'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

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Agcentral
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'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by Agcentral »

This is a take-off of the post entitled ‘Online Banking – School Me’…

I’ve been struggling with this for a long time.
How can any of you… transfer 10’s of thousands ($$$) of your hard-earned money to an ‘Online Bank’ (etc. Ally etc)?????
To me I am sending big $$$ to an institution I can’t see or visit (brick and mortar).

It’s like mystic, not real to me. So, I naturally see major risk here as it’s merely a www to a website to me.
It took me years to put away the little I have.

Yet many of you, much smarter than I folks, are comfortable with these institutions.

How can I get to a point that I feel comfortable sending my money off to something (just a www.website) I can’t touch?

I guess I should get with FDIC rep to validate their certification and hear their comments.
student
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by student »

I read online reviews and I only deal with large institutions such as American Express.
AlohaJoe
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by AlohaJoe »

Why do you think being about to touch it matters? Do you think the US government has one set of banking laws for banks with branches and one set of (riskier) banking laws for internet banks? Did "being able to touch it" help any with banking crises during the Great Depression or the Savings & Loan collapse? In what scenarios do you think having a physical branch would help you?

I expect that, especially on this forum, there are a lot of people with over $1 million held by Vanguard. They don't exactly have branches anywhere where you can go and touch your S&P 500 shares.

Have you ever been to any branch for any of your 401k/IRA providers? Do they even have any branches you can go to?
PFInterest
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by PFInterest »

Agcentral wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 3:57 am This is a take-off of the post entitled ‘Online Banking – School Me’…

I’ve been struggling with this for a long time.
How can any of you… transfer 10’s of thousands ($$$) of your hard-earned money to an ‘Online Bank’ (etc. Ally etc)?????
To me I am sending big $$$ to an institution I can’t see or visit (brick and mortar).

It’s like mystic, not real to me. So, I naturally see major risk here as it’s merely a www to a website to me.
It took me years to put away the little I have.

Yet many of you, much smarter than I folks, are comfortable with these institutions.

How can I get to a point that I feel comfortable sending my money off to something (just a www.website) I can’t touch?

I guess I should get with FDIC rep to validate their certification and hear their comments.
If you can't do it with FDIC insurance how do you feel about Vanguard?
You realize it's all 1s and 0s anyways? Honestly it's the brick and mortar I'm worried about. Have you dealt with those ppl recently? Ugh.
indexonlyplease
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by indexonlyplease »

I felt the same before I opened my accounts at Ally Bank. Before I sent them the money I checked and found they are FDIC. So, really no difference than the BOA that I have my checking and savings in.

I have cds and savings accounts at Ally Bank. Just opened last year.

There is almost no reason to go into a bank these days. You can do everything online.
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midareff
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by midareff »

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) is a leading digital financial services company and a top 25 U.S. financial holding company offering financial products for consumers, businesses, automotive dealers and corporate clients. Ally Bank, the company's direct banking subsidiary, offers an array of banking products and services.

Deposit products ("Bank Accounts" on Ally.com) are offered by Ally Bank, Member FDIC. Zelle and the Zelle related marks are wholly owned by Early Warning Services, LLC and are used herein under license. Mortgage products are offered by Ally Bank, Equal Housing Lender , NMLS ID 181005. Credit and collateral are subject to approval and additional terms and conditions apply. Programs, rates and terms and conditions are subject to change at any time without notice.

Here's the difference to your brick and mortar. You get in your car and drive there, then need to find a place to park. You walk inside the bank and stand in line, or get in line at a drive up window. You then do your transaction and get back in your car and drive home. Or you do the same I do and sit down at my computer and do a couple of mouse clicks for the items that aren't on auto pay and auto deposit. Additionally, at Ally my checking is free, my ATM fees when/if I have any are reimbursed and I am paid 1.80% on my savings accounts. I've been at Ally Bank the last 8 years and have checking, savings and money market accounts there and have held CD's there. Eight years, ZERO ISSUES. Consider yourself schooled.
Last edited by midareff on Sun Aug 19, 2018 6:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by nisiprius »

Unfortunately, brick-and-mortar banks are "mystic and not real" too. If you go back to, let's say the early 1990s, at that time banks were all using electronic networks anyway, you just didn't have personal Internet access to it. So really, they were just a brick-and-mortar façade to give you the feeling of something "real," and what was behind it was computers and high-speed networks and 1's and 0's.

