Be Your Own Banker
Published by on Tagged Banks OnlineBanking is not what it was fifteen years ago, or even ten years ago. The cost of doing business has risen dramatically and it just isn’t cost effective to encourage in person banking anymore. More and more banks are encouraging their customers to do business online. Part of this is starting to charge fees for things that used to be free. But how can you avoid these fees and still manage your finances with smart banking.
If your spending a lot of money in fees every month, first you need to examine the banking products you’re using. This is things like cost checking accounts, high interest savings accounts, and other such things. Most of these services charge a fee unless you meet certain requirements. Maybe these services no longer meet your needs and you’re getting charged unnecessarily. Meet with a banker to determine if there’s something else that would better suit you needs.
Try to determine if your using in person bankers for things that you may not need to be. Part of smart banking is doing what you can by yourself. If another human being is required to service you, this is highly expensive for the bank and there will likely be a fee involved. So, if you just want to know your balance it will be cheaper for you to check it online or with the automated phone system. This also applies for in person banking. There will be more fees simply because it costs so much to hire, train, pay, and supply uniforms for the employees.
Also the type of transaction you use could be the problem. Some banks are charging fees for check usage because so much more work is involved to process it. Electronic transactions are much less expensive so likely would be fee free. All you need for this area of smart banking is a debit card. Anything done without actual paper if going to be much less expensive. Educating yourself about your bank’s procedure is the best way to avoid unnecessary charges and bank online.
Banks Online - How to Find the Best Online Banks
Published by on Tagged Banks OnlineMore and more people are discovering the ease of convenience that comes with using banks online as opposed to a brick and mortar financial institution. Banks online can not only offer convenience but also access to your accounts any time of the day and night, as well as every day of the week (including Sunday’s and holidays!). There is no more rushing to the bank before it closes to discover that you are five minutes late, or worse, you got the hours wrong!
The best online banks can offer you as many financial options as your former banks can and many people argue that the security of banks online is actually better than many brick and mortar institutions and getting better all of the time.
Advantages of Banks Online
Banks online offer a tremendous number of advantages including the time saving element of paying bills directly from your home or work computer, as well as the ability to transfer money from one account to another and from different banks and brokerages, not to mention the ability to view your cancelled checks right in front of you on the screen. Some banks online will send you an e-mail if your balance is running low. Yet another advantage- many of the best online banks have reduced the amount of time it takes for payments sent electronically to clear. It has dropped from five to seven business days down to two to three.
There are banks online that are only online but there are also well known brick and mortar institutions that now allow customers to do much (if all) of their banking online. The well established banks have plenty of resources to build an online presence and offer an assortment of valuable banking opportunities. Some customers enjoy being able to bank online as well as having the option of going into their physical bank if they need to. In this way the banks online offer the best of the banking world!
The best online banks at the present time happen to be two of the biggest. These are Bank of America which boasts 13.6 million online customers, and Wells Fargo is not far behind with 6.8 million online customers.
Best Online Banks- Which Really is the Best?
When it comes to banks online there is plenty of competition. Watchfire GomezPro is an Internet research firm that recently ranked the top 10 best online banks. The criteria they used were the features that customers deem as most important. Read on to find out what they discovered about the best online banks.
All of the banks online that the firm looked at adequately provided for the main services that customers are looking for. These services include such things as guarantees against late bill payments and protection against computer fraud.
Banks Online- The Top Five
When the list of banks online was narrowed down further into the top five best online banks, the differences between each became very minor. For example, Wells Fargo ranked as the number one bank online because it offers Quicken-style tools for viewing a customer’s spending habits. However, Citibank, which was ranked number two of the best online banks, was considered to do better than Wells Fargo when it came to “money movement”. In other words, transferring money from one account to another or one bank to another.
Bank of America came in on the list as the third best online bank which then gave rise to the fourth best online bank- that of E*Trade Bank. Ranking fifth on the best online banks list was Huntington.
Banks online can offer the personal touch that you may be used to at your brick and mortar bank but in a different way. As more and more businesses goes online and the world of banking changes to reflect this, it is well worth your while to learn more about the best online banks and to look at all that banks online have to offer you!