The Electronic Banking Association (EBA) is a non-profit organizationestablished to do one simple thing-help more people get started with electronicbanking. Here’s why. Who taught you how to write paper checks? Probably yourparent’s right? Well, who’s going to teach you how to write electronic checks?Probably NOT your parents. That’s where they come in.
E-banking is so much moreconvenient and so much quicker that everyone should know about it. The EBA wasestablished as an independent source of helpful information about electronicbanking for consumers and businesses. Financial institutions, merchants, andother financial service firms actually provide financial e-commerce services,but the Electronic Banking Association (EBA) monitors progress in the financiale-commerce industry and provides information that will enable users of thoseservices to become better informed and to locate providers of the services theyseek. Everyone hates paying bills. It’s time-consuming, frustrating, and youhave to lick that awful envelope glue. But not with e-banking.
You’ll spend lesstime paying bills, and more time doing fun stuff. Here are some advantages toe-banking: – No more paper checks. Your computer remembers who you write checksto. You simply enter an amount then point-and-click. You’ll never run out ofchecks again. – No more hassles.
You can schedule your payments in advance, sothey’ll get paid while you’re on vacation or away on business. Electronicpayments are processed quickly, in as little as 24 hours to 5 days (unlike apaper check sent in the mail, which takes an average of 10 days to post). – Nomore envelopes to lick. No envelope glue. No paper cuts on your tongue.
And youcan stop writing your return address again, and again, and again. – No morewriter’s cramp. It takes forever to write checks and addresses every month. E-banking cuts that time to practically nothing. – No more stamps. Withe-banking, there’s no postage and your bills are processed quickly – wheneveryou want them paid.
You can pay your bills online, so it only makes sense toreceive them that way, too. This is called “Electronic BillPresentment,” and more and more businesses are going to offer it. – No morelost bills. Your dog can’t eat electronic bills.
Your kids can’t misplace them. And you can’t lose them under a stack of catalogs. – Pay bills when you want to. Not when the post office decides to deliver them. Click to see it. Click to payit.
Your bills appear right on your computer screen and look much like theprinted bills you are used to getting. But the difference is you can pay themwith just the click of a mouse. – Better record keeping. All your billing andpayment information is kept in one convenient location, not in messy cardboardboxes or goodness only knows where else.
You can pay your bills online, so itonly makes sense to receive them that way, too. This is called “ElectronicBill Presentment,” and more and more businesses are going to offer it. Inaddition to paying bills online, you can get current information any time youwant it. So you can get up-to-date account balances, transfer funds, obtaininformation about check clearing; all sorts of things.
You can import thisinformation directly into today’s popular financial management programs such asQuicken without having to re-enter it. You buy things all the time with creditcards, right? Well then, those are electronic transactions just like these. Today’s latest Web browsers have sophisticated encryption that’s very secure. What’s more, electronic checks are safer than having paper checks lying aroundwhere anyone can obtain and misuse your account information. Experts predict itwould take a hacker over 2,000 years to crack 56-bit encryption.
Yet manyfinancial institutions today require a browser that supports 128-bit encryption,which would take about 12,710,204,652,610,000,000,000,000 years to crack. Nowthat’s secure. (Source: Byte Magazine) When you’re ready to open an e-bankingaccount, you can receive more information on security, as well as a recentbrowser that supports 128-bit encryption, through your financial institution orat the Netscape and Microsoft Web sites. In the time it takes you to pay yourbills the old-fashioned way, you can be up and running with e-banking. Best ofall, once you enter who you pay bills to, you’ll never have to re-enter thatinformation.
Your financial institution may offer e-banking via the Web or apersonal financial manager or both. Web-based e-banking is generally easier andquicker to set up. All you’ll need is a recent browser that supports U. S. encryption. To use your financial institution’s personal finance manager, you’llneed the software from that institution.
How to set up an online account (You’llneed a checking account established with the financial institution first. ): 1. Have important information handy (account numbers, driver’s license, socialsecurity number, credit card numbers, employer contact info, previous address). 2.
Go to your financial institution’s web site. 3. Click to the e-banking pageof the site. 4.
Fill out and submit the online e-banking enrollment form. 5. Within a few days your financial institution will send you a e-banking start-uppackage that will contain a user ID, password and web site address withinstructions on how to begin e-banking. That’s all there is to it! You’ll beamazed how convenient e-banking is. Try it once, and you’ll never go back.Computers
