To avoid outrageous overdraft charges, keep close tabs and weave a safety net.

From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance:

Paying an overdraft fee on your checking account is like having your mouth washed out with soap: The bank says it’s for your own good-but is it really? Just ask Ben Kohler, a 19-year-old Pizza Hut manager who’s paying his way through school at Wright State University, in Dayton, Ohio. Kohler has paid hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees. “How do I keep that stupid fee away?” he wonders.

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