We use many different banking products. Most of us have a current account at the local branch of one of the big high-street banks; for paying by debit card and paying bills. Other accounts include a joint account, owned by two or more persons and common abroad, and a giro account. The latter is not a standard banking product outside Croatia. Normally, everyone’s is trying to be in the black, but sometimes you spend more money than you have in the account; this is called overdraft and it is agreed by the bank, but you pay a high interest rate on it. You are then in the red or, to put it differently, your account is overdrawn. If you have some money to put aside, it’s a good idea to open a deposit account or savings account. This account pays you interest, but not very much.
There are two common ways for bills to be paid directly from your bank account – direct debit and standing order. In the US and Britain, both are commonly used to make payments of all sorts of bills from mortgages and loans to credit card bills, council tax and utility bills.
With direct debits you are giving a company or other organisation permission to take money out of your account on a regular basis. With standing orders, you give the bank a written instruction asking it to make regular payments of a fixed amount of money from your account.
Most people have one or more credit cards. Buying with plastic is very convenient, but the interest rate is even higher than for overdrafts. If you want, your bank will send you a monthly bank statement. If you want to check your account balance, transfer money to other accounts and pay bills, but you don’t want to waste time queuing at a bank, there is telephone banking, internet banking and mobile banking, which allow you to keep on top of what is happening to your money at all times. Other banking products include different types of loans, insurance and investment products and services.
