The bank ID card that we receive these days, one for each bank account, is a report that gives a full financial picture of our situation at the bank and includes information about expenses, income, assets and liabilities as they appear in the bank account. The information contained in the report is an important tool for supporting economic decision-making and improving our banking conduct.

So what do you do with your bank ID?

First open the envelope, or log into your online banking account and download the report to your computer, sometimes it’s the hardest. After opening the report, we can look and discover that the information in it includes everything, all the information we wanted to know about our bank account, concentrated in one place. The structure of the report is uniform in all banks, which means that the structure is studied once and can be applied to any bank account you or your loved ones have.

Here are 10 things everyone should do when the report arrives:

1. Check your account settings: Check account holders and authorized persons and make changes as needed (Report Location – General Part A)
2. Check your balance of assets and liabilities: What is the ratio between your bank assets (credit balance, deposits, savings, securities) and your liabilities (loans, overdrafts, guarantees). (Position in the report – Part 2 Balances per day)
3. Check savings versus credit: Do you overdraw regularly (minus) and pay interest on the overdraft and also save on the deposit and receive a much lower interest rate on it? We recommend learning to live from what you have, meaning that your expenses will not exceed your income. Once you have managed in a balanced manner, you may consider withdrawing the deposit funds at the nearest point of departure, in order to cover the overdraft. (Location in the report – Part C 1: Income/expenses from interest, credit facilities and loans versus deposits and savings)
4. Check if you’re balanced: Look at your monthly income against your expenses and see if there are months of the year when you regularly find it harder. Prepare for them in months when your income is higher than your expenses and close with a deposit money that will help you in the months when you are unbalanced. (Position in Report – Part C 1 Monthly Income Expense Graph)
5. Improve loan terms: If you have bank loans, you can use your bank ID to try to get better terms at your bank or another bank. Before taking out a loan, consider whether you really need one. (Location in the report – Part C 3 Adjusted interest rate on each of the loans and credit facilities)
6. Early loan repayment: Learn about when your loan’s interest rate will be updated so that you can explore the possibility of repaying the loan on that date and thus save a loan repayment fee. (Location in the report – Part C 3 Interest rate change date field)
7. Adjust the amount of your credit limit to your needs: If your credit limit is too large for your needs, adjust it. The interest rate on the overdraft is divided into brackets, act to reduce the interest rate on the expensive step and increase the cheaper bracket. If you’re never overdrafted and still have a credit limit, consider canceling it. You pay a credit allocation fee to a facility you’re not using. As a reminder, a bank overdraft is the problem, not the solution. (Location in the report – abbreviated report, part C, section 3. Additional information is available in the detailed report, chapter 3: credit facility in current account)
8. Check the feasibility of switching to a uniform commission track: By comparing the fees we paid to the bank in the past year, we can examine the feasibility of switching to a uniform commission track (in which you pay a fixed amount every month for a fixed number of transactions) Learn more about the uniform commission track.(Location in the report – Part C: 4 Annual average of the commission and number of transactions performed in a series of current fees)
9. Bargain over portfolio management fees: If you have an investment portfolio, it is recommended to look at the detailed report for full information about the portfolio and the various fees. (Location in the report – detailed report chapter 5)
10. Check how much you get on the plus: Do you get interest on an account balance? See if it’s the best alternative for your money. A deposit, savings or portfolio may be more suitable for you. (Location in the report – Part C, 5 additional current account data)