Balancing Your Checkbook

Things to do when you can’t balance your checkbook:

Step 1: Check your addition and subtraction.
From the last point that you were able to successfully balance your checkbook, go through your register and recalculate your figures.

Step 2:  Are there any missing entries or duplicated entries?
Once again, go from the last point that you successfully balanced your checkbook and make sure that you did not miss an entry, such as a debit card transaction or automatic payment, or wrote the same item in twice.

Step 3:  Get out your highlighters and markers and color your statement.
Grab a few different colored highlighters or markers and go through your statement and match it up with your ledger. Use your colored highlighters to mark the transaction off on both your statement and your ledger. This helps to ensure that all of your transactions match up and nothing was overlooked.

Step 4: Is the amount you are off divisible by nine?
Take the balance that the bank has and the balance you have in your ledger and find the difference. Then take this amount and divide it by nine. If, when you divide this amount by nine and you get a whole number, you most likely have a transposed number. If the amount is not divisible by nine your error is not a transposition of numbers.

Step 5: Visit a Highpoint Community Bank Customer Service Representative.
If you have tried steps 1 through 4 and have not resolved your balancing issue, it is time to come visit one of our Customer Service Representatives at any one of our Highpoint Community Bank branches. Sometimes you just need a second set of eyes to find the mistake.

Our customer service representatives are available Monday–Saturday at all six locations to answer your questions.