Don’t lose track of your finances this Christmas

Andrew Hagger of Moneynet.co.uk warns consumers that failing to keep tabs on their current account balance over the Christmas & New Year period can prove a very costly error.

December is the most expensive time of the year for most people so it's a great help if your employer shows a little Christmas generosity and pays your salary a week or two early at this time of year.

However with all those presents to pay for plus additional parties and nights out celebrating with family and friends, getting paid earlier than usual means it's even easier to lose track of your finances.

Failure to check the state of your current account and adopting a worry about it later attitude could see you run out of cash and faced with a big bank charges bill in the first few weeks of 2011.

If you don't have an agreed overdraft or you think you could do with a little more financial breathing space, contact you bank or building society and arrange an authorised overdraft to see you through to January payday.

This can usually be arranged very quickly either online, by telephone or popping into your local branch.

Once you've got your limit arranged, make sure you check your account on a regular basis - there's no excuse not to do this these days with the information available 24x7 online or via a cash point machine.

The problem with unauthorised overdraft charges is that there's no common policy amongst providers - some charge daily, some charge monthly, some do both and the level of charges varies widely - but whichever tariff you're signed up to, it'll hit your pocket hard.

For more information, visit moneynet.co.uk.