WebProNews

Tag: Online banking

  • COVID Has Had Lasting Impacts on the Consumer World

    COVID Has Had Lasting Impacts on the Consumer World

    A new report shows just how widespread the impacts from COVID have been as consumers look toward a post-COVID world.

    Brooks Bell conducted a survey of 700 consumers on a variety of topics, and the results show just how much the pandemic has altered consumer views and habits. The “New Normals in Retail, Travel and Financial Services: Consumer Sentiment Beyond 2020” report offers a number of insights businesses should pay attention to.

    • The report is good news for brick and mortar stores, with 76% of respondents planning to buy in-store post-COVID restrictions. At the same time, curbside pickup is here to stay, with 34% planning to continue using the service.
    • Travel is also looking to rebound, with 70% of Americans eager to travel. Millennials, in particular, are the most eager to do so. Interesting, 20% said safety will be a travel consideration indefinitely, while the single biggest consideration remains price.
    • Banking is another industry set to experience a revival, with in-person banking set to almost double from pre-pandemic levels. In-person banking doesn’t equate to face-to-face banking, however, as a preference for interacting with a human teller dropped 8 points to 38%. Even more telling, online communication in banking was the top choice among 56-74 and the over-74 age groups, dispelling the myth that older consumers are opposed to online banking.

    The full report is well-worth a read and can be found here.

  • T-Mobile Money Expands to Sprint Users

    T-Mobile Money Expands to Sprint Users

    Sprint customers now have full access to T-Mobile’s banking solution, T-Mobile Money, following their merger.

    T-Mobile completed the integration of Sprint’s stores and assets in early August, retiring the brand August 2. Since then, the company has been working to bring all the benefits of being a T-Mobile customer to former Sprint users.

    The latest benefit is full access to T-Mobile Money, the carrier’s banking service. T-Mobile Money is an online banking service that offers a number of options not usually available from brick-and-mortar banks.

    One of the biggest benefits of the service is 4.00% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on balances up to $3,000. Once a balance goes over $3,000, it yields 1.00% APY. In addition, T-Mobile Money accounts have Got Your Back overdraft protection, no fees and account holders can get paid up to two days early. Because there are no physical bank locations, users who want to deposit a physical check can do so at participating 7-Eleven, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart locations.

    “Today, more than ever, it’s absolutely critical that people keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets. T-Mobile MONEY customers get an industry-leading return on their money with zero fees, so they keep more and grow more, the way it should be,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “This is just one more way we’re welcoming legacy Sprint customers into the T-Mobile family, and I’m not even close to finished yet.”

  • Online Banking: Tips To Make Life Easier

    Online Banking: Tips To Make Life Easier

    Online banking is a convenient option that most banks offer their customers.

    Online banking allows you to check your balance and pay bills online.

    If you aren’t a fan of making trips to the bank or are tired of keeping track of your finances with a paper and pen, online banking may be a good option for you.

    If you do choose to try online banking, use these tips to make it easier to use and understand.

    Tip 1:
    Make sure the online bank you use is FDIC insured. While banking online may be a lot easier than traditional banking, it also comes with some risks. Online bank accounts can be hacked and if hackers are successful, they may be able to steal the money from your bank account. Most banks are great about helping you get your money back and if it is FDIC insured, you stand a much better chance of getting the stolen funds back.

    Tip 2:
    Only do your online bank transactions and log into your account on a browser that offers a secure server. You can tell if a website is being accessed on a secure server by looks for the “s” at the end of the “http” in the website address. A secure site will have “https” at the beginning of it instead of just “http.” This means that hackers can’t see the information you are seeing or that is being sent from your computer to the bank website.

    Tip 3:
    When you log onto the online bank, you will be asked for a username and password. To protect your account from being hacked, you need to get creative and use a username and password that will be hard for hackers to guess. Avoid using your name, birthday, phone number or other easy-to-guess words and numbers. If you are worried you will forget your login information, write it on a piece of paper and keep it in a safe place in your home. You can reference it anytime you forget your login information, and eventually you will memorize it.

    Online banking makes life a lot easier and if you are busy and don’t always have the time to make it to the post office to pay a bill or to the bank to deposit or withdraw money, online banking could seem like a life saver.

  • The Impact of Age on Online Banking Behavior

    How much influence does age have online banking behavior? According to a recent report from McAfee, age actually plays a large role in how consumers conduct their online banking. McAfee recognized three distinct age groups that had distinct online banking patterns as well.

    The first group is the “Competent but Careless” bracket that consists of individuals between the ages of 18-24. Adam Wosotowsky of McAfee Labs told us that this group has grown up on the Internet and that they are less likely to use antivirus protection.

    “They feel very confident about their ability to use computers,” he said.

    The second group is the “Confident but Casual” bracket, which includes consumers from 25-45. Wosotowsky explained to us that, since this group has seen the Web develop, they are more aware of issues that can happen. While they are more paranoid than the younger group, they are still not as cautious as they should be.

    The last group is the “Conservative and Cautious” category and, of course, is made up of people over the age of 45. Most of this age group is not as familiar with the Web as the other groups are and, therefore, is very cautious in their behavior.