And laws. Very important, those laws. In terms of money being "real," it is mostly laws that make it "real" and money-like, not any physical stuff. Fire and the wheel? Double-entry bookkeeping was as an important an invention as either of them. (I've been told.)

The Great Depression left of legacy of monumental bank buildings that looks like Greek temples. Huge, massive, granite and marble, big columns, and the name of the bank literally engraved in stone. I don't know about millennials, but when I think, "bank" the picture that pops into my head is something like this--how about you? (Are those Ionic or Doric columns?) One of the local banks has a kind of ugly scar where Bank of America did a clumsy job of filling in the original bank name and imperfectly covering it up with cheesy plastic letters. Needless to say, that was all for show. The safety of bank deposits had to do with things like FDIC insurance, not with "we are such a rich bank that we can afford to waste money on an impressive building." I guess younger people find that look scary so they are now trying to make banks look like campus Internet cafes.

Image

When I was a kid I loved the Scrooge McDuck comics, and one of the things I loved was that Scrooge McDuck, a millionaire, kept all his money in a "money bin." It was a physical bin like a swimming pool, full of coins and bills, and there was a measuring stick in it to show how many feet deep the money was, which I guess is how he measured his wealth. It is an almost perfect illustration of "what banks are not." Not online banks, but not brick-and-mortar banks, either. I loved that money bin. (I guess I'm not the only one. While looking for just the right image, I saw that Disney is doing some promotion now that allows members to dive into a phony replica of the money bin--plastic coins, I think).

Image

Doesn't the MECHANICS & FARMERS SAVINGS BANK building look like it's just the right side and shape to have a money bin like that inside?
Last edited by nisiprius on Sun Aug 19, 2018 7:07 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by RickBoglehead »

Agcentral wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 3:57 am This is a take-off of the post entitled ‘Online Banking – School Me’…

I’ve been struggling with this for a long time.
How can any of you… transfer 10’s of thousands ($$$) of your hard-earned money to an ‘Online Bank’ (etc. Ally etc)?????
To me I am sending big $$$ to an institution I can’t see or visit (brick and mortar).

It’s like mystic, not real to me. So, I naturally see major risk here as it’s merely a www to a website to me.
It took me years to put away the little I have.

Yet many of you, much smarter than I folks, are comfortable with these institutions.

How can I get to a point that I feel comfortable sending my money off to something (just a www.website) I can’t touch?

I guess I should get with FDIC rep to validate their certification and hear their comments.
No one but you can alleviate your fears, no matter how irrational they may seem to others. Do what you think is best for you.

When we moved 10+ years ago, I opened local bank accounts (with large regional bank). Good for check deposits, loose change, etc. Business needed account. A few years later, bank changed "free" to "free with conditions in fine print on page 11 of terms on bottom of 1 page monthly statement". Would not reimburse them. I, and thousands of others, left. Went to another regional bank with local branch. Got private banking officer. Then he got promoted, got new one. Then she left and they didn't replace her. Then they cut hours and closed 1/3rd of branches. Ones that remained open are very empty inside. Then they announced fees on free accounts. Left, went to third regional bank with local offices, this one in grocery stores and stand alone. Tellers clueless, some managers also. Allows me free notary work, deposit change twice a year, deposit cash from Craigslist sales. Also good for estate accounts needed for 6 months or so. Rates are awful, I keep $100 in savings and $1 in checking.

Bricks and Mortar banks are much worse customer service.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by UpperNwGuy »

The last few problems I have had with my financial institutions have arisen from the utter incompetence of tellers and loan officers at brick and mortar locations. I have had to resort to the 800 numbers to find experts who could fix the mistakes made by the brick and mortar personnel. In the most recent such call, the customer service rep warned me that the brick and mortar people are generalists, not specialists, and that they don't receive much training. His advice: do as much as possible online, and, if necessary, get help from the 800 number.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by damjam »

I recently went to open a new checking account with Ally. No problem, except there is a 3-5 business delay in opening the account. I imagine this has something to do with the federal "know your customer" rules designed to inhibit money laundering, etc. And to be clear, I already have 5 CDs with Ally.
Needing the account opened ASAP, I went to a brick and mortar bank. I was able to open an account on the spot.
I turns out the account I opened with the B&M bank will not work in the long run for me - primarily too many fees and restrictions on moving $ between institutions - so I will be closing it. I am currently waiting on Ally to complete opening the new account I need.
I rarely need a physical bank to walk into. I do all deposits, transfers, etc electronically with my phone. I usually take care of my cash needs with one withdrawal a month or less. Almost all purchases are made with credit cards, which makes tracking my spending easier. Being a BH I pay off the CC in full every month - of course ;-)
I do have an account with a B&M bank, mostly I keep it because... Well... they do have safe deposit boxes, of which I have two. Also the B&M bank is handy if I need a medallion signature or something like that.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by NextMil »

