoided, along with sample questions you should ask of any financial institution, are as follows:

• Monthly fees: Is there a monthly fee for having an account? If so, is the monthly fee based on the account balance?
• Non-Sufficient Fund (NSF) fee: How much is the NSF fee?
• ATM fees:  Will you be charged for using other financials’ ATMs? Does the financial belong to an ATM network that allows the use of surcharge-free ATMs across the country?
• Online access fees:  Is there a charge to access your account information online?
• Bill pay fees: Will the financial institution charge for paying bills or transferring money online?
• Tele-banking fees:  Are there fees for requesting transactions via the telephone?
• Teller fees:  Are there fees for discussing your account with a teller?
• Overdraft fees: How much is charged for an overdraft? Are there fees incurred for overdraft protection?

DuTrac’s EcoPlus Account is a great way to avoid fees. EcoPlus has elements related to receiving loan rate discounts, savings rate premiums, surcharge free ATM usage, identity theft protection, free debit card usage and other benefits. More importantly, it can grow to sustain the financial needs of members as their financial needs change over time.

In addition, DuTrac’s EcoPlus Account has no minimum balance requirements or monthly maintenance fees. DuTrac offers many other products and services – all free of charge – to every member: online account access through PC Branch with MobileLink, online Bill Pay, telephone banking through AccessLine and much more.

To learn more about the EcoPlus Account and other money-saving products and services DuTrac Community Credit Union offers, call (563) 582.1331 or (800) 475.1331 or stop by one of DuTrac’s convenient office locations to speak with a highly qualified financial services consultant – fee free, of course.

EcoPlus® Account is a Registered Trademark of DuTrac Community Credit Union.