Online Banking Basics
Online banking permits the consumers to conduct monetary transactions on the protected site managed by their virtual or retail bank, building society or credit union.
Online Banking is also cheaper; internet’s low cost form has also produced its own online savings accounts which merge higher interest rates with lower fees along with on-call access.
Features
Online Banking have lots of features plus capability in common; however conventionally even have some which are application particular.
The general characteristics fall largely into some categories –
- Transactional features for example performing a monetary transaction like account to account transfer, wire transfer along with applications, paying a bill, applying for loan and new account.
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- Electronic bill payment and presentment.
- Funds transfer among a consumers own savings and checking accounts, or to other clients account.
- Investment sale or purchase.
- Loan transactions and applications, like repayments.
- Non-transactional features for example check links, online statements, co browsing and chat.
- Bank statements
- Monetary Institution Organization – features permitting the monetary institution to supervise the online understanding of the end users.
- ASP/Hosting Management – features permitting hosting company to manage the solution on monetary organizations.
Features normally distinctive for business banking comprise –
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- Support of several users having changeable levels of power.
- Transaction endorsement procedure.
- Transfer of wire.
Features usually exceptional for Internet banking comprise –
- Personal financial organization support, like importing information to an individual finance program like Quicken, TurboTax or Microsoft Money. A few online banking platforms hold report aggregation to permit the consumers to check all their records at one place if they are with the major bank or with any other institutions.
New and better Security Features –
Online PIN Reset -
In case you do not remember your PIN, you might easily reset it online. You would be asked some questions to check if you are the same person and not somebody posing as you and when answered appropriately, you would be able to reset your PIN.
DoubleSafe –
DoubleSafe keeps your identity secure in 2 ways when you sign into your ING Direct account. On setup you will be asked to select 'Your Picture' which comes from a range of images. Then, you will choose 'Your Phrase' – a modified phrase to accompany 'Your Picture'. When DoubleSafe is set up, ensure you see your picture as well as your phrase. This will assist you to evade logging into a false ING DIRECT site (also called phishing). Lastly, you will set up the answers to secret questions so that they can know that it’s actually you.
Card skimming –
Debit and Credit card scam can occur at ABMs, bank machines, as well as retailers almost anywhere. Ensure whenever entering a PIN in a machine you keep it confidential as well as be alert for doubtful looking devices attached to the machine. You might be unknowingly helping thieves achieve access to your bank account.
Originally posted 2008-09-19 13:32:46.
ING Online Banking Is the Future?
Have you ever heard about online banking? Do you know that ING is one of the most beneficial internet banking throughout the world? According to the statistic of a website which is Review Centre, seventy-three percent of consumers recommended ING as the most efficient internet banking service. The magnificent service of savings and checking accounts make it the most preferred online banking alternative. The diversity of products offered by ING online banking attracts more and more consumers using ING online banking. ING is getting famous day by day and it is forecasted that ING online banking service will be the most reliable and trusted online banking service throughout the world.
ING Banking Online aids people to carry out their banking or financial businesses in just a mean of time. The service of ING Online Banking which is time-saving helps people to do jobs faster. In addition, all of customer’s history can be accessed through ING Online Banking. The efficiency of information access is another factor that makes ING Online Banking is the online banking service for future. Customers can access their bank statements or any other documents via ING Online Banking. The best part of ING Online Banking information access is customers just need to spend less than two minutes to get their history. Within one or two minutes, customers will know how much money they have transacted, account status, or even their financial statements.
Originally posted 2008-09-22 09:39:22.
How To Boost Your Savings
When it comes to savings, the earlier you start compounding and reinvesting your money along with interest, the more you will end up with. For example, a newborn which is given $6500 in his 8% a year account will end up with a cool $1,000,000 when he hit 65. Such is the power of compound interest. If you have been procrastinating on savings and not well versed in investing, here's a technique that give you an incentive to save.
Perhaps you are procrastinating about saving money because you do not have any knowledge on money and do not know what are the best ways to invest. No matter how good an investment is, it's always crucial to research on it and plan your move. In fact, an 8% interest deal are scarce nowadays due to economy slowdown unless you are prepare to take bigger risk to score that kind of returns. For those of you who do not want to be bothered with complicated investment jargon and high risk, a high yield savings account can be a good option.
You already know what is a savings account. A high yield savings account is high yield because it is fully internet based, which mean you cannot find physical branches of the bank in real life. The only important thing you need to know about this kind of savings account is that they can give you up to 8 times the normal national average of interest rates returns. So if you are previously unmotivated by the tiny interest offered by conventional banks, this is your chance to grow your wealth fast, without having to take any financial risk such as in investments.
