Josh Elledge - Chief Executive Angel
10 reasons you need to use online and mobile banking
Even though online and mobile banking is growing in popularity, some still don't use it. Online and mobile banking is safe, effective, and helps you keep more of your hard-earned money. I recommend it.
1. Mobile deposit day or night.
Mobile deposits still need to be verified, and you won't have access to all of your money immediately, but at least taking a snapshot of the check takes only moments, rather driving to the bank or ATM. And it's available day or night, so you can get things done on your schedule.
Advantages of direct deposit. Direct deposit saves on fees, gets you your check faster, limits debt, and makes funding savings accounts easy. Mobile deposits save time and gas.
2. Save banking fees:
Most banks wave account fees with just one direct deposit per month.
3. Get more of your paycheck faster:
When you deposit a check at the bank, through the ATM or through mobile deposit, the check still has to be processed through the banking system, so you only get immediate access to a small portion of it. With direct deposit, it is the opposite. You get immediate access to all but a small portion of your check the same day you get paid because the verification process is handled electronically.
4. Avoid weekend debt accumulation and check cashing fees:
If you find yourself using a credit card and racking up debt over the weekend because you only have access to some of your check, direct deposit fixes that by allowing you to use your debit card instead. And if you regularly need to cash your whole check and pay a fee somewhere because you need money right away, it fixes that too.
5. Make saving easy:
Saving more money is on everyone's financial to-do list. With direct deposit, you make it happen automatically. Simply request your check be divided up and sent to more than one account. By not having all the money go into your regular checking (debit) account, you can't spend it. Plus, most banks will waive additional account fees if you have more than one open account.
Use electronic bill pay to never miss a bill again. You can set up bills to pay on a recurring monthly cycle (same day every month) OR schedule payments individually as bills come in. The power is yours. You choose the date the payment goes. You even decide what account you want to use to pay each bill.
6. Save a lot of time:
After you set up your accounts on your online banking – which only takes a few minutes each – it takes mere moments to schedule a bill payment. No more sitting with the bills for an hour, writing checks and addressing envelopes… just to forget to put them in the mail right away. And gone are the days of driving bill payments directly to the business. In fact, for most banks, you can even pay bills from your mobile device. Suddenly remembered a bill you need to pay? Pop on, schedule it, done.
7. Go green:
You don't need paper checks, stamps or envelopes anymore. And if you sometimes drove payments to the businesses to avoid late fees, no more additional gas.
8. Avoid late fees and penalties:
If you've ever gotten a fee because you forgot to pay a bill on time, end that. Rather than holding bills until closer to the due date or next payday – and then forgetting you never paid them – set up the payments immediately when the bills come but schedule them to not go until later. And, if you got busy and the due date snuck up on you, you can send an electronic payment faster than you'd ever get a check mailed and received.
Stay safer with online access and electronic notifications. Some people avoid online and mobile banking because they believe it isn't safe. The truth is, it can actually be safer than older methods.
9. Encryption:
Online banking is encrypted and banks use additional safeguards to protect customers. For example, your full account number typically will not be displayed, and security questions and images are used to ensure it's really you logging on.
10. Fraud detection:
See something fishy? The faster you can respond, the better the outcome. Waiting for traditional bank statements in the mail, and finding time to go through them, can result in criminal activity emptying your account before you are even aware. But with online banking, you can view up-to-date account transactions, allowing you to closely monitor activity.