Do you really think they don't have an office building they work in that you could go visit if you had to hunt them down? Whats the difference between that and a fancy storefront with deposit slips and bad lollipops?
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by MikeG62 »

Agcentral wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 3:57 am
I’ve been struggling with this for a long time.
How can any of you… transfer 10’s of thousands ($$$) of your hard-earned money to an ‘Online Bank’ (etc. Ally etc)?????
To me I am sending big $$$ to an institution I can’t see or visit (brick and mortar).

I guess I should get with FDIC rep to validate their certification and hear their comments.
Very easy - FDIC insurance.

Read the banks website or go to the FDIC website if you want independent verification (https://research.fdic.gov/bankfind/) to ensure they are FDIC insured. Once you know both the local B&M bank and the online bank are both FDIC insured, what additional risk do you think you are taking with the online bank? Especially one that is recommended and used by thousands of people on this forum (like Ally).

There are lots of things worth worrying about in life, but the concern you raise in not one of them.
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diy60
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by diy60 »

Agcentral wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 3:57 am
How can any of you… transfer 10’s of thousands ($$$) of your hard-earned money to an ‘Online Bank’ (etc. Ally etc)?????
To me I am sending big $$$ to an institution I can’t see or visit (brick and mortar).
I've been a DIY investor for 35+ years. Back then I used to send checks directly to the fund family that I was investing in e.g. Nicholas, 20th Century, Fidelity, and an obscure brokerage house, all of which were maybe a 1,000 miles from my home. No different now, except it's faster and way more convenient. I do still have a local brick and mortar checking account, mainly because I have a safety deposit box.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by nisiprius »

Agcentral wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 3:57 am...How can I get to a point that I feel comfortable sending my money off to something (just a www.website) I can’t touch?...
As someone else said, wisely, you don't need to. It's your money. It's your choice. And more and more brick-and-mortar banks are offering electronic searches that are pretty well equivalent to the online banks.
I guess I should get with FDIC rep to validate their certification and hear their comments.
In a brick-and-mortar bank, they usually have an FDIC decal on the door or a plaque on a wall. In an online bank, they usually show the symbol on their home page or nearby. In either case, I guess it would be pretty easy to counterfeit, only slightly easier on a website. I suspect that any fake FDIC symbol would get detected rapidly and get someone in big trouble, but in any case there's an easy way to check.

Let's say I have doubts about Capital One 360. I look carefully at the web page to figure out exactly which Capital One entity this is. I see:
Banking and lending products and services are offered by Capital One, N.A., and Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., Members FDIC.
Then I go directly to FDIC BankFind Home. I type in "Capital One" and look at the list of dropdowns:

Image

I take a guess that "N.A." is an abbreviation for "national association."

I first select "CAPITAL ONE BANK (USA), NATIONAL ASSOCIATION".

Image

Yep, there it is, active member, #33954.

And "CAPITAL ONE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION" is , too, active member, #4297.

Not that there was any real doubt, but there it is. I've verified it for myself. I didn't have to trust a decal, or a website, or a brochure, or a verbal reassurance from a customer service representative.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by nisiprius »

NextMil wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 7:50 am Do you really think they don't have an office building they work in that you could go visit if you had to hunt them down? Whats the difference between that and a fancy storefront with deposit slips and bad lollipops?
The difference is that the airfare to their office building in Glen Allen, Virginia is $581.22, while I can walk to my bank in fifteen minutes and that includes picking up my prescription in the pharmacy on my way. And they have an industrial-sized Keurig machine that makes perfectly decent free coffee. Plus the safe deposit box, the notary service, the free-for-customers coin-counting machine. Plus you can get rolls of quarters to carry in the car to use in laundromats on trips (no, they don't all take card-swipes yet). Dollar coins as gifts for grandchildren. Notary service when you need it. Canadian money (crazy-high fee but better than driving to the airport just to exchange money). Medallion signature guarantees which you don't even know what they are until you need one and then you're really out of luck if you aren't an established customer at a physical bank. Plus if you are at all involved in any community activities, you can usually hit the bank up to pay for Little League uniforms or whatever.

