Community Forums

DriVer · 07-13-2004, 01:31 PM

One thing we can't get away from is doing business with banks. Now my idea about doing that is by not going to the bank.

What are your thoughts and practices when doing banking remotely. I would be mostly interested in seeing responses about PC-Banking using Quicken or other software.

I currently do quite a bit of telephone banking and then I transpose the information into my Quicken.

We're looking also at switching to a National bank or some kind of bank that spans quite a bit of territory like Wachovia for instance, they're from Maine to Florida.

Are there better alternatives, credit union or a small bank perhaps ... doing our research asking the experts.

DriVer · 07-13-2004, 01:31 PM

One thing we can't get away from is doing business with banks. Now my idea about doing that is by not going to the bank.

What are your thoughts and practices when doing banking remotely. I would be mostly interested in seeing responses about PC-Banking using Quicken or other software.

I currently do quite a bit of telephone banking and then I transpose the information into my Quicken.

We're looking also at switching to a National bank or some kind of bank that spans quite a bit of territory like Wachovia for instance, they're from Maine to Florida.

Are there better alternatives, credit union or a small bank perhaps ... doing our research asking the experts.

Pat Z · 07-13-2004, 01:47 PM

I have been using PC banking for about 5 years now and do not use telephone banking any more. I hardly ever go to a bank, except ATM. With Quicken you can set all your payments up and forget about it.
I think it's great. In fact once I forgot to pay a bill, and went to the bank web site, sent the payment from there. You can also do it on Quicken.com.
I have everything with Citzens bank, (from up your way, Driver). No fees, no problems!

Doggievet · 07-13-2004, 01:49 PM

I've been doing banking with my PC for about 6 months and I access my bank account at Bank of America directly and pay my bills. I paid one bill while logged onto a satellite on the marine ferry to Newfoundland. I also use a debit card at home and while traveling and prefer it to writing checks. So far I've had no trouble with either. I believe Bank of America has a wide coverage area - they've bought out about every bank in the Southeast so you might consider them. I haven't used Quicken or similar programs - the bank software keeps records that I can access very readily.
Annie K.
Sparky the smiling dog
03 Journey DL 36LD

Ken Lenger · 07-13-2004, 02:53 PM

I used to use Quicken and MS Money, and found that I was spending way too much time trying to make my records match the bank records. I finaly gave up on PC based financial programs and use only my bank's online services. Now I never need to balance my checkbook again. I can transfer money between accounts, pay bills electronically, get electronic statements, etc. I can't remember the last time I actually walked into a bank. I do use my bank's ATM for cash with no service fees.

One work of caution with using on-line banking while traveling using public computers. A sneaky person can install a program on a public computer that records key strokes and learn your account login info and password. I rarely access my financial accounts from a public computer. I've heard that there are simple programs that you can run on a computer to detect such keyboard programs, but I do not know what they are called or where to get them.

TXiceman · 07-13-2004, 06:00 PM

We have been using online banking and bill pay for about 7 years now and have suffered through changes. Currently our bank offers a very poor online bill pay and we are using MS Money and MS Bill Pay. The MS Bill Pay is $5.95/ month and covers a given number of transactions. Both the Bank and MS Bill Pay will sync with MS Money.

With the pay check being deposited electronically we seldom see the bank. Using the laptop and Netzero for an on the road ISP, we can conduct al of the required banking electonically.

Ken

Lorna · 07-14-2004, 04:19 AM

I use Quicken Basic 2003 and Bank of America. I chose BOA because they have branchs where we live/travel. I use the "update" feature at home (Juno dialup) and away from home I use my daughter's Sager laptop and one of our cellphones (Verizon tri-mode... The free connection w/ America's Choice plan). I like using the laptop enough that I will get one to use.

I do not full-time but travel between 2 states on a monthly (sometimes weekly basis). I pay all but 2 bills online at the biller's websites. I do not use bill pay. I get e-mail alerts that tell me when my new bills are able to be viewed online. I then transfer the info to my dayplanner. When I pay the bill I write down the date paid and the confirmation #. I have only 2 bills that I can't pay online (home mortgage and water bill). The water company is a local call on my cell phone so I can just call them when my bill is due (I keep it written in my dayplanner along with the phone # and address). I don't have a credit card, just a debit card and I keep paper checks for the times when I can't use my debit. I rarely go into the bank. Mostly I use the ATM at the bank(s) and when I need cash I just go to the grocery store or Wal-mart type place and run my card thru as a "Debit" (normally I use it as a "Credit" card except at Wal-mart which will only run it as a "Debit" so that is where I usually get cash back). This way I never have to worry about ATM fees. Although most places will only let me have $100 max back. I usually get about $40 since I use my debit card to pay for pretty much everything.

We don't have our checks deposited electronically, so David deposits thru a local (for him) BOA ATM. There is one down the street from where he works in NC but in GA he has to drive 30 miles to get to a BOA ATM to deposit.M

rehcuobbob · 07-14-2004, 10:08 AM

I also use PC banking and Quicken. Love it, never need to go near a bank, just an ATM! Going on six years now, never had a hint of a problem.