Online banks are able to give you this kind of interest because they are saving so much money from not having to use paper and ink, maintaining physical branches, hiring workers and so on. With their significantly lower overheads compared to brick and mortar banks, the interest that they offer you is a small fraction of how much they saved. Therefore, this will also mean that you will not be able to withdraw from its branches such as in a regular brick and mortar banks, besides not having a passbook nor an ATM card. The only proof of your possession of an account is a username and password that you can use to access your account and online statements.
Who needs statements anyway when one can have online statements? They're a waste of paper and a hassle to store and retrieve. Besides getting high interest rates for your money, your online statements will instantly reflect any transaction so you'll always get the latest updates. The lack of these documents will ensure that they will never get lost and you will not have to pay for those facilities. Since an online bank may or may not come with an ATM card, the primary way of withdrawing and depositing is through a bank transfer using your existing conventional bank account. So if an online bank is giving a much higher returns than your usual account, simply transfer your funds over to enjoy the better rates.
Registering for an online savings account such an ING Direct will only take minutes, and a customer can start to enjoy anywhere from 2.75% to 3.25% depending on your balance. After all, internet banks are all about speed and efficiency, as you'll soon discover. For those of you who have spare cash for long term, why not consider a time deposit with ING'S Certificate of Deposit (CD) and get up to 4.25% returns? For the same CD duration (60 months), a normal brick and mortar bank will only give you around half of that, sometimes less.
If you're are thrilled with the idea and want to get your own online high yield savings account, here's another incentive for you. ING Direct is so confident that you'll love their service, they're going to pay you $25 just to sign up for an account with them. They say good things are meant to be shared, and ING Direct is listening, which is why you'll get a $10 reward on top of the $25 you get as a new customer, when you refer another person who sign up with them. So stop procrastinating and start to do some serious savings with the many incentives that is featured in this article.
Originally posted 2008-11-01 04:44:41.
A Word on Investments and Online Banking
With the advent of e-commerce and Internet marketing, a lot of businessmen and marketers are now venturing into the digital world and making their investments online. There are a lot of things that you can invest in on the web. You can create your own online store, you can profit from selling your skills and expertise, and you can do Forex and stock exchange transactions, among many others. There is a great opportunity in making money online and there are a lot of tools and services that you can use to get you started with investing on a business on the Internet or trading stocks on the web. But before you enter the online business industry, you should be equipped with the right tools for battle. One basic thing that any online entrepreneur should have is access to online banking.
Online banking is a convenient way to do your bank transactions without leaving your home. Even if you are traveling or you are somewhere on the other end of the globe, if there is Internet access, you can monitor and do your banking transactions online. Most banks would usually offer online banking at no fees and offer it as an extra service. This would save you a lot of money and give you more convenience.
There are a lot of things that you can do with your online bank account. You can transfer money from bank to bank, monitor your current balance and previous transactions and create or hold an e-check, among other things. But what most investors love about online banking are the online investor tools that they can benefit from. Investors often do their research online and today, you can also do banking online as well. On top of the convenience of what online banking can offer, investors would also have access to check stock profiles, charts, guides, investments tips, demos and practice video for online trading.
You can also inquire about how you can get a low cost savings and checking program that you can use to transact business online. With online investing, you hold your own time and you can do to your transactions in your own even at 2 o' clock in the morning and can monitor trade stocks any time of the day.
With online banking, you also have the chance to directly email and get in touch with a customer service representative that would help you with your particular issue. No longer would you have to wait for long queues on the phone. They would usually answer your inquiry with in 12-48 hours.
The question of whether or not online banking is safe and secure remains an issue until today. Even with the advanced security measures that online banks adhere to, there is still some doubt in a client's mind if his financial investments and personal information is kept safe. But with today's web technology, computer and online security systems, banks assure that their clients can have peace of mind. Their bank transactions are safe and secure. Always make it a point to check with your banks online security policy. Remember that an educated user would not be easily caught up with online fraud and you can do your trading and investing fast, convenient and hassle-free.
Originally posted 2008-10-07 04:03:21.
ING Direct Orange Savings Account Review
ING Direct is an online only bank with prominent marketing which has been building lots of deposits as of late. The orange ball really gets consumers' attention. Below, I've reviewed the product to my understanding. If you have any questions or you're thinking of using their service, you should visit their website and read the fine print. Because the rates constantly change, I won't be quoting rates.