No, I have no idea what the future will bring and I can't say The Old Ways Are Better. Maybe the gains outweigh the losses, but things are lost.

They are going to have to come up with a way to get a eMedallion eSignature eGuarantee online someday, it can't go on like this, but for now I know of no alternative.

Heck, Capital One 360 actually discontinued a service they'd had for about a decade, that let me deposit checks by scanning them and uploading them from my desktop computer. That's right. I have no way to deposit a check to my "online bank."
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Svensk Anga
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by Svensk Anga »

Don't start by sending off "10's of thousands ($$$)". Start small with whatever minimum your chosen bank requires. Transfer out and in a couple times and you can see that it does indeed work. If it didn't, it would show up online in bad reviews, scandals on the news, etc.

I have seen for myself that online banks (and Vanguard Prime money market) function as desired as evidenced by many many transactions both in and out going back to 1982. Scarier for me is that thought that the large stash I have accumulated over 36 years in 401k's and then IRA's might not be real. I have never touched this money. Never made a withdrawal. I saw a large check go from one institution to another once (old 401k to rollover IRA), but since I myself never cashed it, it could be unreal. I have to trust that the regulatory structures are keeping my stash safe. I can have some confidence that others who got to the withdrawal stage before me are really getting their hands on their funds, or else there would be a very public commotion.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by mega317 »

I would just stick to whatever makes you comfortable. There are better things to spend your time worrying about and slightly lower interest on your deposits isn't going to meaningfully affect your life.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by Turbo29 »

I had mutual fund accounts (Janus and Invesco), which I did business with by mail, back in the 1990's and a friend suggested i try Etrade. I was leery but he said he and his co-workers had researched it and it was "legit." So I opened a small account.

A little later they started offering banking through Etrade Bank. So I opened an account. Seemed to work fine. I later found out that Etrade bank was a bank they purchased, previously known as Telebank. It had been around for years and was the original Internet bank, except that it wasn't. You used mail, telephone, atms, and (much later) the Internet to deal with Telebank. I remembered Telebank advertising in the newspaper offering much higher rates than regular banks (anyone remember newspapers?).

Point is, the concept of a bank with no local branch is nothing new.

Of course before that, banks could not compete. When I was in high school, banks paid 4% on your savings and Savings and Loans were allowed to pay 5%. That was it. (This was in the inflationary era so it wasn't that great). I recall seeing a show on PBS that said the traditional banking model was 3/6/3: Pay your savers 3%, loan the money out at 6%, and tee off at 3pm. That was close because, except for Fridays, the banks locked their doors at 3pm.
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NextMil
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by NextMil »

nisiprius wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:21 am
NextMil wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 7:50 am Do you really think they don't have an office building they work in that you could go visit if you had to hunt them down? Whats the difference between that and a fancy storefront with deposit slips and bad lollipops?
The difference is that the airfare to their office building in Glen Allen, Virginia is $581.22, while I can walk to my bank in fifteen minutes and that includes picking up my prescription in the pharmacy on my way. And they have an industrial-sized Keurig machine that makes perfectly decent free coffee. Plus the safe deposit box, the notary service, the free-for-customers coin-counting machine. Plus you can get rolls of quarters to carry in the car to use in laundromats on trips (no, they don't all take card-swipes yet). Dollar coins as gifts for grandchildren. Notary service when you need it. Canadian money (crazy-high fee but better than driving to the airport just to exchange money). Medallion signature guarantees which you don't even know what they are until you need one and then you're really out of luck if you aren't an established customer at a physical bank. Plus if you are at all involved in any community activities, you can usually hit the bank up to pay for Little League uniforms or whatever.

No, I have no idea what the future will bring and I can't say The Old Ways Are Better. Maybe the gains outweigh the losses, but things are lost.

They are going to have to come up with a way to get a eMedallion eSignature eGuarantee online someday, it can't go on like this, but for now I know of no alternative.

