Is online banking safe?

WhatInThe said:
I like that. I'm diversified but still have brick & mortar and use the tellers. Got to admit I don't mind dealing with people because if nothing else I can describe the last teller that waited on me and pulled up my account. My paranoid theory is if the tellers are familiar with me their is less chance of fraud and my picture is taken so they know what I look like. On the other hand if you get a corrupt teller or staff working in concert I would have to wait for corporate to take care of it.

I do find my myself doing more and more electronic transactions. My biggest problem now is my standard brokerage account which puts a 5 day hold on transaction completions so if I sell for money I have to plan it 5 days in advance. I was told I need a day trader license or 25K cash balance to get immediate access to my money.
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I can understand the desire for a human touch, and I did the same thing back when I had "real" bank accounts. But I was screwed over once or twice, and I quickly decided that I could do without that kind of touch.

I know what you mean about the hold times in brokerage accounts. Bitcoin has a confirmation time of several minutes to an hour or so - faster than what you're talking about, but in my new adventures of bitcoin arbitrage that time can mean the difference between profit and loss. Luckily I'm working with an arbitrage company that is giving me roughly 20% monthly on my money, so no complaints yet.

GeorgiaXplant said:
Your account can get hacked and drained whether you bank online or not. Everything your bank does with your money and everybody else's is done via computer.

Ditching an old computer without cleaning the hard drive is inviting disaster. It's equivalent to setting up a buffet table in public with every bit of personal and private information there is and telling folks to help themselves.
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Yes, I've known people that just put their entire computer into the recycle bin, or, even funnier, pass a refrigerator magnet over the outside of the case, thinking that will erase everything. I've always believed that you have to physically remove the hard drive, use an electromagnet specifically designed for the job on it, then pull the platters and whack 'em with a sledge hammer a few times, and finally roast the thing in your barbeque for a few hours. THEN you might be safe ... ;)
 

SifuPhil said:
.. . I've always believed that you have to physically remove the hard drive, use an electromagnet specifically designed for the job on it, then pull the platters and whack 'em with a sledge hammer a few times, and finally roast the thing in your barbeque for a few hours. THEN you might be safe ... ;)
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yeah Phil ... that might take care of it ... :D ...

I keep putting old computers into the back of the closet (have three now since 1994) .. and keep thinking about a good fix for the eventual extinction of these things. .:confused:.
 
I beat my old computers up with a hammer.....
 

I don't know, but I really think too many of us "older" folks act to scared today. I've done buying (w/credit cards) and selling online with no problems. We can view our banking online as well. But, it's like anything else in life, if a person is truly scared to do something, the best thing is NOT to do it. Sometimes a person, young or old, hasn't got a choice but to put some personal stuff online. A lot of companies handle different things online today, and to get certain info, you have to give them certain info. If a person decides to call the company, the Rep will ask things on the phone to identify the person calling. Not only can computers get "hacked", so can phones!
 
I think you've got a point there, Rockr. I've been messing around with computers and the 'Net almost since they were first introduced, so that's 30-some-odd years.

After that length of time, anything, even a marriage, seems much less mysterious and dangerous. ;)
 
Some 'tricks' or gimmicks when disposing of an old computer that still works in particular. If your old computer still works delete history for starters. Delete every thing including favorites including websites visited. Delete history doesn't necessarily take care of that you have to do that manually. After deleted history a couple of times you could get a drive scrubber for about 20$. Run than that, then take the hard drive out and put an industrial strength magnet on it before smashing it.

Also after you deleted history you could go to harmless and inane websites. View or download meaningless but legal stuff anyone can get anywhere. Reason being after you delete and clear history it still will be there until the computer uses that 'space' to store something else. It reuses that space.

Smashing the tower or entire notebook might not destroy the hard drive so remove it then smash it, dunk, zap it etc.
 
I don't think anything is fully safe. I just had my credit card number stolen last week. I have no clue how they got it. I honestly think they can get it from so many different ways, it's impossible to be 100% safe these days. It's so common with banks, I don't even think they investigate it anymore. The person that stole mine rented a car for a week. It was in Spain mind you, but how easy would it be to wait for them to pick the car up and arrest them. That's probably why it's so common now, they don't even do anything about it.
 
I've used online banking for years and years and have not had any problems. Paper banking isn't totally safe, either. Someone got ahold of one of my sister's checks, reproduced them online, and used them to clean out her account. She did get her money back. The bank told us that it could have been someone to whom she gave a check, or one of their employees, or basically anyone who had handled or processed her check.
 
Butterfly said:
I've used online banking for years and years and have not had any problems. Paper banking isn't totally safe, either. Someone got ahold of one of my sister's checks, reproduced them online, and used them to clean out her account. She did get her money back. The bank told us that it could have been someone to whom she gave a check, or one of their employees, or basically anyone who had handled or processed her check.
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That happened to my son also, Butterfly. I just recently started auto pay on most of my bills...worked fine until I lost a credit card and had to jump through hoops to change to new card.
 
