Cash Poor with Checking Fees Looming

I have a regular checking account with Bank of America and that’s where I deposit all of my income before spreading it all around.

Maybe not the best idea but it works for me.

The one thing I’m not real fond of with BoA’s regular checking accounts is that if your balance dips below $1500 at any point during the month, they’ll hit you with a $14 maintenance fee.

I hate that.

Didn’t hate it when their limit was $750 but definately hate it now as much as I did when they first raised the threshhold (and I first got dinged by the fee.)

This morning I find myself with a balance of $1507.31.

Yep, less than $10 away from getting fee’d.

Sure, things could be a lot worse — I know there are a lot people out there that don’t have a $1500 cushion to rest on and end up paying the maintenance fee every month.

I’m thankful that I’m not really close to zero. Very thankful.

So here’s my dilemma…

I can avoid dipping into fee territory if I postpone (or just skip) my next automatic car payment that I have scheduled in my aggressive pay down plan.

That would save me from the $14 maintenance and only cost me maybe $3 or so in added interest on the loan.

No brainer, right?

Skip the payment.

But here’s the thing… if I skip this payment, what happens next week when I get low on cash?

Do I skip that one too?

I mean, my car loan statement currently says my next payment due date is September of 2016 — OVER a year away.

I could totally skip it.

But I’m not going to.

I want this loan to go away.

I came up with a plan to make that happen quickly, and I’m going to stick with it — even if I pay a few fees along the way.

Financially, by the numbers, I mean, it’s clearly the wrong way to do things but, for me, paying a $14 fee is worth it to rid myself of a $444.15 monthy payment before the summer is over.