Benefits of online banking

All your banking in one place

You can do just about all your banking online from the comfort of your home using your computer and mobile phone.

Whether it's transferring money between accounts, paying bills, or sending money to other people, it's right there at your fingertips. You can also set up automatic bill payments or savings transfers.

As long as you don't need to withdraw cash, online banking has you covered.

Receive notifications and alerts

Your online bank can help keep you on top of what's going on with your bank accounts. Are you waiting for a deposit to be made, but unsure when it is coming? Some banks can let you know when a deposit is made, so you don't need to keep checking your balance.

Different banks have different options for notifications, but most can provide you with useful reminders.

Check your bank balance at any time

With online banking, you can easily check the balance of your bank accounts any time of the day or night.

You can also check an account to see what transactions have been made. You can see whether funds have been deposited or refunded, and when payments have been made or cash withdrawn.

Some online banking systems also list bill payments in a section by themselves, so that you can see that they are up to date.

Control all transactions yourself

Online banking puts you in full control of your accounts. You can make all transactions yourself and see them on your computer. And you can do it all at your convenience, not just when the bank is open.

You can check that:

• payments have been made
• money owed to you has been received
• no unauthorised transactions have been made
• you're not making payments for services you no longer need.

Keep on top of your budget

Most of us find it hard to remember all the things we've paid for. With online banking, each transaction has a date and a name of the store or service you purchased from, making it easier to keep on top of where your money is going.

No waiting for bank statements

When you use online banking, your monthly statement is just a click away – you don't have to wait to receive it in the post.

You don't have to worry about losing your statements either, because they are stored online. You can check statements from previous years, and even download and print them for safe keeping.

Up-to-the-minute information

Bank statements show transactions up to a specific date but, by the time they arrive in the post, a few days might have passed by. With online banking, however, you can see account transactions in minutes. Sometimes, deposits and withdrawals appear within seconds.

Advanced security keeps your money safe

Banks have excellent security systems to make sure your money is secure when banking online. Sometimes, you may need to use additional passwords and codes to complete online banking tasks, but it's easy to do and definitely worth the effort to help ensure no-one but you can access your money. We show you how this happens in our practice activities courses in this topic.

Well done!

This is the end of the Benefits of online banking activity.

Next, we look at safe practices in the Safety first for online banking activity.