Letter for a change of direct debit

You've opened a new bank account and you need to have your paychecks and withdrawals in the right account so you don't run into trouble. Make a list and note the bills that are automatically paid from your bank account. You can't close your old bank account until you set up another way to pay those bills.

You may want to switch to old-fashioned bill payments for a while so nothing gets lost in the shuffle. You can still pay bills using online bill pay, but you'll be "pushing" money out instead of having your service providers "pull" payments.

Parallel accounts? If you can afford it, you can simply fund both accounts with enough to cover the bills, and switch the bill payments to the new account.

In any case, the idea is to start using your new bank account. If you want to write checks or use an online bill, start writing checks from the new account and fund those payments by transferring money from your old account.

Comprehensive view: don't just look at one month's transactions. Review the entire year (three months is the bare minimum). You may only make certain payments annually or quarterly, and these tend to be large payments (life insurance premiums, for example). Other payments may be infrequent, such as PayPal processes from your checking account for infrequent online purchases.

Make a list of all your expenses and check them off one by one as you arrange to transfer them to your new bank account. Our sample letter will help you do just that.