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Vacations — like everything else — have gotten a lot more expensive. According to a Nerdwallet analysis, vacation costs went up 9% in 2022 and have increased 20% since 2019. As a result, it can be challenging for families like yours to save enough money to fund their annual summer vacations.

Fortunately, with time and planning, the average family vacation remains well within reach. Here’s a look at ten ways to maximize your vacation planning and ensure you can get the most out of your travel plans.

1. Use Private Browsing

A surprising reality about any effort to book a trip online is that travel engines will have access to a variety of your data. These websites can see what pages you have looked at to explore travel destinations. As a result, your prices may increase based on where you have examined trips.

There’s an easy way around this problem: Use your internet browser’s “private browsing” feature. This is sometimes referred to as “incognito mode.” Doing so will block data, cookies, and previous search histories from travel websites.

Alternatively, you can engage in comparison shopping. Run an identical vacation query on a regular browser and one in private mode to see whether your previous data altered the prices you see.

2. Save Early

A theme of many of these entries is to make sure you know what you are doing in advance (with one exception — more on that later). By giving yourself as much time as possible to plan, you can book within your budget and choose the best recreational options for you and your family.

The same strategy applies to saving. With enough research, you should get a general idea of how much your vacation will cost. From there, you can plan ahead and figure out how much money you need to set aside each month to meet your vacation savings goal.

The right financial institution — like Village Bank — should be able to help you meet your savings goals. You may want to explore various options depending on how much money you want to save and your timeframe. This can include setting up a savings account, money market account, or even a short-term Certificate of Deposit. Alternatively, you may want to earmark a certain amount of dollars every year in your checking account.

3. Use Credit Reward Points

If you have a high enough credit score, you should be able to take advantage of certain perks offered by your credit card company. Many credit card companies offer reward points when you make a purchase. You can then use these points to book your hotel, flight, or more. Doing so can save you hundreds of dollars on your final vacation costs.

Like all other saving aspects for your vacation, this requires planning and homework. You’ll need to know if booking your vacation through one of these sites is financially viable. Getting this information is particularly important, given that the reward points you generate with your credit cards could be more viable elsewhere. As such, comparison shopping is key. You can try booking a vacation component through one of these gateways and then compare the expense against another search.

4. Check Out Social Media

These days, any vacation planning should involve social media. Social media can open your eyes to a variety of attractions that you didn’t know existed.

The next time you plan a vacation, search for your destination in your social media network. You may be surprised by the attractions you didn’t know existed.

Social media can serve as a fantastic equalizer. It can open your eyes to smaller, less expensive attractions you didn’t know about. Furthermore, if you look for information on a particular vacation, you may notice that the paid ads you see in your social media feed have changed. You should take advantage of these ads and see what options are available.

5. Book and Travel on the Right Day

Booking your vacation on the correct day can significantly impact your costs. According to Nerdwallet, Tuesday and Wednesday are typically the best days to fly. Sunday is the most expensive day. The website also found no real difference in when you book a flight. As such, you’ll want to stay vigilant and spend some time hunting for the right deals.

6. Reexamine Food Costs

Food is always one of the largest expenses of any vacation. Given that the cost of food has been one of the hardest-hit areas of inflation, it seems clear that it will eat into a significant portion of your budget. As such, you need to check out ways to save money on vacation when buying food. Ways to do this include:

• Plan ahead by checking out websites like Groupon. Doing so may enable you to find a great deal on eating locally.
• Bring snacks or even your own food so you can make your meals whenever possible.
• Book a hotel with a continental breakfast and take advantage of the free meal.
• Browse websites like Raise that let you buy reduced-cost gift cards.

7. Use Public Transportation

There is a reason public transportation is so popular: It is usually safe and affordable. Instead of booking an Uber or Lyft, check out the bus or subway schedule in the areas you visit.

Also, some vacation destinations offer free shuttle services. While these can be less convenient than renting a car, they are always more affordable.

A bonus of using public transportation is that it lets you see the real area you are traveling in. Vacations often provide a sanitized look at a community or region. By using public transportation, you can get a more accurate perspective of what a community is like.

8. Plan Ahead

As a general rule, planning is critical to saving money on your vacation. Ensure you know where you want to go, how much money you want to spend, and how much you will need to save every month. By planning ahead, you can maximize your savings and make sure you have ample time to find the best deals. You can also have the opportunity to do appropriate research into the least expensive trips.

