Online Banking Features You Should Use

Have you signed up for online banking? With online banking, you can manage your finances without having to wait in line at an ATM or travel to your nearest bank branch. You can log into your account in the comfort of your own home. Then you can accomplish all of your banking needs, from checking balances to paying bills.

Online banking also offers some useful features that you’ll want to take advantage of.

Alerts

With online banking, you can set up alerts. Alerts are emails, text messages, or push notifications that notify you about important account activities.

A common alert is a low-balance alert. It lets you know that you should be careful making additional transactions because you could empty the account or put it into overdraft. This will help you avoid consequences like overdraft fees, NSF fees, declined transactions, and bounced checks.

Another common alert is a high balance alert. This is used to notify users that they are close to reaching their limits on credit accounts. The alert could stop you from creating a balance that is challenging to pay down. It can also help you avoid maxing out your accounts—this can come with consequences like increased interest rates and a lower credit score.

Alerts can also notify you of suspicious activity on your account. With the right alerts, you could spot the signs of identity theft right away. By addressing the problem immediately, you will be able to minimize the damages to your financial accounts—and even prevent them from happening altogether.

What alerts can do this?

• Large purchase alert
• Large ATM withdrawal alert
• Profile change alert
• Password change alert
• Locked out of account log-in alert

Automatic Payments

With online banking, you can automate payments for bills. The feature can help you stay on top of your recurring bill payments and avoid any unnecessary late fees.

You can do more than automate transfers for bills. You can also automate transfers between your bank accounts — these are often called bank-to-bank transfers. For instance, if you’re trying to put together an emergency fund, you could set up automatic transfers between your checking account and the savings account with your emergency fund.

Without automatic transfers, you might forget to make contributions to your emergency fund, leaving you vulnerable to urgent, unplanned expenses. You might not have enough savings to cover one. In this case, you may be able to borrow money now with the help of a personal line of credit. As long as you meet the qualifications, you can apply for the line of credit online and wait for a response regarding your approval.

With an approved line of credit loan, you can use the borrowed funds to cover the urgent expense and then focus on a repayment process. You have the option to automate your repayments through your online banking to simplify the process.

Mobile Check Deposits

You don’t have to go to your neighborhood bank branch to deposit a paper check. With the feature mobile check deposit, you can take a photo of your check with your smartphone to deposit it into your account. After submitting your deposit through your online banking app, your check will go through the usual steps before clearing (for instance, it may not clear for two business days). 

If you haven’t joined the world of online banking yet, you need to. Join in and start using these incredible features.