Usually all you have to do is contact your bank by phone or through Internet. You must then provide bank with following information: name of person or company to which you want to send money, as well as routing number, account number, phone number and address of recipient's bank. The next step is to determine amount of money you wish to transfer and when transfer needs to be carried out. After bank receives this information wire transfer will go through. Some banks allow this to occur immediately if you've initiated transaction online, while other institutions require that you phone or fax them before proceeding.

After you have sent wire transfer, it is a good idea to confirm that transfer has gone through. This is only way you'll know whether or not intended recipient received funds. You should make sure you have sufficient funds in your account as well, otherwise transfer won't go through. Also, find out what fees you will have to pay to make transfer – this type of transaction is never free.

To calculate your balance, record you checkbook's current balance either at top of a piece of paper, or on back of your statement. It is recommended you use back of your statement if your bank provides a worksheet there for calculating your balance. Now, subtract amounts for uncleared deposits and bank fees, including monthly fees and those for bounced checks, and subtract from your calculated total. Then add any uncleared checks and interest you have earned to this new figure. Finally, compare final figure to your bank statement.

If you discover at this point in time that your bank has unfairly charged you for something, get in contact with them as soon as possible. Also, if you notice any discrepancies first time around, or can't reconcile your final balance to bank statement, you might want to double and triple-check your calculations.