Secure online banking

Banking has always been a big part of our lives and will probably be forever.
Banking dates back to the ancient times; the earliest banks were the ancient religious temples. Citizens then stored their gold coins and other valuable belongings in the temples because these places were strongly built, were always guarded, and most of all, were sacred. In ancient Greece, temples were also the place where financial transactions and credit notes were already being used to reduce risks in carrying and carting money to different places.

Since those times, banking evolved in many aspects. Banking regulations were formulated, additional services such as lending became part of banking and things such as adding interest to loans became common bank practices. Now with the latest technology and the Internet, banking has taken a new dimension. People can now access bank account online and transact business with the bank with more convenience and security through the Internet.

Online Banking

Performing bank transactions through the Internet is generally referred to as online banking or Internet banking. This form of banking allows consumers to directly access their bank account online (usually savings account) and obtain any information about their accounts .This direct-to-consumer system is quicker and more convenient for consumers compared to traditional banking systems. Especially if you are to withdraw money after banking hours or do transfers from the comfort of your own home, this banking system may be your easiest and sole solution. All you need to do is connect to the Internet trough your personal computer and access your bank account instantly.

Online-only banks

Most of the popular banks offer online banking as one of their services; however there are also some banks that transact businesses exclusively online, so you have no other choice but to access your bank account online and avail of other bank services through the Internet. The latter are referred to as online-only banks. These banks virtually exist yet they provide services traditional banks offer only that they are done through the Internet.

Benefits

Today as life is more time consuming than ever people in using the Internet in several ways, including getting access to their bank account online, online-only banks proved to be more convenient and beneficial. Aside from the fast transactions, one may also profit from the banks high interest rates and generally cheaper transaction fees considering that online-only banks operate only online. Cost of processing bank transactions is lower so the bank can afford to give consumers high interest rates on savings account and cheaper transactions.

Online Banking Industry

Although Internet is being used a lot, online-only banking industry began to develop only sometime in 2000 when a popular online bank devised much simpler and more convenient banking transactions online and paid consumers higher interest rates. From the earliest banks that tried this form of banking did not succeed because of their expensive transaction fees and lower interest rates. However, procedures in getting access to bank accounts online were more complicated and consumers were afraid of Internet fraud and internet scams. The industry eventually grew bigger and more stable middle 2004 as the use of the Internet got more and more trusted, prevalent and secure .Banking will never be the same and will never look back again.

Online Banking Security Requires Several Layers Of Security

Online banking can also be called Internet banking and is used to describe when individuals carry out transactions, payments and other bank dealings on the Internet using their banks secure web site. Many people have already discovered the convenience of banking online and the flexibility it offers as opposed to traditional banking at a local banking company. People who use online banking enjoy being able to access their bank account, account information and other features without time restrictions from just about anywhere. Those who are not using online banking services most likely dont because they have concerns about online banking security.

Any online banking security that offers only password authentication like a simple Internet retail web site is simply not secure enough for the type of business and information involved in Internet banking. Online banking security should be far more complicated. Online banking ports should be secure sites, many times using the https prescript that is encrypted. Encryption is simply the process of converting plain text into code. Online banking security measures that include encryption makes it very difficult for hackers to access personal information in a home computer by intercepting a password as it is entered on the site (also known as keylogging.)

Most online banking security measures include a second step to ensure customers security. The most popular method used in online banking security is the use of transaction numbers, which are also known as TANS. These TANS are basically passwords that are intended for use in a single session online. Other methods of online banking security measures that can be used include using a chip card unique to each customer, using two passwords entering only random parts and using digital certificates. The most common method using in the United States for online banking security remains single password protection.

Another online banking security concern many people have involves fraud. Some people believe that online banking security isnt secure enough to prevent their person information from being used in fraudulent situations. The truth is that identity theft, credit card fraud and signature forgeries are much more common that bank fraud. In fact, bank transactions are highly traceable and penalties for this crime are quite severe.

Despite concerns over online banking security, more and more people are enjoying the convenience of online banking every day. With features like electronic bill payment and instant access to account statements have become a valuable way for people to maintain their accounts without the restraints of traditional banking hours.

Internet Banking – Which Web Bank is Right For You

Internet Banking – Which Web Bank is Right For You

Finding information online seems like the proverbial search for the needle in the haystack with so many sites and adverts vying for attention just thinking about searching for an internet bank is enough to bring on a headache. However, it might well be worth the effort out of the five best-paying current accounts today, four are provided by internet banks. With a difference of two or three percent, the benefits could be substantial.

Enter online banking into your search browser, and youll pull up several independent sites comparing different banks and accounts. While the special offers can change day to day, there are a few banks that have been performing consistently well the big three being Cahoot, Egg and Smile. Cahoot is the online arm of Abbey National, and the Co-operative Group runs Smile, but both currently offer better deals than their high street counterparts. Intelligent Finance is also a contender. Shop around to find what suits you best whether its a low rate loan or a high performance current account, the right choice will depend on your individual needs and situation.

