How Digital Banking Can Make Your Life Easier
Are you tired of having to find time in your schedule every week or two to run to the bank and make a deposit? Are you tired of standing in line waiting for a free teller? Are you tired of sending checks to pay your bills? Particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person errands such as these have become things that many people are reluctant to do. Luckily, digital banking technologies are there to deliver a slew of convenient alternatives that can make your life easier—and, during a pandemic, even a bit safer.
The Rise of Digital Banking
Believe it or not, digital banking has been around since the 1980s, though that decade’s experiments in the technology were rudimentary at best. It wasn’t until the 1990s that most banks started offering Internet banking options to their customers, and not until the 2000s and the arrival of smartphones that digital banking really became a convenient option for many consumers. Throughout this timeline, digital banking has expanded its range of services. For instance, customers have been able to login to their bank accounts, view balances, move money between accounts, and schedule bill or credit card payments for a long while. Other services, such as remote deposits, have only really become possible since smartphones (and smartphone cameras) came along.
Digital banking still isn’t necessarily the “norm”—at least, it wasn’t before COVID-19 struck—but it’s certainly on its way to becoming commonplace. Today, most banks have not only websites set up to make digital banking easy and intuitive, but also mobile apps that put most of those features right on their customers’ phones—and in a secure fashion, no less.
The Benefits of Online Banking
Whether you call it online banking, mobile banking, or digital banking, the benefits of these technologies are the same. Some of the major perks include:
- Digital banking technologies allow you to check account balances with just a few clicks or keyboard strokes, which is far more convenient than visiting your nearest banking branch.
- Online and mobile banking make transferring money between bank accounts the work of a moment, compared to the time commitment of going to the bank, waiting in line, and having a teller make the transfer for you.
- Mobile banking apps feature a tool that allows you to deposit checks into your account using just the camera on your smartphone, saving you a trip to the bank and providing you with a faster way to get your checks deposited so that you have access to your money.
- Paying bills, from credit cards to utilities to mortgages, is incredibly simple with online banking. Virtually any bank or credit union will have a feature on its online banking platform that allows you to set up payees and either automate monthly payments or easily find and pay the correct account each month when your bill arrives.
- Digital banking makes it easier to view past transactions, which in turn simplifies the tracking of expenses, the balancing of your checkbook, or the monitoring for suspicious or fraudulent charges. If you notice a charge you believe is inaccurate or fraudulent, you can use your online banking platform to dispute the charge with your bank and get the money refunded to your account.
These are just a few examples of how using online banking can make your life easier. That’s not to say that you must switch to digital banking for everything. With as much as you can do on today’s banking websites and mobile apps, some things will always be easier (if not downright necessary) to do with an in-person trip to your bank or credit union. For instance, if you are opening a new account, pursuing a mortgage loan, or looking into business financing options, you are probably going to want to sit down with a banker for an in-depth face-to-face conversation. Still, there is no question that using online and mobile banking tools can and will bring new depths of convenience to your life—particularly in times like these, when being able to do everything from home is so clearly beneficial.
The Digital Banking Options at Resource One Credit Union
At Resource One Credit Union, we have worked hard over the years to build our digital banking suite into something that could rival what’s available at the big corporate banks. We are proud of that platform today, and how it helps to solve things that have been pain points for our customers in the past. Using our online banking system, our members can check balances, review transactions, transfer funds between accounts, set up account alerts, and more. Even some of the things that have traditionally been necessary to do in-person at our branches—such as opening new accounts or applying for loans—are now possible via online banking. Our mobile banking app puts these features right there in your pocket, whether your device is iOS or Android.
We also have an online bill pay platform that makes it easy to set up payees, schedule payments in advance, or process monthly bills quickly. Members have told us that our online bill pay system makes it much easier for them to keep track of their monthly bills and make sure they aren’t missing payments, which is a major compliment for us.
Finally, we encourage members to use digital banking as a means of going paperless. It’s easy to set up eStatements through our online banking system, which cuts down on materials waste and limits the amount of mail coming to your address each month.
We believe that the future of banking should be more advanced, more intuitive, more convenient, and all-around more customer-focused than the past. With our digital banking efforts, we believe that Resource One Credit Union is living up to that commitment. Try out our online and mobile banking platforms today to see for yourself.
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