ONLINE BANKING – ARE YOU READY FOR IT?

Written by Jim Slobodzian


Are you ready for online banking? Or a better question – arerepparttar banks ready for you?

Online banking is much, much more than simply punching in your codes atrepparttar 112759 nearest ATM, andrepparttar 112760 breadth of services available to you are growing fast. In fact, some banks do not have branches located in brick buildings at all, but are operating competitively in repparttar 112761 "online" world offering allrepparttar 112762 services "traditional" banks have offered inrepparttar 112763 past.

Getting Started So, what should you consider before makingrepparttar 112764 leap in to cyber- banking? Probablyrepparttar 112765 first thing to consider is whether you have repparttar 112766 "connections". The simplest online connection you need is dial-up internet access from your computer. With this, you are now able to make a connection with your existing bank or surf other banks to open an account, request a loan, etc. If you have an existing bank account, many banks are making it easy for you to "enable" online access to your accounts. Check with your bank,repparttar 112767 process of getting online access to your existing accounts is fairly easy – and you should be able to do this online. (Note: When converting my existing account to online banking atrepparttar 112768 RBCrepparttar 112769 process wouldn't let me do it online. I had to call in to their office during business hours, butrepparttar 112770 process was fairly simple andrepparttar 112771 telephone support was very good.)

They will guide you through a simple process, setting you up with your account # and password. Guard these carefully! – they are just as important as your ATM PIN #'s.

What Can Online Banking Do For Me?

The services available to you are growing monthly. To be fair torepparttar 112772 banks, they are playing catch-up to some ofrepparttar 112773 services being offered by auction payment systems which in a way have "blazedrepparttar 112774 trail" for online payments. New e-money currency, "wallets" and payment systems have filled a gap inrepparttar 112775 market place that banks are looking to recover. The ones that really want your business won't make it difficult for you to do business with them. As we all know, nothing is more frustrating than spending your time and energy trying to use your bank's "online" services only to find that an hour later you see a message saying "please visit your nearest branch to….".

So what should you expect? Here is a list of basic services that I believe you should be able to expect from your online bank (and of course,repparttar 112776 list keeps growing).

 Open a new account  Check credit card balances  Check your mortgage balances  Make bill payments  Schedule automatic bill payments for regular bills  Make credit card bill payments  Apply for a loan  Apply for a mortgage  Transfer funds between accounts  Ability to send and receive checks online  Check your brokerage account and trade stocks or mutual funds (integrated)  Wireless banking access

I should note that when comparing some ofrepparttar 112777 services offered by US banks vs. Canadian banks, it appears that Canadian banks are slower to offer important basic online services such as sending and receiving checks and payments. Hopefully they will catch up inrepparttar 112778 coming months.

Advantages The advantages of convenience and speed for online banking are obvious. You haverepparttar 112779 ability to do your business when it is most convenient to you, at any time of day with no line-ups and no waiting. Transactions are most often executed and confirmed instantly or duringrepparttar 112780 next business day. And of course, withrepparttar 112781 increased competition that comes with consumers having more knowledge and easier access to competitors,repparttar 112782 price differences are worth comparing. For certain basic servicesrepparttar 112783 "virtual" banks that only operate online have better rates as compared against some ofrepparttar 112784 traditional institutions that have to maintain their branches and buildings.

Words Alone Can’t Explain This Stock Market

Written by Charles Payne


Last week, I read thatrepparttar folks at Oxford English Dictionary had a slate of American English words for consideration in future editions. Apparently, because of its international influence via repparttar 112758 entertainment industry, America isrepparttar 112759 prime source of new entries intorepparttar 112760 language (I guess it’s good to seerepparttar 112761 country still has some influence, because there are very few areas that our global neighbors still look up to us). The word erm that I found to berepparttar 112762 most interesting for consideration is bling-bling.