Take into account things like customer service as well as the terms offered its important that you can contact your bank easily when you need to, and that dealings with them are not an unpleasant ordeal. Even if you conduct most of your business online, there are still likely to be occasions when you need to speak to a human being, and friendly, well-informed staff can make a vast difference to your banking experience. First Direct is now planning to introduce a virtual bank clerk to make online banking more customer friendly.

Ease of use is another factor a bank with a website that is easy to navigate will help you plan your finances with the least amount of hassle. Online banking has now come a long way from the days you could only view your account online you can now pay bills, set up direct debits and transfer money between accounts at the click of your mouse. Egg have recently introduced a service called Egg Pay that lets you securely send money to friends and family via email, and in future we can expect account aggregation an overview of all your financial dealings on one web site that will help make your transactions more efficient.
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Moneywise and Which magazines are good sources of information to compare banks with check out their websites.

Internet Banking Savings Accounts

Internet banking savings accounts are being used more every year by people across the country and around the globe. They offer a better alternative to traditional savings accounts. People who use internet banking savings have good reasons to do so.

If you opt for a traditional savings account instead of an internet banking account, you will get a very low interest rate. In fact, you will not make enough on your money to cover the cost of inflation. Savings in traditional banks are generally around 1% annually.

This low interest rate barely makes it worth your effort to save. You will be better off to buy things at today’s prices. That way, when money is worth less, you will not have your money sitting in a traditional account where it will then buy less than it can now. Internet banking provides an alternative to this situation.

Many traditional banks have worked to establish incentives to encourage saving among their customers. They have set up programs where extra money can be put into savings automatically. They have also encouraged the use of automatic transfers to your savings weekly or monthly.

These measures do not work because the interest rates are so low that people see no future in saving. However, with internet banking, all that changes. Internet banking institutions tend to offer rates more along the lines of 4.5% to 5%.

This difference allows consumers to put money in internet banking savings accounts and know that it will retain its value over time, as long as the rates stay up. With the traditional savings, rates would have to soar to even come close to this level.

Another advantage of internet banking savings accounts is a good deal for the small investor. You may not have large amounts of money to save at one time. If not, you are like many financially strapped Americans.

In many traditional banks, this means that you will be given the lowest possible interest rates. If you go to a brokerage firm, you cannot open a money market account for less than $1000 as a minimum balance. Sometimes it is even more. This is not so for internet banking savings accounts.

If you have your savings through internet banking, you will be able to have high interest rates at any level of investments. You can start your internet banking savings account with as little as $100.

You might have to pay service fees until you reach a certain threshold, usually a few hundred dollars. After that, you will be making money at better rates than you ever could at a traditional bank.

One downside of internet banking is that some of the major banks will not deal with customers who demand a lot of time. They will discourage these customers from using their services because they are too hard to handle. This is not true of all internet banking, but if you need a lot of help, you should be aware of it.

Overall, though, savings done through internet banking institutions still work out better for most people than traditional savings accounts. There is just no reason to deny yourself the best interest rates your money can earn.

How to Protect Yourself While Internet Banking

There is no doubt about the fact that identity theft is on the increase. More and more people are losing their identities and money each year due to the efforts of a select few individuals who know how to use the Internet to their advantage. Does that mean; however, that you shouldnt use online banking at all in order to avoid running the risk?
By knowing how to protect yourself while banking on the Internet you can reduce your risk of identity theft while still taking advantage of the numerous advantages and conveniences.

It is important to understand that financial institutions take every available effort to keep the transactions of their customers safe and secure. After all, they wouldnt be in business for very long if they didnt. Of course, it would seem that crooks and criminals get more and more creative every year in order to circumvent those security efforts. Just a few of the techniques they use include keystroke collection and phishing activities.

Phishing involves the use of trick emails and even some websites to collect personal information from individuals such as bank account numbers, credit card numbers, passwords, etc. With this information, criminals can then steal your money. So, it is incredibly important to be sure that whatever site you enter such information into or whoever you share such information with is secure and legitimate. In some cases phishing emails can look quite legitimate, as if they are indeed coming from your bank. Before responding such an email its a good idea to always contact your financial institution to verify they actually sent the email. If they cant confirm it, dont respond and certainly do not share any sensitive information.

Other techniques you can use to protect yourself while banking online is to use passwords that are extremely secure. The safest passwords should be at least six characters long and include both numbers and letters. Never duplicate passwords and try not to use numbers and letters that would be easy to figure out, such as numbers from important dates like birthdays, anniversaries, etc. or names of your children, pets, etc. Usernames should be likewise secure.

Keystroke collector programs work to collect important information such as passwords and usernames that can then be used by a criminal to hack into your online bank account information. To protect yourself from this threat, it is important to check your computer on a regular basis to make sure you do not have any spyware, such as a keystroke collector, installed on your system. This type of program can be installed on your system without you even knowing it and many people are often surprised to find out the amount of spyware that is on their system without their knowledge. Spyware can be detected and removed with spyware blockers.

Finally, dont forget to store all of your banking information in a very secure location. Never keep the passwords and usernames on your computer itself or even near it for that matter. If you forget your own password or username its a lot easier to change it than to worry about losing your money to a computer hacker.

