How to Use Online Banking and Bill Pay

For convenience and peace of mind, use online banking for your financial needs. With just a few steps, you can have your account preferences set and then sit back and not worry about your banking tasks.
Go to your bank's website and follow their instructions to register. You'll most likely have to select a username and a password. For security, use a password not obvious to others (no birthdays or pet's name, for example) and that includes a number(s). Your bank may send you an email activation that you have to respond to first, just to verify your identity.

Add all of your accounts to your online banking, including any credit cards that you may have from that institution. By doing this, you can easily navigate between your checking, savings, CD, and other accounts, as well as your credit card accounts without signing in and out of separate websites.

Once you're set up, it's easy to check daily activity by signing in and reviewing your transaction history. If any fraud is occurring, you can quickly spot the illegal activity and report it to the bank. In mere seconds, you can also verify if a check has been cashed or an important deposit made.
Need to transfer funds? Simply go to the website and click on the appropriate button for 'transfer money'. Select the account to withdrawal from, the account to deposit into, the amount desired, and if it's a one-time or recurring transaction.

If recurring, you can set up the frequency of the transaction. This comes in handy if you'd like to transfer, for example, $50 from your paycheck into your savings every payday. By telling online banking to do this automatically, you'll never have to worry about this again.

Be sure to take advantage of the 'pay bills online' feature. This is an incredibly awesome time saver, not to mention an easy and reliable way to ensure bills are paid on time, every time. Simply go to the 'pay bills online' area and input the information for your creditors, usually their name, address, phone number, and account number. Once done, set up the amount of the payments and the date you want them) to be initiated. Don't want it to be automatic? Want to change the amount or days paid? Not a problem. Just select the payee, and tell the bank when and how much to pay. What a great convenience!

Another advantage to using this feature is that you can send money to any person or business you choose. You'll never again have to write a check or use a stamp. Just enter their information and proceed as above. The bank mails the check!

For additional security, you can set up alerts and notifications to warn you when your account is below a certain limit, when a withdrawal over a specific amount has been made, and when any bill pays that you've set up are about to be made. Simply go to your bank's alert settings, and check the appropriate boxes, or uncheck if you want to undo an alert.

Save paper and filing time by reviewing your statements online. If needed, you can order a paper copy of a statement at any time. If you use a bookkeeping system like Quicken, you can download your transactions directly to it.

Other benefits of banking online include being able to set up direct deposit without an actual trip to the bank, ordering checks, putting a 'stop pay' on a check, and applying for a new account. This isn't even all. Check the home page of your bank once you've set up your online account and review all of the options your institution offers.

Online banking will definitely save you time, is wonderfully convenient, very secure, and will give you peace of mind, knowing you can safeguard your accounts and never be late again with a bill.