A Guide to Online Banking and Bill Pay

In a complex world, many of us are looking for a means to simplify our hectic lives, and online banking is one way to save both time and money. You can virtually eliminate trips to your financial institution by taking care of your banking activities from your home, office, or anywhere with access to the Internet.

Perhaps you've considered doing your banking online, but have not taken that next step, afraid that you don't have the computer skills or concerned about the security of internet transactions. This guide is designed to introduce you to the setup and basic features of online banking and bill payment services.

1. How to Establish an Online Banking Account:

Although it is possible to initiate a new account online, there are a number of requirements that you must satisfy due to the anti-money laundering provisions of the 2001 US Patriot Act. Proof of identity must be must be provided by mail or fax, and then processed before your new account can be activated. It is certainly possible to set up a new account online, but the process can be a bit involved.

In contrast, arranging online access to your existing accounts is a snap. Go to the official website of your bank and you will most likely find information right on their main page to guide you through the steps of accessing your accounts remotely. And for the majority of institutions, online banking is free.

The bank will request information, including:

* identification (such as social security number)
* account numbers that your are seeking to establish online services for
* your email address

You will then be asked to provide a user name, password and you may be required to set up a series of security questions to allow for account access in the event that you forget your user name or pin.

Once the bank has processed your request, they will send you an email that you must respond to in order to activate your online access. This is one more security measure to ensure that you really did request online banking.

2. How to Use Your Online Banking Account:

One you have established online access to your bank accounts, there are numerous services that you can conveniently use 24/7.

Customers can typically:

* view account history
* transfer funds into, out of or between accounts
* view and print images of canceled (paid) checks
* pay bills

Many banks even offer advice and instruments for financial management, such as budget worksheets, savings plans and investment information. Online banking services also typically allow you export the record of your banking transactions into Microsoft Money, Quicken Online Banking or other online banking software.

3. Paying Bills Online:

The ability to pay bills online is one of the best features that online banking offers. No more writing paper checks, paying for postage, and mailing out bills. Even better, online payment transactions typically require only one or two business days to be posted, whereas payments sent via the postal service may take a week or more to arrive and be processed. Some banks charge for online bill payment, but the small fees are usually well worth it in saved time and postage.

On the bank's website you will be able to access a web page where you can enter account numbers and billers' names. Once established, you can schedule payment dates and amounts, even set up automatic monthly payments for bills. And don't worry if you've set up an automatic payment that you need to change. Online bill payment is typically very flexible, allowing the customer to modify the dollar amount, payment date and funding account of payments.

4. Online Banking Security:

One of the reasons that people are sometime wary of banking online is concern over security of their transactions. Banks use several methods to ensure that your information is protected, including, cryptographic protocols and encryption; safeguards that make your information secure and unreadable as it passes over the Internet.

So what are you waiting for? At least give online banking a try. You can always discontinue your online access, but chances are, once you start, you'll wonder what took you so long to sign up for this time-saving service.