Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) recently announced that they would be halting the practice of automatically enrolling in programs which previously allowed customers to overdraft their checking accounts via use of their debit card. Bank of America’s new policy will deny debit card transactions unless customers pre-agree to pay overdraft fees if they charge more money on their debit card than they have on their account.

Most consumer advocates have hailed the move as a step in the right direction or the largest bank in the United States to improve their customer service, but the reality is that the threat of accidentally or intentionally over drafting your account shouldn’t be an issue at all. The $39.00 fee that Bank of America or any other bank would charge you should really be a non-issue because through the use of proper checkbook balancing, you should never overdraft your account.

An excellent strategy for those that aren’t good at keeping track of balances on your checking account is to keep an amount of money that serves as padding. This is money that you won’t ever spend in your checking account, but will serve as a means of making sure that there’s always money to cover transactions in your account.

For example, I keep $500.00 in my checking accounts as my “base amount.” I consider this to be my “zero” mark. Any time that my balance drops below the $500.00 mark, I consider myself to be in the red on a personal standpoint and don’t spend any more money until I put more money into my account. Having a padding amount of $100, $500 or $1,000 in your account is very useful to prevent overdrafts in the case that a check you receive fails to clear in a timely manner.

Another strategy that you might consider if you’re not good at balancing your checkbook on a day to day basis is to put all of your every-day purchases on a credit card with a high limit and pay it off at the end of the month. You won’t have to worry about accidentally over-drafting your account because of the high limit.

If you’re in a situation where you simply don’t have any money and you’re over drafting your checking account, then you have bigger issues to worry about than a $39.00 fee from Bank of America. In that case, it’s time to put yourself on a cash-based budget using the envelope system that will prevent you from spending more than you have and will help you prioritize where your money should go.