On a few occasions in the past, I’ve ended up overdrawn on my bank account because I wasn’t keeping a close track of the account balance. On each occasion, the first thing I knew about it was a letter the next day from the bank informing me that I had exceeded my authorised overdraft limit and imposing an immediate pretty hefty charge.

Well no more! From Monday last, my bank (Bank of Scotland) finally introduced SMS alerts for bank accounts. As well as being able to get regular (daily, weekly) SMS updates on my account balance, I’ve set a lower limit at which I want to receive a text alert so I have time to move funds from my savings account to top it up and prevent it from going overdrawn.

A little late, but finally here, this is an excellent tech advance by my bank and I won’t be caught going overdrawn again without my knowledge. If I go overdrawn now it’ll be my fault. In this tech age, banks making money through charges because you have not been kept informed is just not acceptable.

Has your bank introduced low balance text alerts? Check their website to see if they have. If not, find out when they propose to introduce this. If they have no plans, consider moving to a bank that does. Okay so you’ve had this facility with your bank for some time. Let us know how long so I can see just how long my bank has been dragging its feet on this one.