NIU students are very familiar with TCF Bank. With a branch located in the Holmes Student Center, TCF is one of the most logical solutions for every student’s banking needs.

Overdraft charges, however, make what should be simple banking a nightmare for some.

Jason Korstange, director of corporate communications for TCF, said when a customer does not have enough money in their account and they write a check or make a debit transaction, one of two things can happen.

“Our program checks the history of the account, how long they have been with us and many other factors to decide whether or not the bank will pay the check written,” Korstange said.

Whether the bank pays the check or not, he said, the customer is charged an overdraft fee that they are expected to pay.

The overdraft fee is $35 for TCF banks in the northern Illinois area. This fee is applied for every transaction made while having a negative account balance.

For some students, such fees mean a pile of debt that they may be unable to climb out of.

Austin Allen, freshman computer science major, said he was charged $270 in overdraft fees even though the total amount he had overdrawn was only $15, just in smaller transactions.

“I called customer service, and they waived two of the fees for me, but I was still left with $200 to pay for spending so little to begin with,” Allen said.

After about a month of making these small transactions, his mom called saying that she received a notification of overdrawal from TCF for his account, he said.

By that time, the fees had already built up. Usually, when an overdraft fee has been applied, Korstange said, a notification is sent to the customer immediately. Freshman history major Matthew Flores experienced similar problems when he overdrew last semester.

“To keep up with my checking, I usually just check my balance at an ATM. I didn’t realize that debit and check transactions can be behind a couple of days, so the balance might not always be correct,” Flores said.

Allen admitted to doing the same to keep track of his checking balance.

While it seems TCF needs to keep up with notifying their customers when their account is overdrawn, the students should take equal responsibility for keeping track of the balance. Even though they are out of style, you can never go wrong with saving receipts and keeping a ledger.

Then there is Internet banking, something that has gained popularity in recent years.

“I think I would be way too lazy to keep up with a ledger,” Flores said. “The Internet banking is such a hassle to sign up for, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.”

Any way you choose to do your banking, it is a tedious process. You don’t, however, want to be charged extra when trying to spend your own money. Keeping track of your own finances is a way of ensuring that you know the actual amount in your account. In the end, notification or not, it is your responsibility, not the bank’s.