Comment The spreadsheet won't help. (Score 2, Insightful) 600
Banks notoriously like to post your transactions NOT in the order in which you make them, but in the order the merchant reports them.
So if you've got a balance of $1,000 on close-of-business Friday, make $900 worth of purchases over the weekend, you should have a balance of $100.
First thing Monday, you know you've got a large bill coming due on Wednesday, so you make a $500 deposit, thus bringing your balance to $600.
You make the payment Wednesday, taking your balance down to $50, and your Cheque Register (& spreadsheet) show your balance as $50.
Except the Bank posted them in some twisted order that leaves you with $200 worth of NSF fees because you supposedly left your account overdrawn.
And there isn't a damned thing you can do about it because they say "We can't control when the Merchants post your transactions."
Yeah, except my Cheque Register & spreadsheet show all my transactions AND the balances, and MY numbers don't match YOUR numbers.
Guess who loses - it sure as hell isn't the bank because YOU get to pony-up the NSF fees.
Changing banks won't help, they all do it.
So, please, honestly, explain to me how the spreadsheet is supposed to help?
It hasn't so far, and I'm so anal-retentive when it comes to my money, it pisses me off that I can double-check my math with a calculator & come up with the same answers every time, but the bank seems to be pulling numbers out of its ass
=(