GeorgiaXplant said:
Your account can get hacked and drained whether you bank online or not. Everything your bank does with your money and everybody else's is done via computer.

Ditching an old computer without cleaning the hard drive is inviting disaster. It's equivalent to setting up a buffet table in public with every bit of personal and private information there is and telling folks to help themselves.
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^This. All we can do is stay alert and having access via computer to monitor your account is actually a plus. I've been banking via the net for as long as I've had access to a computer, a very long time, same with shopping via the net, any issues, I've taken it up with my bank and it was resolved to my satisfaction, always. But the issues were usually minor and I caught them immediately due to the fact that I check my account regularly via the net.
 
Jackie22 said:
That happened to my son also, Butterfly. I just recently started auto pay on most of my bills...worked fine until I lost a credit card and had to jump through hoops to change to new card.
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Fair warning with the auto pay for credit card accts, make sure you recheck your due dates, because, some years ago I had one of my accts set up to be paid on a certain date every month and sometime along the line, they decided to change my due date and suddenly my payments became late and unbeknownst to me, I began accumulating late fees. It was a couple of months before I caught the error, I only caught it because I knew I wasn't making any purchases and my balance just kept going up. I got into a battle with them to clear it up, but each time they credited the amount back to my account their system kept re-charging me and I had to go through this battle every month.

Though I had changed my payment date, I couldn't ever recoup those fees and I had to keep going through long phone conversations with their customer service till I just had enough and canceled the dang card. grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Anyway, just check those due dates to make sure your payments always arrive well before the date. This wasn't something that was happening exclusive to me, I heard others were having a similar issue.
 
Same here QS. Using a credit or debit card at Target, Home Depot, etc. was safe too. Until the day it wasn't safe. Online banking will be safe until the day it isn't. I won't take unnecessary risks with my money.
 
Yes...! For sure now on these days where people don't have time to go at market for buying there need products. So I think it is very easy way to find there products online and buy them. And banks also doing there duties as well for giving us secure password also sending us text massages , after completing our transaction. So it is very helpful and trustful for us on these days.
 
We've been doing our banking and paying all bills online for about 12 or 13 years. Never had an issue. I've never had an issue with debit or credit cards in the UK, but did have it happen in the US with my US debit card. I think it was in a restaurant. Never got charged as the brokerage company I have the account with caught it.

My bank in the UK is very good with online security. Besides a password you also have a second password and have to go through random requests for the 3 of the letters/numbers in that password - like 2nd, 5th, 8th on one day and different ones the next.
 
Yes, yes and yes, it is safe. If us old farts can figure it out and use it, anyone can. My wife and I have converted every bill and banking need online. Our bank notifies us of any purchase over $100 in a email. Plus, we get a nice bonus from our purchases. 1% to 5% back on all credit card purchases.
 
Eventually you won't have a choice but to bank online. Many branches closing in the UK as there isn't a lot of need for them. Cheques are rarely used. I write one or two per year. One that I recently wrote was to my stepgrandson who just graduated high school in the US, and used my US account.
 
We just got a notice from our bank that they will begin charging up $3 for a paper statement!... Otherwise we have to go online to balance our checkbook. I've told them that I'm thinking about changing banks.. but I guess most banks are going that way. I hate it.
 
QuickSilver said:
We just got a notice from our bank that they will begin charging up $3 for a paper statement!... Otherwise we have to go online to balance our checkbook. I've told them that I'm thinking about changing banks.. but I guess most banks are going that way. I hate it.
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I stopped the delivery of bank statements a decade ago, I prefer to read them online, if I really want a copy, I can download it to my printer or pick up a copy at the bank. But yes, seems a lot of places are now charging for all sorts of things that once were free. I stopped my utility and cable paper bills from being delivered as well. One of the reasons was I've had terrible luck with mail delivery people, they once were and more often than not mail is delivered to the wrong box or address. I've gotten many a persons personal info in my mail box and had to send it back or at least hand it over to my neighbor where possible.
 
Many bank branches are closing here, also. I had occasion to go into a brick and mortar bank a few weeks ago, and it was like a tomb. A decade ago it was always bustling. You don't even have to go the bank to deposit checks anymore, just use a scanner for electronic deposit.

SO, insisting on using paper checks to stay out of the electronic mainstream just doesn't work -- electronic banking being used by many retailers and professional offices, and the fact that all interbank communications (like with the clearinghouses) are electronic, makes that impossible. And doesn't Social Security insist on automatic deposit nowdays?

I remember in my misspent and impoverished youth you could count on a check taking a couple days to get through the clearinghouse and "clear" your bank account, so you could write a small check at a grocery store the day (or two) before payday and count on being OK because you could get to the bank with your paycheck before the grocery store check hit your account. That wouldn't work nowdays because almost everything clears at midnight the day you write the check to a service provider.
 

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