How to get started with Internet Banking

The specific ins and outs of how your Internet banking will work vary depending on which bank youre with. However, there are many things that banks do the same or very similarly, so it is worth taking a second to learn about how Internet banking works in general as well as reading the information your bank sends you.

To begin with, you have to register for Internet banking, if you didnt do it when you set up your account. This is generally a matter of simply walking into your bank or phoning them and saying Id like to sign up for Internet banking. They will then send you a series of letters with various PIN numbers and passwords (occasionally including a physical security device with a numeric keypad), along with instructions on how to use them to access your Internet banking.

Once youre in, you should be presented with a list of your accounts (if you have more than one) or a list of your recent transactions. This allows you to quickly see the status of all your accounts and what has happened to them recently. From here, you can access pages where you can make various kinds of one-off payments, and set up or cancel regular payments.

To make a one-off payment, such as a bill payment or sending money to someone elses account, you will need the person or companys bank account number some banks will have a list of utility bills already built in to the website. Simply type in this information on the payment screen, together with the amount, and click pay. The money should reach the other account within 2-3 working days.

Setting up regular payments is a little more complicated. Again, you need the numbers and amounts, but you also need to know the start date, end date, and how often you want the payment to be made. Be careful of exactly when you set your payments to leave your account, as the bank will often charge you a large fee if there is no money in the account when the payment is scheduled to be made.

Banking and savings customer service and reputation forefront in

Banking and savings customer service and reputation forefront in decision-making.

52% of us have moved our savings because we were unhappy with customer service, according to the latest moneyfacts.co.uk user polls. 42% of us have avoided a particular account provider due to a friends bad experience.

With bank account providers, 46% of us have moved current account because of bad customer service and 45% have avoided a certain bank because of a friends bad experience.

Accessing our banking and savings via the internet is becoming increasingly popular but still many of us prefer to pick up the phone or visit a branch. Our finances are something that we need to take seriously and can cause a lot of stress. This means when we want to discuss them or need help, we need to be treated fairly and receive a good service.

Banks are continually being slated in the press for unfair charges and for things such as going overdrawn. This, along with hearing about people close to us having had a bad experience, would be enough to put many of us off choosing a certain account provider. However important good service is to us, we should still be aware of interest rates being offered by different providers.

The average rate of interest paid on current accounts is 1% gross on a balance of 1. However, current account best buy charts on moneyfacts.co.uk show that rates of over 4% can be earned on these accounts. Banking facilities should also be looked at when choosing your current account. For instance, is it important to have a branch near to you? Do you want to use internet banking?

As well as these things, if you use an overdraft on your current account it is wise to compare rates of interest on these. Moneyfacts research of overdrafts shows that some providers are charging EARs (Effective Annual Rates) on authorised overdrafts of over 20% and for unauthorised overdrafts over 30%. Again, best buy charts on moneyfacts.co.uk show that better deals are available with rates on authorised overdrafts as low as 0% (introductory) and unauthorised at under 6%.

Rates on savings accounts also vary greatly. On no notice accounts at 1,000 the average rate of interest is around 2%. The savings best buys charts show that rates of over 4.5% can be found. Again, account facilities should be considered.

Banking and savings customer service and reputation forefront in

Banking and savings customer service and reputation forefront in decision-making.

52% of us have moved our savings because we were unhappy with customer service, according to the latest moneyfacts.co.uk user polls. 42% of us have avoided a particular account provider due to a friends bad experience.

With bank account providers, 46% of us have moved current account because of bad customer service and 45% have avoided a certain bank because of a friends bad experience.

Accessing our banking and savings via the internet is becoming increasingly popular but still many of us prefer to pick up the phone or visit a branch. Our finances are something that we need to take seriously and can cause a lot of stress. This means when we want to discuss them or need help, we need to be treated fairly and receive a good service.

Banks are continually being slated in the press for unfair charges and for things such as going overdrawn. This, along with hearing about people close to us having had a bad experience, would be enough to put many of us off choosing a certain account provider. However important good service is to us, we should still be aware of interest rates being offered by different providers.

The average rate of interest paid on current accounts is 1% gross on a balance of 1. However, current account best buy charts on moneyfacts.co.uk show that rates of over 4% can be earned on these accounts. Banking facilities should also be looked at when choosing your current account. For instance, is it important to have a branch near to you? Do you want to use internet banking?

As well as these things, if you use an overdraft on your current account it is wise to compare rates of interest on these. Moneyfacts research of overdrafts shows that some providers are charging EARs (Effective Annual Rates) on authorised overdrafts of over 20% and for unauthorised overdrafts over 30%. Again, best buy charts on moneyfacts.co.uk show that better deals are available with rates on authorised overdrafts as low as 0% (introductory) and unauthorised at under 6%.

Rates on savings accounts also vary greatly. On no notice accounts at 1,000 the average rate of interest is around 2%. The savings best buys charts show that rates of over 4.5% can be found. Again, account facilities should be considered.