How to Balance a Screwed Up Bank Account
- 1). Stop making deposits and debits on your account until you figure out your screwed up bank account to help in finding errors faster.
- 2). Start working when you have fresh eyes. Gather your bank account book and print a copy of your account statement, if you have online banking, or get a copy of your statement from the bank. Some banks allow you to print a statement from the ATM for a fee.
- 3). Compare transactions listed on your bank statement to those listed in the account register you keep with your check book. On the bank statement, highlight any entries that match your register. Go back as far as you have to, or to last time you were able to properly reconcile your accounts. This could require going back through several months of statements.
- 4). Highlight, with a different color marker, any discrepancies, such as amounts for the same transaction that do not agree or entries either not registered in your bank account book or on the bank statement. Check receipts or carbon copies of checks to see who made the mistake. Contact the bank if the mistake was theirs or make a note in your account register if it was yours.
- 5). Make two columns on a sheet of paper, if you have not found the obvious problem through Step 4. Write all your debits recorded in your checkbook in one column and deposits recorded in your checkbook in the other. Add each of the columns individually and then find the difference between the two. This is your balance according to your records
- 6). Repeat with the bank's entries on another sheet of paper.
- 7). Take the paper with the figures from your checkbook and add back in any uncleared checks and subtract any deposits the bank does not have listed. See if your figures now match up with what the bank has.
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