Approximately 90% of my money dealing is conducted over the internet. I currently have a checking account with USAA, a savings account with ING Direct and some business accounts with Washington Mutual. Although I’m very anti-social, this isn’t the main reason that I engage in online banking. Basically, it all comes down to the fact that I am a big fan of anything that I can complete while wearing pajamas. I enjoy being able to check my balance, transfer funds, and review my banking documents at any time. Quite often, I can only remember to do all of these things when it’s one o’clock in the morning – so I’d kinda be screwed without some sort of internet banking option. I’ve grown up with computers my whole life, so I’m more comfortable typing and clicking than actually speaking to a bank teller. For those of you who are a little anxious about banking online, I’ll discuss the many benefits and a couple shortcomings related to home banking.

Online Banking

The common bank out there will usually have numerous branches that you can visit in person and might also provide you with the option of tending to your financial matters online. Such financial institutions provide their customers with a win/win situation. Unfortunately, most of these banks are despicable when it comes to caring about their customers.

Other banks primarily operate over the internet, rather than maintaining any physical “brick and mortar” establishments. These are the true “Online Banks” and I consider them to be a shimmer of hope in this dismal land of money grubbing financial institutions. These guys are a little more relaxed than most traditional banks usually.

As mentioned above, Online Banks don’t have to build or maintain local branches. No brick and mortar facilities translates into savings for the Online Bank and it’s customers. They sidestep having to shell out money for branch employees, maintaining ATMs, security escorts for money transfers, and yada yada yada. In return, the customers usually receive a higher interest rate and fewer fees than what they might find at their local banks.

The Cons

Since the banks are online – you won’t be able to stop in for a face-to-face resolution to any problems. You will have phone calls, emails, faxes and snail mail at your disposal but if you enjoy causing a scene and getting into some employee’s face, then this isn’t the type of bank you’ll want.

Deposits can be difficult when you use an online only bank. Since they don’t own any ATMs or branches you’ll usually have to mail in your checks. This might not be a huge problem because you use a direct deposit or you transfer money from another account – but in certain situations this can be a real headache. Some online banks even allow you to deposit money into your account by sending them a scanned image of your check and then voiding it out.

Home Banking Security

A huge concern that is always floating around out there is security. You need to understand that every bank is going to be concerned with security. So whether you’re creating an online account with your long time brick and mortar bank or you’re signing up with a new internet only banking service – they are going to protect your information. All banks use sophisticated levels of encryption to transmit your personal information over the internet. I suggest that you remove any doubts about the bank from you head for now because the biggest risk to your security is probably going to be you.

The main security concern related to online banking is most likely the fact that customers become victims of online scams and fraudulent emails. This is something that your bank cannot protect you from. In fact, these scams are at no fault to your online bank – it would actually be your fault if you ever got duped. As an example, pretend that you are a member of “A1 Bank” and you get an email that looks like it’s from “A1 Bank” claiming that there is a problem with your account or asking for your personal information. If you fall for this trick and reply to the email with your personal information – you can’t blame your online bank. You can always contact “A1 Bank” to verify if they need something from you but make sure that you use the email address, contact form, or phone number from their website – not the ones in the email. Very similar to emails that look like they are from your bank, are websites that look exactly like your bank’s website. If you aren’t paying attention, you might type in your login information and the ‘bad guys’ with use that info to login to the real website. Make sure that you type in the web address for your bank or use a trusted bookmark each time. It’s best not to click on any of the links in emails that you receive, unless you know for sure who sent you the email. You could also have some malicious software on your home computer that compromises your personal information. These types of software steal your information or record your keystrokes and send it home to the ‘bad guy’ who created the software.

If you’re really worried about security, I suggest that you educate yourself on the threats. Some basic tips that I recommend for your security are (a) investing in an internet security suite and (b) using a different password for each online account that you have. If you need help remembering all of your passwords, check out Roboform. It’s also a good idea to protect yourself from identity theft with some sort of insurance policy. I recommend LifeLock but there are other programs around like ID Watchdog – it’s best to shop around.

What I like about Online Banking

The advantages are plentiful – convenience always creeps into my mind first. I do my budgeting and track my balances at random times and my banks are always ready when I am. Online Banks are available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week – unless they are performing some sort of site maintenance which is usually done in the wee hours of the morning. Your account information never closes and with wireless internet available practically everywhere, you will even be able to keep track of your finances while traveling.

You should experience less of a hassle with record keeping and paperwork. With my banks I can manage my checking, savings, auto insurance, life insurance, IRAs, CDs, and so on under one secure roof. I can print documents off whenever I need to or save them electronically and back them up. Most Online Banks also allow you to export your financial information to your favorite applications such as Quicken or what have you.

