Online Banking

One of the first lessons are parents taught us about finances was the importance of balancing one's checkbook.  A routine that we saw our parents go through, on perhaps a monthly basis, seemed frustrating.  They were always trying to find a misplaced dollar that could take hours to find.  We can all remember them staying up late with a desk full of papers, statements, check ledgers and bills.  Even if they wanted to know how much was in the checking account, it still seemed important to find every nickel to make sure nothing went unaccounted.   

Most people want to find a way to avoid this monthly disaster from happening again.  I never did understand the almost lost art form of tracking every transaction on one's checking account.  In today's marketplace, most Employers pay their employees automatically on a regular basis.  No more running to the bank on Fridays and after awhile you may even forget when you are paid.  Even debit/ATM.cards make paying for items a breeze.  They act similarly to a credit card however; it withdraws directly from your checking account.  Soon you will have tons of electronically made transactions without writing a check or ever touching cash.  An average month for most people will have 50 transactions.  Who wants to keep track of all that in a checkbook?   

Internet banking is the solution to never balancing a checkbook again and always knowing how much money is in your account.  There are many benefits in banking online and some of those I will cover here.  It is easy to start banking online today.  Simply start by calling your bank or doing a search on any popular search engine online to find your bank's home page.  From there, you can follow instructions to set up your account.  Answer a few questions and input some data about you and you will be on your way.  You can even see your balance change before the debit or credit is posted to your account once you get everything up and running.   

Internet banking has other benefits as well.  At most banks you can signup for a credit card and link that card to your checking account.  If you are afraid of bouncing a check, do not worry because those funds will come from your credit card to prevent that transaction, wither from an ATM card or a check, from bouncing.  Please check to see the fees but in most cases, it will be more inexpensive than watching that check comes back to you.   

Banking online also gives you 24-hour access to your account.  You can log in anytime to review account balances transactions and other financial information.  You do not have to do your banking on the bank's schedule but on yours.  In addition, you can withdraw cash anywhere at anytime.  24 hour banking means more than just logging in to your accounts, you can also withdraw money.  Even overseas, you can access your account online and withdraw money.  It does not get any easier.  No more carrying traveler's checks or wads of money in some currency it took you weeks to get from a major bank in the states.  Simply travel to a country and find an ATM machine.  Withdraw fund and the give you a great currency exchange rate as well as the currency of that country.  It is a beautiful thing.   

Safety is perhaps the greatest concern most people have.  If you think that Internet banking is less safe than think about this.  Everyday we give our credit cards to waiters who disappear with it for 10 minutes before coming back.  How is that safer than a 128bit encryption Internet browsers use today?  If you do not know what that means, I encourage you to look it up.  It actually takes 309,485,009,821,345,068,724,781,056 or 2 to the 88th power attempts to break in to your account.  Most believe it will be safe for years to come under this system.  However, the alternative is to hope that waiter is not copying your card so when he quits in 6 months with thousands of credit cards numbers stored to use some day.  Internet banking is safe and if you NEVER give your passwords out to anyone, even customer service, it will be safe for a long time to come.  If you still are not convinced, get some coffee and make sure to track down every penny in your checkbook as you burn that midnight oil.