The Offering
ING Direct is a basic online savings account with a few extra bells and whistles thrown in. The main attraction for opening an account is the Annual Percentage Yield, or APR. Because of this high value, you can typically earn more than real world based banks. Not to say the money you put here isn't real. Another draw of ING Direct banking is the fact that there are no fees for the service and there's only minimum balance requirements. You can open an ING Direct banking account with as little as $1 to start with. The way the service works is pretty simple. You keep your existing checking account with your regular bank and you link it to ING Direct. If you want to move money back and forth, you simply login to your ING Direct account and request a transfer. The transfer is fee free from the ING Direct side, but you should also check with your bank to make sure you won't be assessed a fee for the transfer from their side.
If you're in need of a CD, you can also get one of these, ranging from 1 to 5 years. The rates are pretty competitive, which is great if you've got some cash you're not going to spend for awhile. ING Direct also does mortgages and home equity loans, though I've no researched those offerings fully.
Getting Started
If what you've read above is of interest to you, you can open an ING Direct account in several different ways. The first option is to open the account online and skip out on any paperwork involved. If you'd rather have a paper trail, you can print the application and mail it in. Either way, in order to start an account with ING, you'll need your basic personal information and a checking account number. Once you've started the process, it can take several weeks before your account is created and approved. To verify your information, ING will create several small transactions in your linked checking account which you'll need to verify and validate your PIN number you'll receive in the mail. Once you've done this, you're ready to go.
Customer Service
Because of ING Direct's urging of users to 'do it themselves', you should sign up for their program for the financial value, with no expectations as to the customer service. There are some great customer service stories floating around the web, but the service isn't all peaches and cake. It was reported in 2004 that ING Direct fires customers which are too high-maintenance. It's hard to judge the accuracy of the claim, but it stands to reason ING Direct is offering you a service, not the other way around.
Security
One of the biggest things you can worry about in banking online is the security. ING Direct has you covered. They offer top notch security Area 51 would be proud of. Each time you change any of the information on your account, your online banking account is frozen for a few days and you're contacted by letter. This can be a hassle and slow things down for you, but it keeps your account safe from hackers or other malcontents who would be content to make off with your information.
Originally posted 2008-09-27 16:29:00.
ING Direct Bank – an overview
ING Bank or ING Direct is an internet savings bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). ING Direct is the internet division of ING Group (International Netherlands Group). It has banks in Australia, Canada, UK, USA, France, Spain, Italy and Germany. Its branch in USA was set-up and opened for business in the late 2000.
ING Direct offers various products and services which are far more convenient compared to other online banks and traditional banks. More and more people are enrolling themselves for ING Direct. One of the most sought-after products of the bank is Orange Savings, a type of savings account which earns a higher yield compared to other internet banks. Its major advantage is that it requires no minimum deposit, no banking fees, and no tiered interest rates. You continue to earn the same interest rate regardless of how much you have in your account.
ING Direct’s ability to offer high interest rates roots mainly on its sole concentration on savings and loans. To add, the bank incurs very low operational and overhead cost because most of the transactions are done by telephone and internet.
Although, ING Direct is mainly an internet bank, a good security system is guaranteed. When opening an account which you can either do online or by filling in a paper application, you set your pin by calling up customer service where your identity is first verified. After the verification process, you can set your 4 digit pin number and wait for 24 hours for activation. Also, a client or customer number is assigned to the customers for online and automated phone access. When you log in to the ING Direct website, you can safely view your accounts, view transactions, transfer money, update personal information, link checking accounts, or change your PIN. Anything that you do with your account like a change in address is verified by the bank by sending two letters. One is sent to your former address and the other for the new one. Also, paper statements are sent monthly to your address so you are always updated on your finances. In the website, you always have an option to print your transactions or statements.
ING Direct also offers promotions from time to time. In the US, the bank has launched an account opening promotion where they offer $25.00 bonus. This is an incentive to customers for just opening an account with them. So, if you want to open up an account with ING Direct, it would be best to get someone refer you. The referral system is of course done through the internet. In participating in this promo, bear in mind still to verify the link in your email for security. The referral program works with the new customer receiving $25.00 and the referrer getting $10.00. Since October 2005 however, this promo is only available for savers with a minimum deposit of $250.00. An account holder can refer as much as 25 people for this promo.
ING Direct has been successful in its internet banking-simply no fees and no gimmicks. It just let’s you earn more and save more the simple and convenient way.
Originally posted 2008-10-15 11:34:54.
Understanding Encryption for Safe Online Banking
Safety, privacy and security have always been an issue when it comes to online banking. With the rise of identity theft and unauthorized access of your private and financial information, it would not be surprising that a lot of people still prefer to do their banking the traditional way. But with the convenience, efficiency and speedy transaction of online banking, more and more people are looking for ways on how they can manage to bank online safely and securely. Not only is this an issue for users, it is also a big concern for bank administrators as well. Because of such issue, bank owners and web administrators are using encryption as way of ensuring security online.
