Online banking gives most customers the ability to pay bills
online, check the balance of their account, and transfer funds between
accounts. Customers also have the
ability to access their account at any time and from anywhere there is an
Internet connection.
Online banking is very convenient and I am not about to give
it up. Does that mean I am not
protecting my personal and financial information? Absolutely not because I closely monitor my
accounts and have implemented measures to protect them.
I monitor my accounts by logging into them daily to check
the balance and verify transactions that have occurred. I have also elected to receive emails from my
financial institutions containing my account balances and identifying the
transactions that have occurred since the last notification they sent. Last, I have made it a priority to review
account statements as soon as I receive them.
The measures I have implemented to protect my personal and
financial information when conducting online banking are: change account
passwords regularly, never provide anyone with information pertaining to my
account unless I initiate the contact, never use a public computer to access my
accounts, and ensure my computer has firewall, spyware blocker, and updated anti-virus
software installed.
There is no guarantee that the aforementioned monitoring techniques
and security measures will completely protect your bank account from
scammers. However, the monitoring techniques
will give you the assurance that your account is safe for the time being and
the security measures will make it more difficult for a scammer to obtain your
valuable information.