The word refers to large jewelry, such as platinum chains and diamond rings that rappers and athletes sport. However,repparttar 112763 word could also perfectly describerepparttar 112764 nature ofrepparttar 112765 stock market in repparttar 112766 late 1990s. Moreover, it isrepparttar 112767 perfect way to describerepparttar 112768 pay packages of CEOs, and lest not forget that house thatrepparttar 112769 former CFO of WorldCom is building in Boca Raton. Although it is obvious thatrepparttar 112770 editors at OED are becoming hipper, they’re still a little slow onrepparttar 112771 latest in urban vernacular. In this case, it is probably a blessing. According torepparttar 112772 Financial Times, a writer from Houston recently stated, "The Bling-bling era is over". It better be, as far as individual investors are concerned. In fact,repparttar 112773 bling-bling era has temporarily been replaced byrepparttar 112774 but-but era. Or in some casesrepparttar 112775 butt-butt era. The latter refers to how many investors feel after being taken advantage of byrepparttar 112776 entire system, or torepparttar 112777 expression onrepparttar 112778 faces of those that continue to takerepparttar 112779 5th during congressional hearings.

Inrepparttar 112780 meantime,repparttar 112781 Bush administration spends a lot of time saying "but-but". The drubbing of stocks wasrepparttar 112782 clearest messagerepparttar 112783 people have sent sincerepparttar 112784 Boston Tea party. Moreover, it wasn’t just Americans that were voicing their dissatisfaction withrepparttar 112785 President’s address concerningrepparttar 112786 confidence crisis. When those safe haven stocks began to tumble duringrepparttar 112787 week, one had to know that it represented a lot of foreign investment. As Ross Perot would have said, that was a big sucking sound. (Byrepparttar 112788 way, didn’t he get in trouble this week?) Yes,repparttar 112789 foreigners are taking their money out ofrepparttar 112790 market just as fast as US investors, who withdrew about $20 billion from funds last week. It is interesting that much hasn’t been made ofrepparttar 112791 simple fact thatrepparttar 112792 market can’t go higher if there is more money going out as there is coming in. Anyway, I think Bush will come back with a more definitive plan that goes beyond punishment and maybe focuses on prevention. I know thatrepparttar 112793 GOP thinks that those dynamics are one andrepparttar 112794 same, but in certain situations they’re not.

The spectrum is such that those that have nothing to lose, and see no other way, aren’t going to be swayed by prison terms or other forms of punishment. Sharing this space are those that are either so inherently criminal, that it is part of their being to breakrepparttar 112795 law and those that are so blinded by greed that any risk is worthrepparttar 112796 reward. In their zeal to achieve bling-bling status, there is nothing that can stop them. They break every rule inrepparttar 112797 game. So, it stands to reason that these same people would first manipulaterepparttar 112798 rules, bending, twisting and corrupting them.

There, ladies and gentlemen, is whererepparttar 112799 President has to focus his next address onrepparttar 112800 topic. After all, when it comes to those in this country that see no other way,repparttar 112801 rules are extremely precise. If a 19 year-old kid fromrepparttar 112802 ghetto can get 10-years in prison for selling $20.00 worth of crack then that person knowsrepparttar 112803 risk when he/she hitsrepparttar 112804 street corner. (A discussion onrepparttar 112805 fairness of this type of sentencing could go on forever. I do find it shocking thatrepparttar 112806 type of fraud that results in people losing their entire life savings only has a maximum term of five years. The but-but crowd has never seen anything unfair about such inequitable punishment, but may begin to backfire on them.)

The rules ofrepparttar 112807 game have to change torepparttar 112808 point where anyone investing inrepparttar 112809 stock market understands them. Let’s face it, many ofrepparttar 112810 companies and individuals facing public scorn did nothing illegal. On Wall Street it was akin to some sort of magic show. The sleight of hand was rewarded and applauded. You bought stocks because a company could manipulaterepparttar 112811 numbers. You loved management that found ways not to pay taxes. The CEO that could only pull a rabbit out ofrepparttar 112812 hat was seen as behindrepparttar 112813 times. Heck, we loved to seerepparttar 112814 company sawed in half, only to emerge whole byrepparttar 112815 timerepparttar 112816 earnings were announced. The President has to understand thatrepparttar 112817 audience doesn’t want that anymore. They want reality television. No more tricks, no more hocus-pocus. No more voodoo accounting. No more but-but.

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