What is Encryption?
An encryption basically ensures the privacy of the user, a web browser and the bank servers. It is a system that scrambles messages that are exchange between the bank server and a web browser. Whenever a user would be on a bank's sign-in or log-in page, it would utilize a secure session within the bank's server. This session would launch a protocol referred to as Secure Sockets Layer or commonly referred to as SSL encryption. The system would require an input of both private and public keys. These keys are random numbers that are used singly for a particular session and are only divulged to the server and the browser that you are using. Once these keys are exchange, the SSL system would encrypt and scramble these messages between the browser and the server, keeping information secured and private.
How does it work?
An encryption ensures that no other website can imitate a particular website or impersonate an online bank's official site. This also ensures that your information would not be altered in any way and would always be kept private. The secured lock symbol or icon that can be seen on the address bar just beside the website address is a sign that you are in an encrypted website or you are currently using an encrypted session in parts of the website that you are in.
Security levels
An encrypted website basically works like a combination lock. The privacy level of the encrypted session depends on the number of probable combination a lock can have. The more number of combination's it has, then the more secure and stable a website is. It would be hard to decrypt important messages such as your private and financial information. Online banking would often have a standard 128-bit encryption. Other websites that may need less protection would only have a 40-bit encryption.
Browser compatibility
Your browser should also be compatible to an encrypted website for you to be able to log-in in your online bank account successfully. To check the compatibility of your website, you can click 'Help' in your browser toolbar and click on 'About'. You would see a pop-up window that would state "Cipher strength". Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome support encryption and assure you of a more secured online banking.
Originally posted 2008-10-05 03:39:16.
3 Reasons Why You Should Have An Online Bank Account
If you're reading this and you are using your normal bank account mostly through the internet, it is important to know that they're not the same thing. You may be already be an internet savvy customer who does all the bill paying online and be able to avoid queues and traffic jams in the process, but do you know you stand to gain a lot more money in the form of returns by having an online bank account?
An online bank account is a new concept and its benefits are not immediately known to the general public. Unlike a normal bank, internet banks only exist online and there are no physical outlets offline. Wouldn't putting money with banks like this be very risky then? This is where it gets interesting. Most of these banks are FDIC insured, which simply means that you are guaranteed to receive your money no matter what happens.
You may also wonder how one can deposit and withdraw money using an online bank if there are no physical outlets. Well, the first thing that you need to understand is that an online bank account are to be used in conjunction with a normal bank account you already have. Using the funds transfer service, you may transfer money between these two accounts to reap the higher interest rates offered by online banks.
Get Rewarded As High As 8 Times The National Average Savings APR
Banks are becoming very competitive nowadays, and somewhere along the road, someone brilliant have come up with the idea of moving their entire operation online which means there will no longer be branches to be run, documents to be printed, employees to be hired and building rents to pay. Why does this matters to you? Since online banks have eliminated a big chunk of their expenses, they can now focus on the people who justified their very existence – YOU, the customer.
Banks rely on your savings to lend out to people who need it for a handsome fee. With their low overheads, they can now outdo conventional banks in luring your saving dollars for their own gain. As a result, you get to enjoy a much higher interest return, even as high as 8 times the national savings average. One such online banks is E*Trade with 3.3% APR compared to only around 0.1% offered by your local banks.
Enjoy Hassle Free Online Banking Perks
Many people are already familiar with internet banking through their normal banks and it will only be a matter of time before everyone will have an online bank account. Some online banks come with an ATM card but most do not, but they all offer real time internet statements for you to easily monitor your account besides making and tracking payments. No more filing your paper statements into chunky folders that needs good labeling and frequent dusting for ease of retrieving.
There is also no need to visit a bank outlet to open or close account as it can all be done online in minutes.
Get Paid To Open An Account And Tell Others About It
One online bank have up the ante in the bid to get more customers by paying them $25 to open an account. With a minimum amount of $250, you can open an ING Direct Orange savings account in a few minutes. That's a 10% one-time upfront payment that can go into generating more interest returns for you. When you tell your friends and family members about this high yield account, ING Direct will pay you another $10 for each person that sign up while they in turn get $25 each as a new account holder. There is no limit of how many person you can refer, so claim your stake today.
It doesn't matter which online banks you go for, although the current interest rate leader is E*Trade and the best referral scheme is ING Direct. What is important is how you can easily get your money to work harder for you without taking in additional risks.
