Your Money’s Best Friend: Electronic Banking

Put yourself in the following situation: Its Friday night and you have a hot date. You want to take her out to dinner and a late night film. Its 5 p.m. and you already spent most of your paycheck on the latest online game. You are curious about your account balance but the bank is closed and you left their phone number in your other jeans. What can you do? Well don’t fear because electronic banking can save the day. Now I am talking way beyond ATM’s. Your computer or mobile phone are about to become money managing devices. Read on to find out more.
Although many banks and credit unions have electronic capabilities, we will use Bank of America as an example for two reasons. I am most familiar with their services and they have a good comprehensive list of electronic services. Firstly, it takes only a few short minutes to sign up at their website. After, you have created an account, your checking and saving account balances will be visible to you with the click of a mouse key or by a few keystrokes on your cell phone. You will also be able to set it up so you can view your Bank of America credit card statement and available credit.
Now that you set up an account, let’s look at some other types of services that are available. There is online bill pay. This allows you to set up automatic electronic payments, receive electronic bills and review payments all from your computer or mobile device. You can even have your rent paid automatically every month. Save time and a stamp! Text banking is another convenient way to keep track of your money. A simple text message can provide you with your account balance and recent activity. Finally, there is a transfer feature. You can transfer money from one bank of America account in a matter of minutes to another Bank of America account or other financial institution. This service is great because its quick and free of charge.
Basically we have only scratched the surface in educating you about all of the great electronic banking services that are available. Be sure to check them out for yourself! Happy banking!