9. Plan at the Last Minute

Wait…what? Sometimes, waiting until the last minute can help you save a lot of money. If a vacation destination has space, it may offer a massive sale, allowing you to vacation in a location that would otherwise be out of your reach.

Major travel websites, such as Expedia and Priceline, offer sections on their website that can help you find these last-minute deals.

Of course, there’s a trade-off here. You may not be able to find a good vacation, and you may not be able to find the deal that you want. However, if you are willing to take the chance and be flexible in your destination, you can have a fantastic family vacation that is otherwise unaffordable.

Check Out Your Financial Options

A vacation is a major financial investment. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to maximize your budget and take your family on an unforgettable trip. If you are looking for help saving for your vacation — or taking advantage of any number of financial offerings — we’re here to help.

Village Bank offers various personal banking services that can help you and your family protect your financial future. These include reward debit cards and personal banking services that can help you save for a family trip.

Ready to learn more? Contact us today.

Jim Cowell, Consumer Lending Manager at Village Bank, works with all types of consumer lending and loans. He’s a member of a small team at Village Bank that do all the underwriting for all loan products. Jim has an expansive career in both banking and in the mortgage business – so he’s no stranger to the importance of having good credit.

“If you ever want to buy a car or a house, you must have good credit to support that. There are a lot of different factors that go into the underwriting process and decision-making process for different products, like loans or credit cards, but one of the most important is your credit score.” Jim further explains, “Most banks, including us at Village Bank, use the credit score a major indicator of determining who’s an appropriate customer for these products.”

Understanding that the credit score is perhaps the most important thing for securing a loan, Jim offers these ten methods to build better credit.

1. Pay on time.
   “Do not, do not, be late. That is a sure way to drive your credit score down.” This was the first thing that came to Jim’s mind when asked. Late payments are often the most significant and easiest way for one’s credit score to start slipping downward.

2. Limit your balances.
   Jim talks us through an example, “Let’s say you have four or five credit cards, each with a $1,000 balance, for example. And for all of them, you owe about $800-$900. This is essentially capping them out and that in and of itself really drives your credit score down.” Keeping your balances low, in proportion to the credit limit, is a great practice to get into to keep your credit score high.

3. Open accounts that actually report to a credit bureau.
   “Things like a ‘pay-day loan’ or other non-banking products that don’t report to a credit bureau aren’t helping you,” Jim says. If you can, always open accounts that report to a credit bureau. Pay-day loans are often marketed towards those who already have a lower credit score.  However, the rates of these loans are often very high – creating a cycle that’s difficult to get out of.

4. Stay out of foreclosure or bankruptcy.
   Jim warns, “These kinds of events stay on your report for seven to ten years. These are often a disqualifying factor.” There are many ways to help avoid foreclosures or bankruptcy like credit counseling, spending reductions, or debt consolidation.

5. Be prepared to resume paying student loans.
   “The recent student loan forgiveness that we’ve gotten is going away,” Jim explains. The last couple years, some may have gotten used to not having to pay back these loans, but Jim warns to not get too comfortable, because student loan payments are scheduled to return in 2024.

6. Set up automatic payments.
   “This method goes back to just simply paying on time. Some people don’t even know that this is an option, but it completely prevents you from missing payments.” Jim continues, “Mistakes happen, plain and simple, and we understand that at Village Bank. But in today’s crazy world, people get caught up in their own lives and can forget to pay their bills. Automatic payments are great ways to avoid these types of honest mistakes.”

7. Be aware of what you are spending.
   Jim advises, “Check your credit balances and your bank statements regularly, line by line. There is a lot of fraud out there these days. make sure they are transactions you have actually made.” Make sure to dispute anything that is not right or unrecognizable to the credit bureau.

8. Don’t close out old credit cards.
   “Age of credit line is really important,” says Jim. “Don’t close out a card even if you get a new one. You don’t have to use them if you leave them open.” This gives you a longer, more stable credit history that helps improve a score.

9. Pay off your balance every month, if possible.
   “Even if you do not have a card that requires this, getting your credit card balance down to zero every month will really help your credit score.” Creating a simple monthly budget and sticking to it is a great way to achieve this.