JudyandJim · 07-15-2004, 10:29 AM

We have our income directly deposited and use Quicken 2003 and Bank of America online to manage our money, transfer between accounts and pay most bills. I just click and it all downloads and updates my Quicken checkbook. I like the ability to log on each day and see which payments have cleared. Don't use their Bill Pay though...... I like to have more control over when a bill is paid. I receive many bills by email vs. regular mail. However, the only bills that I pay by writing a check are the ones that don't have a website.

Online banking has made life a lot easier both at home and on the road. I keep everything on my laptop so I have it whereever I am.

Zimectrin · 07-16-2004, 06:59 AM

We use a bank that has a very sopisticated online banking system. It will do anything to allow full management of credit cards, bill pay, checking, and savings all at one site.

We are residents of South Dakota,(Alternative Resources) the bank is in Utah.

We have opted to use Quicken and interface it with our bank. This way we only have to enter data into Quicken and then it is automatically updated to our bank. Quicken (and Money) also update stocks, etc. online. Everything is in one place and relativly easy.

Use plastic as a tool as much as we can. Our cash needs are supplied at the larger stores by using our debit card to pay for a small purchase and then get cash back. Have yet to require the service of an ATM.

We pay no fees for any of this, (do you belive that?), and earn interest on our total balance, which is currently 0.4% (pretty low, maybe that's where the fees are)

All in all, Quicken (or Money) and a good current technolodgy bank are out there and a very effective way to manage money on the road. Just find one you like and go for it.

george1 · 07-16-2004, 09:20 AM

We use Bank One, it has plenty of offices. We have everything direct deposited and have few bills. We pay by debit card. Many experences as the others here. george

JudyandJim · 07-16-2004, 01:38 PM

While we are on the subject of internet banking, the following article may be of interest to many of you who use Internet Explorer as your web browser. I recently switched to Firefox and find it to be excellent -- faster than IE, and the on screen format is almost identical. All I had to do was download it for FREE and then Import my settings from IE.

USA Today July 2, 2004
Wired News July 2, 2004

<<Hackers are finding more holes than ever in Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser. So much so, the government's Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) issued a strong warning to Internet Explorer users on the Windows platform to switch browsers due to known security holes.

The warning stems from a recent virus that spread to possibly thousands of Web sites that allow hackers to steal personal credit card and information from visitors. The infection made barely noticeable changes to an infected site that transmits a piece of code to Internet Explorer users that record their keystrokes and send personal data back to hackers.

A second warning, issued by the SANS Internet Storm Center, warned users about pop-up ads that tracked user traffic to 50 worldwide financial institutions, captured log-in information and sent it to another site before banks could encrypt the data.

Both attacks exploit security holes within Internet Explorer, but Microsoft hasn't released patches to block either problem.

Evidently, many regular Internet users took notice. The day CERT issued its warning, downloads of related alternative browsers, Mozilla and Firefox, rose sharply to more than 200,000--twice as much than on an average day. The user base for Firefox alone has doubled every few months too. Experts say that's an indication of the level of frustration users have grown used to with Windows-based products and, specifically, Internet Explorer.

Another good reason Mozilla software is growing in popularity: The browser doesn't use or support Active X, a plug-in that allows Web sites to include multimedia and interactive features, making it much more secure than Internet Explorer.>>

www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Frank & Kay · 07-20-2004, 12:13 PM

We also do online banking using our bank's software, and we have direct deposit for all of our income. We have Road Runner at home and their dialup service while on the road. Initially we couldn't access our accounts while using dialup but one email to RR techs and they fixed the situation immediately. It is very convenient.
Kay from CNY

jperry29 · 07-24-2004, 09:17 AM

I have been using a strictly-net-based bank for about 5 years now. I use Quicken to interface with the bank which makes reconciling my account a breeze. I don't type anything, it is all done electronically. I also take advantage of their billpay service. This feature is very convenient, you can set up bills to automatically pay on a routine basis or you can just go in and manually trigger any payment you want. All of my fixed-amount payments are set for automatic payment, my bills that change every month I do manually. Either way, you just set them up once and then you only have to enter the amount and click on pay. The bank either transfers the funds electronically or writes a check and mails it. No charge for any of this if you have at least two transactions a month.

Interest rates on the balance are pretty interesting too. About three times the national average (although three times of nearly nothing is still almost nothing). It is nice to see a couple of dollars added to the account just for doing business with them instead of being charged for doing business with them.

Deposits can be done from virtually any ATM or they provide postage paid envelopes for you to mail it in.

Everything works really well. I was very cautious and spent about three years transitioning from a traditional bricks and mortar bank to this internet-only bank. I have gotten over my anxiety about everything but one - what happens if my computer fails catastrophically? Because of this question I have been working on developing adequate backup and redundancies. These are not unfounded fears, a year ago last April my home was hit by a lightning strike. It was powerful enough that it jumped my UPS and other surge protectors and fried everything! Completely wiped me out in the computing department.

Now, contacting the bank using another computer was no big deal. I never lost control or access to my money, however, I did lose access to Quicken for a time and my backups were not very current. It was a ton of work to get everything back to a current state. Backups to multiple media are now routine.

Give NetBank a look and see what you think.