Test your cyber-banking compatibility
By Michelle Samaad • Bankrate.com

 

Take this quiz to see whether you'd be better off online or staying in line at your bank.

1. Are your accounts scattered among several banks and being used for different purposes?

2. Do you use ATMs regularly, like several times a week?

3. Do you have more than one account at the same bank, and each account is used to pay certain bills or to save for certain goals?

4. Are bills constantly landing in your mailbox but you're never able to give each one the time it deserves?

5. Are you worried about the safety of online banking?

6. Do you commonly transfer balances between accounts in a sort of monthly juggling routine?

ANSWERS

1. If you have a fairly sophisticated network of bank accounts at a number of different institutions, online banking may not be for you. Most systems will work with one bank network and you'll be left with some cyberaccounts and some old-fashioned walk-in accounts.

2. Go online and your cyberbank may leave you high and dry when it comes to ATMs. You'll be paying hefty fees for using other bank's machines.

3. You've got your money all sorted out and are using several accounts to keep everything right where you want it. Online banking can give you a lot more time and flexibility when it comes to keeping everything running smoothly and increase the efficiency of your system.

4. No more spending late nights at kitchen tables with a blizzard of paperwork or cries of 'I thought I paid that!' Online banking lets you organize and pay automatically or at the very least have your PC remind you it's about to pay your next bill.

5. Experts say that even though online banking is very safe, if you are a worrier online banking is probably not for you. The plusses from online efficiency are more than offset by increased anxiety about the money you rely on to live. It's one of those worries you can't easily talk yourself out of, they say.

6. To stay afloat financially or maybe to maximize the income you get from your accounts, you shuffle money hither and yon between accounts regularly. Not only can you keep hourly track of your money with online banking, you can program your computer to do it for you. A definite plus.

-- Posted: Dec. 7, 1999