Tol Records Finance and Money Management Tips

Archive for the ‘Banking’ Category

Bank of America online banking is available to any customer who currently does business with the bank. Participation in the Bank of America online banking program is free and easy to set up.

One feature that sets the Bank of America online banking program apart from its competitors is the way it handles bill payments. You’d think a lot of data entry would be required, but that’s not the case. The program already knows the billing addresses of the most commonly used payees.

To set up a payee such as your electric company, start by accessing the built-in list of payees that the Bank of America online banking program maintains. The program already knows the names of the major players in the community and maintains the names and billing addresses that most customers are likely to use such as electric, cable, and utility companies, area department stores and local major financial institutions. Pick the payee from the list, enter your loan or account number and in seconds, that payee is set up.

If the payee does not exist in the list, you enter payee details one time, and you never have to deal with a payee again until there’s a change in address or other account details. When you have all your payees entered, they appear listed in alphabetical order. Next time you open the Bank of America online banking program to pay bills, you select the payee, enter the amount due and the day you want the payment to show up at the payee address.

Now here’s the cool part about the Bank of America online banking bill paying option. The money for the payment is not debited from your account until the payment arrives at the payee billing address. Most other bill paying options debit the money the day the payment is mailed not delivered, meaning the bank has 4 – 7 days to earn interest on your money! So in effect, you actually earn money by using the Bank of America online banking option.

You have seen their ads and you may have wondered if they are worth a second look. What am I talking about? Online banks! Also known as internet banks, these are financial institutions who provide the majority of their banking services over the internet. Typically, online banks offer consumers high savings rates, low loan rates, and a mix of other services. Let’s look at 7 winners in this fast growing field:

1. E Trade Bank Part of E Trade Financial, the discount internet stockbroker. E Trade Bank offers checking accounts, money markets, and certificates of deposits as well as a VISA credit card.

2. Netbank Along with offering checking and money market accounts, Netbank provides mortgage and home equity lines of credit to customers. With tie-ins to affiliated companies Netbank also offers Auto, Homeowners, Condo/Co-op & Renters Insurance and Life, Health, Long Term Care & Dental Insurance.

3. Virtual Bank VirtualBank, a division of Lydian Private Bank, is a federally chartered bank regulated by the Office of Thrift Supervision. The bank offers checking, savings, and credit card services to customers.

4. Ever Bank This leading internet provider of banking services offers the most extensive, and varied services of any online institution. Ever Bank offers business and personal checking accounts, mortgages, home equity loans/lines of credit, reverse mortgages, a VISA credit card, and world currency accounts. This latter category is for investing in Deposit accounts and CDs denominated in any major world currency.

5. Emigrant Direct Part of Emigrant Savings Bank which traces its roots back to 1850 as a service provider to Irish immigrants. Emigrant has $10 billion in assets and more than $1 billion in net worth. It operates as a full service bank through 36 branches in the New York metropolitan area, and through EmigrantDirect.com. Emigrant offers only consumer services online; their high paying savings account is a chief investment vehicle.

6. ING Direct ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management to over 60 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 50 countries. ING offers mortgages, loans/lines of credit, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and money market mutual funds through another division.

7. MetLife Bank Yes, MetLife. A division of insurance powerhouse Metropolitan Life, MetLife Bank offers savings accounts, certificates of deposit, money market accounts, mortgages, and IRAs to consumers.

If you are banking exclusively with a “brick and mortar” institution you may be missing out on high paying investment options or competitive loan rates that easily undercut many traditional banking entities. These online banking success stories are only part of a growing number of savvy providers, some of whom are definitely worth a closer look by you, the consumer.

In the UK, many banks and building societies are attempting to capture a sizeable percentage  of the online banking market share. And it seems that the UK consumers are benefiting from  this competition most. Online banking in the UK is getting big; there is no doubt about it: 6.5  million consumers are online banking customers. And that figure is projected to rise every  year–not because of bank closures–because of the ease that online banking offers. Everyone  can say that it is easy and some people may still be dubious about that. But to anyone who is an  online banking customer, they will know just how easy and simple it is.

Before choosing an online bank to open an account study carefully what services the bank  allows you to do online. Also check the accessibility of talking to a live person. Make sure the  banks internet site allow you send secure emails.

The UK, like any other country, has banks on every street corner. And these banks try to lure  new customers in with big bright signs: “apply now and get a 6.9% APR rate on your card!”  When you are on the Internet, these banks take the same approach. On their websites, there  are banners that banks use for advertising space because they recognize that so many people  are using online banking; and that they need to emphasize their competitive advantages to draw  customers over the Internet.

Some major U.K. banks have opened independent online banks such as Abbey National with  www.cahoot.com. There is also www.smile.co.uk the online bank of The Co-operative Bank.
Despite all of the advantages to online banking in the UK, not everything is perfect.
One in twenty consumers will fall victim to online fraud; and when they do, it will cost them big  time. The UK’s fraud cost last year was £58 million ($101 million), which is quite scary for  consumers looking to join an online bank. To be honest, it is safer to use a brick-and-mortar  bank; however, in order to keep this safety net, you must sacrifice convenience and flexibility.

If you decide to open an online banking account but are apprehensive about the security  issues, you should spend a considerable amount of time selecting a unique and hard-to-crack  password; and in addition to this, you should also use other values for your optional  information that is hard to determine.

Other Online Internet Banking Security Tips:

- Make sure your operating systems OS and browsers is updated with the latest upgrades  (patches).
- Use an anti-virus and anti-spyware programs update them and scan your pc at least once a  week.
- Install a personal firewall and learn to use it
- Always close your browser window after online banking and delete cookies.
- Change your passwords once a month.
- Never reply to emails asking for you to update your password or give your password. The  online banks will never ask for your password.
- Always type in the browser address bar the online banking url. Do not click on a link  especially in an email as this may take you to a scammer’s page.
- Never bank online from an internet café.