Protecting Your Finances

Stay up-to-date on your financial picture:

Being vigilant about monitoring your account—the modern-day version of balancing your checkbook—can protect you against overdrafts, unwanted fees or worse: fraudulent activity on your accounts.

• Check your balance daily.
• Review other accounts (such as your Health Savings Account and credit cards) at least once a month.
• Make sure all transactions look appropriate.
• Set up alerts to help you monitor for fraud.
• With Associated Bank online and mobile banking, you can customize alerts for each of your accounts. Simply sign into your account and navigate to “alerts.” Then set up those that will be most helpful to you— transaction-based, balance-based or fraud alerts.

If anything ever looks out of place, look into it right away and call your financial institution if needed.

Protect your credit

Achieving and maintaining a good credit score are important for making larger purchases like a home or vehicle—and being able to get the best loan rates.

One way you can protect your credit score is to keep your balance low. A good rule of thumb is to not exceed your credit utilization (how much you’re charging against your balance) by more than 30 percent. For instance, if you have a $1,000 credit limit, try not to charge more than $300 in a given statement cycle.

Another way you can help your score is to pay more than the amount due, if possible. This can go a long way toward lowering your balance!

Did you know that everyone is entitled to one free credit check a year? Take advantage of that, and check your credit score. Banks use reports from three sources – TransUnion, Equifax and Experian – to determine your overall score.

If you’re having trouble paying your credit card bill or other loans, reach out to your credit card provider or financial institution to find out if there’s anything they can do to help. For instance, Associated Bank is offering a relief program that includes options to help customers manage their loan and credit card payments. Find more information here.

Avoid Identity Theft

Identity theft can occur when someone compromises your personal information and uses it to conduct fraudulent activity. This may occur in the form of tax-related theft, or when someone fraudulently opens accounts or services in your name.

Identity theft can occur without any warning, but the best way to minimize impact and the time it takes to recover is to catch it early! A few simple ways you can watch out for this:

• Check your statements for unexplained transactions.
• Make sure that you’re receiving all your bills and mail.
• Don’t ignore debt collection calls—these could be tied to fraudulent activity.
• Pull your free annual credit reports to check for new, unknown accounts.

If you believe that you’ve been the victim of identity theft, the FTC has an identity theft website, where you can report it and start taking the necessary steps to recovery.