Heck, Capital One 360 actually discontinued a service they'd had for about a decade, that let me deposit checks by scanning them and uploading them from my desktop computer. That's right. I have no way to deposit a check to my "online bank."
No offense, but all the things you listed are things I either can get done somewhere or somehow else or through my online bank/brokerage, or I just have no need for, and no, I am not a millennial. Also, I have been depositing checks from iPhone and iPads for years. I am guessing your capital one account can easily do that.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by nisiprius »

How do you get the medallion signature guarantee?
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by NextMil »

nisiprius wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:59 pm How do you get the medallion signature guarantee?
Never needed one, and cannot for the life of me figure out why this day in age I would need one. Why wouldn't I just move cash with a wire? Seems like most banks stopped providing that service in recent years.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by AlohaJoe »

NextMil wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 2:57 pm
nisiprius wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:59 pm How do you get the medallion signature guarantee?
Never needed one, and cannot for the life of me figure out why this day in age I would need one. Why wouldn't I just move cash with a wire? Seems like most banks stopped providing that service in recent years.
Vanguard requires (or used to, at least, I admit it has been 3-4 years since I had this situation) a medallion signature for a wire transfer (or an international one), which I thought was a bit ridiculous. Especially since there is no such thing as "medallion signature" in the country I live in. So their alternative was for me to go to the nearest US embassy and have a consular official sign something for me and then fax that to them.

That all sounded pretty ridiculous for circa 2015 so I ACHed my money to another institution and initiated a wire transfer online after using my 2-factor token to verify my identity.

That's the only time I've ever needed a medallion signature.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by KT785 »

nisiprius wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:59 pm How do you get the medallion signature guarantee?
I'm a Chase customer only by virtue of several of my credit cards but used them for a medallion signature guarantee recently; admittedly, the didn't even ask if I was a Chase customer, I simply said I needed a medallion signature guarantee, provided the requisite documents and ID and got the signature accordingly.

I suspect others whose relationship with a major bank is limited to a credit card could leverage the same services . . . a customer is a customer even if they don't have any deposit products.

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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by BogleMelon »

Not sure if that will make you feel better, but Ally is not just a www.website.
Here is where it physically located:
1100 Virginia Dr, Fort Washington, PA 19034

Image
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by Nissanzx1 »

I've had nearly all my emergency savings in online bands for well over 10 years. NO Problems! Earned better interest than the locals. No worries!
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by student »

nisiprius wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:59 pm How do you get the medallion signature guarantee?
I went to my credit union to get one many years ago. Free service for members at the time. I do not know whether it is still free.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by FunnelCakeBob »

nisiprius wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:59 pm How do you get the medallion signature guarantee?
I've gotten it from the local Chase branch for free when I transferred my IRA to a new brokerage custodian. First Republic also offers them.


Back to the main topic, I've kept most of my cash holding with online banks for almost 20 years. Never had a major problem there. One of my banks was taken into FDIC receivership during the recession. Under new ownership the very next day and ATM card and website worked just the same.
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Re: 'Online Banking – School Me’ 2

Post by Starfish »

nisiprius wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:21 am
NextMil wrote: Sun Aug 19, 2018 7:50 am Do you really think they don't have an office building they work in that you could go visit if you had to hunt them down? Whats the difference between that and a fancy storefront with deposit slips and bad lollipops?
The difference is that the airfare to their office building in Glen Allen, Virginia is $581.22, while I can walk to my bank in fifteen minutes and that includes picking up my prescription in the pharmacy on my way. And they have an industrial-sized Keurig machine that makes perfectly decent free coffee. Plus the safe deposit box, the notary service, the free-for-customers coin-counting machine. Plus you can get rolls of quarters to carry in the car to use in laundromats on trips (no, they don't all take card-swipes yet). Dollar coins as gifts for grandchildren. Notary service when you need it. Canadian money (crazy-high fee but better than driving to the airport just to exchange money). Medallion signature guarantees which you don't even know what they are until you need one and then you're really out of luck if you aren't an established customer at a physical bank. Plus if you are at all involved in any community activities, you can usually hit the bank up to pay for Little League uniforms or whatever.

No, I have no idea what the future will bring and I can't say The Old Ways Are Better. Maybe the gains outweigh the losses, but things are lost.

They are going to have to come up with a way to get a eMedallion eSignature eGuarantee online someday, it can't go on like this, but for now I know of no alternative.

Heck, Capital One 360 actually discontinued a service they'd had for about a decade, that let me deposit checks by scanning them and uploading them from my desktop computer. That's right. I have no way to deposit a check to my "online bank."
Let it burn.
I am not even young (>40y) and from that list I cannot name a single thing that I would be interested in or I know what is about. OK, scanning checks sounds useful but many bank have an app on the phone that let you take a picture. ATMs also accept checks.
If you have multiple accounts with multiple banks you can also transfer the money.
The banking system in US seems to lag other countries in terms of transferring money and payments, but sooner or later it will get there.

LE: here you go:

https://www.capitalone.com/olb-sites/rdc-demo/
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