Online banking If you're like most people, you've heard a lot about online banking but probably haven't
tried it yourself. You still pay your bills by mail and deposit checks at your bank branch, much the way your parents did. You might shop online for a loan, life insurance or a home mortgage, but when it comes time to commit, you feel more comfortable working with your banker or an agent you know and trust.Online
banking isn't out to change your money habits. Instead, it uses today's computer technology to give you the option of bypassing the time-consuming, paper-based aspects of traditional banking in order to manage your finances more quickly and efficiently.
Origin of online banking The advent of the Internet and the popularity of personal computers presented both an opportunity and a challenge for the banking industry. For years, financial institutions have used powerful computer networks to automate millions of daily transactions; today, often the only paper record is the customer's receipt at the point of sale. Now that its customers are connected to the Internet via personal computers, banks envision similar economic advantages by adapting those same internal electronic processes to home use.
Brick-to-click banks Today, most large national banks, many regional banks and even smaller banks and credit unions offer some form of online banking, variously known as PC banking, home banking, electronic banking or Internet banking. Those that do are sometimes referred to as "brick-to-click" banks, both to distinguish them from brick-and-mortar banks that have yet to offer online banking, as well as from online or "
virtual" banks that have no physical branches or tellers whatsoever.The challenge for the banking industry has been to design this new service channel in such a way that its customers will readily learn to use and trust it. After all, banks have spent generations earning our trust; they aren't about to risk that on a Web site that is frustrating, confusing or less than secure.
Bill PayingUse online banking to pay your bills, transfer money between accounts and monitor your spending. When you pay your bills online you will need to take 15-30 minutes to set up your vendors (lists of payees, addresses, account numbers, etc.). After that, it takes mere seconds to set up a bill payment. You can opt for automatic payments on a date of your choosing or you can point and click each month.Bills paid via online banking arrive at their destination in as few as two days. You don’t need stamps, envelopes or even a pen. Best of all, online banking compiles and allows you to access your payment history for every vendor on your payee list.
Saving Money by Banking OnlineNot only will you save yourself the worry of searching for perpetually lost cancelled checks and bank statements you will also save a little money. Most credit unions offer online banking services and e-statements, etc. to their members at no cost with direct deposit or a qualifying account (usually as a benefit of a home equity loan or money market account).
Virtual banks If you don't mind foregoing the teller window, lobby cookie and kindly bank president, a "virtual" or e-bank, such as Virtual Bank or Giant Bank, may save you very real money. Virtual banks are banks without bricks; from the customer's perspective, they exist entirely on the Internet, where they offer pretty much the same range of services and adhere to the same federal regulations as your corner bank. Virtual banks pass the money they save on overhead like buildings and tellers along to you in the form of higher yields, lower fees and more generous account thresholds. The major disadvantage of virtual banks revolves around ATMs. Because they have no ATM machines, virtual banks typically charge the same surcharge that your brick-and-mortar bank would if you used another bank's automated teller. Likewise, many virtual banks won'tositto either deposit the check by mail or transfer money from another account.
Advantages of online banking·
Convenience: Unlike your corner bank, online banking sites never close; they're available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and they're only a mouse click away. ·
Ubiquity: If you're out of state or even out of the country when a money problem arises, you can log on instantly to your online bank and take care of business, 24/7. ·
Transaction speed: Online bank sites generally execute and confirm transactions at or quicker than ATM processing speeds. ·
Efficiency: You can access and manage all of your bank accounts, including IRAs, CDs, even securities, from one secure site. ·
Effectiveness: Many online banking sites now offer sophisticated tools, including account aggregation, stock quotes, rate alerts and portfolio managing programs to help you manage all of your assets more effectively. Most are also compatible with money managing programs such as Quicken and Microsoft Money.