Our bank rocks and online banking is, as my kids would say, the BOMB!!!!  It ROCKS!!!! 

For over a year now, my husband and I have been utilizing online banking more and more.  It has saved us tremendous time and money. 

1. No more late charges.  By using the automatic bill pay, we have avoided paying the late charges on numerous accounts.  In our town, we can even set up the water bill to be delivered the next day. 
2. No more waiting for the mail to deliver the check to the credit card companies.  Our main credit card is with our bank.  We can select transfer from checking to the credit card and if it’s before 3 p.m., the payment will go through on the same day.  From my husband and my point of view, we no longer have to wait for our available balance to really be available. 
3. We can check our available balance in our accounts at any time from our computer or our cell phone.  Balances are available at any time of the day with the click of the cell phone or the click of the computer.  We can even have our bank send a text message to our cell phones when our balances are getting too low. 
4. Deposits are added at the end of the day before any of the checks that clear are taken off the balance.  This is great because if, for some reason, there is not enough to cover the checks that are coming in, we can get a deposit in before 5 p.m. and we will not be short. 
5. A little known feature at our bank is that if you tell the teller that you want to cash your check before you make a deposit, then make the deposit, the deposit is automatically there because you did it by cash.  We don’t have to wait for the check to clear.  It’s already there and our funds are available immediately.  Thus, making online banking even more efficient.
6. Not to mention the ATM machine conveniently located down from my office.  After hours cash deposits can be made and while not immediately credited, my bank will take into account that the deposit was made and if we are a little short, they won’t charge us the overdraft fees.

Image by thinkpanama

The point to this is — if you aren’t utilizing your bank’s online features and asking questions about their services, you may not be utilitizing your bank to it’s fullest potential.  Check it out. Let your bank help in the quest for being frugal.

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