Originally posted 2008-10-24 01:21:06.
E*Trade Financial Savings Account
An article published by MSN Money on July 26th, 2007 points out that when it comes to online savings account with a brokerage, these companies do not want your business if you are not having investments with them. In fact, its author Kelli B. Grant cited an example on E*Trade, saying that one needs at least a $5000 balance to enjoy the advertised 3.25% APY checking account.
However, if one were to look at savings account instead of its checking account, the notion that E*Trade do not welcome savers are just absurd. The fact is, its savings account interest tops HSBC Direct by 0.02% at 3.3% APR, a show of sincerity of welcoming savers and their money. And why wouldn't they? On one hand, they have cash flow to lend in order to generate profit and on the other hand, savings account holders may just convert to being investors due to the convenient linking offered deliberately by the brokerage firm.
Online savings account are all the rage now that people can enjoy higher interest rate than those offered by conventional banks. Online banks have much lower overheads than normal banks and the high interest they hand out to consumers are virtually nothing compared to the savings they obtained from not having to maintain branches and hiring employees. In the end, both the online banks and the consumers benefit from this arrangement clever arrangement.
Like ING Direct, E*Trade only offer its debit / ATM card to checking account customers. As a checking account customer, you can use it's Visa brand debit card to make purchases as well as to conveniently withdraw funds from many outlets without having to request and wait for checks to be cleared. Based on this point alone, signing up for checking account is worth the effort. Just remember to keep a balance of $5000 in your checking account monthly to avoid the $15 penalty. Once a member, one can also conveniently make unlimited free bill payments from your account.
Any U. S residents above 18 can apply for E*Trade's high interest savings account with as low as $1 in order to enjoy the high APR. While all online facilities such as funds transfer, electronic statement and customer service are free to use, the real cost will rear its ugly head once you start to request a paper statement or have anything to do paper and extraordinary services. For example, if one were to request an account research from E*Trade, the company can charge $25 per hour for the service. Likewise, if one do not have a Visa debit card from the checking account, requesting for a bank check will cost $15. Alternatively, one can also transfer the funds from one's E*Trade account to other accounts that can be easily accessed.
Try E*Trade Onine Savings now!
Originally posted 2008-10-14 10:47:00.
Benefits – Online Banking and Online Savings Account
Online Banking is absolutely safe. You can bank online with the ING DIRECT knowing that they use state of art safety technology. All information which you share is held in the strict confidence as well as is in compliance with safety standards followed by all foremost Canadian monetary institutions.
Benefits – Online Banking and Online Savings Account -
Since the Internet becomes available to many people as well as the broadband penetration increases across the US and all around the globe, lots of people are selecting to do their banking online. With the recognition of ING Direct and HSBC, lots of people are also opening online savings accounts. Online banking as well as online savings accounts offers a level of ease that brick as well as mortar banks lack.
There are lots of benefits of online banking. The 1st benefit is that you need not have to stand in line to speak to a bank teller. In spite, you can check your bank accounts, transfer money between accounts, as well as pay bills online in the ease of your own home. Not having to drive to the bank is a great improvement.
Another benefit of online banking is that you can execute your banking on your own time 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You are no more obstructed by those dreaded banking hours. Despite, as long as you have the Internet access you can disburse bills as well as make transfers.
Many online banks also proffer credit services. This might be in form of debit cards, credits cards, online loans and payday loans. You can discover some great online rates for credit card and mortgages offers. There is actually no reason why you would require a brick and mortar bank for these online credit services.
Another advantage is that online savings accounts are paying a high rate of interest than any other bank. Because of not having the high overhead connected with running lots of bank branches, it is inexpensive for online banks. These savings can be passed through to investors in form of higher interest rate savings.
Besides great online savings accounts, lots of online banks are now opening online checking accounts. Such online checking accounts are providing higher interest rate free checking services. Many brick and mortar banks never pay interest on their checking accounts. Though, this may be changing with the opening of free online checking products such as ING Electric Orange checking accounts.
What to do if there is a cheat on the line –
If you ever get a doubtful call, never provide any sensitive or personal information and get in touch with that specific financial institution to follow up on the inquiry.
Spoofing –
Spoofing is when somebody is able to pretense as someone else online by utilizing a program which can alter data. It is done by way of comparatively cheap automated systems which make it seem that the Spoofer is somebody who they in fact are not.
If you or anybody you know has been a sufferer of Phishing, Vishing, or any other monetary fraud, report all incidents to the concerned monetary institution to avoid future issues from taking place. Online safety is everyone's task to share in so that we can all stay protected.
Originally posted 2008-09-19 13:49:37.