Every internet bank that I’ve ever looked at will refund your ATM fees each month. Since these guys don’t operate any ATMs of their own, they understand that you’ll get charged an arm and leg when you go to another bank to withdraw some money. At the end of each statement period, most Online Banks will automatically refund your ATM fees back into your account. You won’t have to track anything or even remind the bank to pay you back – it’ll just show up. Keep in mind that they do have dollar limits of how much they’ll pay back each month so make sure you know what that limit is.

Final Ramblings

Don’t be scared of internet banking – embrace this wonderful innovation. If you found my website then I’d say you’re capable enough to operate an online banking account. Once you’ve created your account, schedule a day to sit down and play with all of the cool functions on the website. Remember that if you have any questions you can always call or email the bank and someone will provide you with support.

You might call me cheap, stingy, thrifty, a tight-wad or a penny-pincher but I do most of my shopping online and I hate paying full price for anything. Comparing 10 different stores online is far easier than driving to 10 different stores nearby; which is what causes online prices to be lower than in-store prices. Whenever I’m looking for something that I want to buy, I will usually check the prices at a minimum of 5 different websites prior to actually making the purchase. I usually (a) always find a cheaper price than what is available to me locally and (b) receive free shipping on my goods. When you add the benefit of not paying sales taxes on most purchases (shakes his fist at New York) – the deals become even better. My problem is that even though I’ve found a cheap price somewhere, I’m getting free shipping and I’m not paying sales tax on the item – I still feel the need to receive some sort of deal. Most times I don’t care if it’s $5 off or a 30% discount – I just don’t want to pay what everyone else could buy it at. Finding the codes that get you a discount is often the most time consuming effort in the purchasing process, so I’m going to show you how I get it done.

Searching for additional savings

By the time that you read this article the product, prices and discounts may be different.

If you’re looking for a specific product – I suggest that you start at the manufacturer’s website. Visit the main website for the item that you want to buy and gather some detailed information. If it’s software you want, grab the latest version number – If it’s a leaf blower, grab the model number that you’re interested in. This will help you be more specific during your searches and you might even find a different discount when you use the model number rather than the product name. Normally, I will never buy anything directly from the manufacturer – but it’s a great place to start your research.

In this example we’re going to buy from my favorite print shop – OvernightPrints.com. Let’s say we need to buy 1,000 double sided business cards, which would cost us $49.95. In this example, we’ve already snooped around and it turns out that $49.95 is the best price available. So now that we know what we’re buying and who we’re going to buy it from – we will look for some type of discount from that store, preferably for that product.

Since I love Google, we’re going to start there. Do a quick search for discounts by using the company, the product and the words “discount code.” If you don’t like discount code, you can search for discounts, promos, coupons, deals and so on. Most of the time, my favorite discount website, RetailMeNot.com will show up in the rankings. Go to any of the sites that are listed and check out their special offers or promotional codes that you can enter when finalizing the checkout process. For this example Retail Me Not has a lot of codes for Overnight Prints, we just have to figure out which code will get us better savings. With the current listed codes for business cards from Overnight Prints, it appears that we could save 10% or $10. Since we’re talking about $49.95 we would opt for the $10 discount since 10% would only be $4.99.

Companies also offer special promotions from time to time – you may want to email them or sign up for their newsletter to find out when things will be on sale. While we’re on the subject – sign up for my newsletter to have my updates and articles delivered directly to your inbox.

A quick touch on Security

Most people that I speak with are too scared to get that big online deal because they think that their credit card will get stolen. Identity theft does happen but shying away from the internet isn’t going to protect you from it.

If you’re worried about your online dealings, I suggest that you sign up with PayPal and download their plugin. PayPal’s plugin allows you to generate a MasterCard number that can be used once or multiple times. Just imagine an endless supply of disposable credit cards! Even if your single-use credit card number was compromised during an online purchase, the criminals wouldn’t be able to charge it again.

I also recommend that you use a program called, “Roboform” to assist you with storing your personal information such as names/logins, addresses, phone numbers, passwords, credit cards, and banking numbers. Whenever you need to fill a form on any website, Roboform will automatically fill in all of the information with a simple mouse click. This not only helps you remember all of your important logins and such, but it protects you from hidden programs on your computer that record and send out logs of everything that you’ve typed on your keyboard.

Final Ramblings

If the advice above isn’t working or you’re planning on making a big online purchase and want to make sure that you’re getting the best deal – feel free to contact me and I’ll try my hardest to find some savings for you.