Jim acknowledges that there are essentially an endless number of ways to improve a credit score, and that the above nine methods may not be applicable to everyone or every situation. Call your local Village Bank branch to better understand how to manage your credit score.

Christy Quesenbery, Executive VP of Operations at Village Bank, has over forty years of experience in banking. She claims, “I’ve seen tremendous change in the industry. But the thing that has remained is check fraud. Except now, the bad actors’ tools have become much more sophisticated.” Christy’s intention is not to scare the public of the multi-faceted threat that check fraud poses, but to reiterate the importance of safety in banking.

There are four primary types of check fraud – counterfeit checks, forged signatures, check alterations, and account takeovers.

• Counterfeit checks, as the name suggests, is the manual creation of a fake check and MICR line (this is the line on the check with routing and account numbers). With banking technology in a constant state of evolution, this form of check fraud is making it easier to fabricate checks with the purpose of stealing your money.
• A forged signature is an instance of check fraud where the check itself may be legitimate, but the signature has been either completely fabricated or otherwise faked in some way.
• Check alteration is another example of check fraud that takes place on a legitimate check, but the person to whom the check is payable is altered. Everything seems in order from the check payer’s perspective, but of course, the actual check recipient doesn’t receive their payment. “What we find are checks have been stolen from the USPS blue convenience boxes where the criminals have a good check, change the payee and process the check to the new payee” says Christy. Recently, the USPS has alerted the public to criminals stealing from their blue boxes. The Bank advises its customers to use USPS offices or consider online banking bill pay and ACH payments.
• The last main kind of check fraud occurs during an account takeover. Obviously, having one’s banking credentials stolen presents a myriad of other problems. But among them, the ability to create seemingly legitimate checks at will remains one of the biggest threats.

The most common targets of check fraud are businesses, rather than personal accounts. “This relates back to the blue box robberies – businesses that regularly pay expenses with checks this way are often targeted. It doesn’t even have to be big companies that write a lot of checks. Small, local ‘mom and pop’ shops are targeted just as frequently,” says Christy.

The consequences of falling victim to check fraud are serious; Village Bank will always help those who have been affected. Christy continues, “People might be embarrassed to report fraud or that they gave someone their personal information, but they shouldn’t be! It can happen to anyone!” Christy goes on to offer some ways to protect one’s self against check fraud. “Safely and securely store all your personal documents. Don’t leave them in your car. Shred any sensitive documents rather than throwing away. Use ACH – automated electronic transfers – for payments if the opportunity exists to eliminating writing checks.”

Beyond general safeguarding of personal documents, Christy details best practices for safeguarding actual checks. “Only order checks from reputable sources; trusting your check vendor is important.  The Bank will order checks for customers at their request.  Keep your checkbook in a safe secure place and monitor its usage daily. If you have to mail a check, mail them from a USPS office – avoid the blue boxes.”

When writing a check, use the following guideline to deter alterations. “Firstly, use a gel-based or permanent ink pen. These kinds of pen are harder to alter and harder to wash off.” Christy continues, “Write clearly and legibly. Fill out all fields completely and avoid using any abbreviations. If there’s a space between the written dollar amount and written cents amount, draw a long flat line between them. Anything you can do to avoid providing opportunities for alteration.” Most importantly, monitor your accounts.  Report anything suspicious to the Bank.

Shifting into the digital banking space, there are additional precautions Village Bank customers can take to protect themselves against check fraud. When asked about this, Christy responded, “this is what is so great about the current banking industry – online banking! I understand physical checks are the preferred method of payment for many, but Village Bank offers many online tools.” Personal accountholders can enroll in the Credit Manager with Village Bank to monitor and freeze credit. Businesses, too, should utilize online banking and regularly monitor their account activity.  As well, Businesses can enroll in Positive Pay, Village Bank’s solution to deter check fraud.

Lastly, if check fraud is suspected, “Contact Village bank immediately. And always, always file a police report, no matter the amount,” says Christy. Using these precautions and guidelines, customers of Village Bank can feel safe and educated regarding check fraud.

Tucking money away in a savings account is a healthy habit that many people strive for each year. However, the best-laid plans don’t always come to fruition. A recent financial survey found that more than one in five working American adults fail to set aside any of their annual income for savings.More