    Does your age group match how you behave online? Let us know.

    Through online banking, each of these age groups is susceptible to phishing attacks, infections, drive-by downloads, and more, all of which could cause very harmful results. Speaking of drive-by downloads, specifically, Wosotowsky said, “Once you become infected, then at that point in time, the botmasters have full control over your machine.”

    Fortunately, there are steps that users can take to help them avoid these attacks. For starters, Wosotowsky recommends that consumers be on the lookout for copycat sites. For instance, the title of your bank might be in the domain name somewhere, but if the site does not have the exact same url as your bank’s website, don’t click on it.

    Secondly, he warns against clicking on links in emails. If you get a notification in your email asking for username and password verification, go directly to your bank’s website to see if the notification is legitimate. If it is, you can proceed with offering your information, but if not, you have saved yourself from getting hacked.

    Even though this sounds simple, Wosotowsky says it is always a good idea to have strong passwords or phrases. He actually believes that long phrases are more effective than just a password.

    Fourthly, for those consumers that utilize mobile banking, it is very important to find an app directly from your bank or financial institution. Wosotowsky told us that there are a lot of third party banking apps to choose from that are bogus.

    Wosotowsky also believes that consumers should protect themselves through antivirus measures. He said that it not 100 percent bullet proof but that it is better than nothing.

    Are you taking proper precautions that you need to take in regards to your online banking habits?

  • BankSimple Makes Mysterious “Key Hire”

    BankSimple Makes Mysterious “Key Hire”

    BankSimple, the startup that’s supposed to disrupt the banking industry, has apparently made an important hire that may or may not have a direct impact on whether that actually happens. 

    BankSimple was co-founded by Alex Payne, a former Twitter engineer, who was there from the beginning, and worked primarily on building Twitter’s developer platform and on the service’s core infrastructure. Think about how much of Twitter’s success has been based upon the developer ecosystem around it. "It was an education in scaling, optimization, and systems architecture, not to mention all the joys and stresses that come with working at a growing startup," says Payne of his time at Twitter.

    Today, Payne tweeted the following:

    Just made a key hire. Can’t wait to announce it, but it’ll have to wait.less than a minute ago via EchofonAlex Payne
    al3x

    BankSimple says it is designing "true mobile banking", and shouldn’t be confused with Square, another startup from a Twitter vet (co-founder Jack Dorsey) looking to disrupt the credit card industry. 

    "BankSimple is doing something no bank has ever done: We’re designing our web and mobile experiences in tandem," the company says. "Deposit checks by phone. Authorize transactions by phone to prevent fraud. Categorize spending on your phone as it happens. That’s just the beginning."

    "Part of Banksimple’s secret sauce is its predictive money management model," wrote Jennifer Van Grove, who interviewed Payne about the company last summer. "While users only need to concern themselves with a single account, there are actually checking, savings and credit accounts tied to that one login. Those will function behind-the-scenes with Banksimple automatically managing funds and transferring money between the accounts as needed."

    Based on the interview, it sounds like much of BankSimple’s success will depend on the developer community, not unlike Twitter. It’s a whole new ballgame when you’re talking about bank accounts, though, and Facebook/Twitter integration (which it is supposed to have) could be a little scary for some people. 

    BankSimple says its team is made up of people with backgrounds in a range from bank strategy to data science to software engineering, and has worked in financial services, information security, "top-tier" consulting firms, and successful startups. 

    Last week, the company announced a new customer relations team, which should be key in its quest to provide customers with a Zappos-like customer experience as described in the interview with Payne. 

    The product will be coming this year, according to BankSimple’s website, and they’re currently letting people sign up to be on their beta list.

  • Zeus Trojan Arrests Show Cybercriminals Getting More Vulnerable

    Federal and state authorities have reportedly charged over 60 people in connection with a global cybercrime scheme using the Zeus Trojan to steal millions of dollars from U.S. bank accounts. Trusteer, a secure browsing service, which claims to be in use by over 12 million online banking customers and protects over 70 banks, shared some commentary on the news with WebProNews. The company says it has deep visibility into criminal activity and the Zeus trojan. 

    "The recent arrests in the US and the UK indicate that financial fraud is not the business of individuals," says Trusteer CEO Mickey Boodaei. "Behind these operations you can find groups of people which in many cases operate for larger organized crime groups. They have the money and the means to run large scale sustainable criminal online operations. As time goes we’re seeing more groups which are larger than before, more efficient and knowledgeable than before, and as a result much more successful than before."

    Mickey Boodaei, CEO of Trusteer "However, recent successful arrests in the US and the UK show that law enforcement, with the help of the banks, their customers, and the industry, are capable of tracing these people down and get them behind bars," he adds. "More efforts are needed for this good start to become truly successful. Financial fraud can be stopped from spreading if financial organizations and customers continue to improve security and work with law enforcement to go after cyber criminals."

    "These arrests show that some of the criminal groups behind Zeus are doing a poor job in covering their tracks," Boodaei continues. "The police did a great job in tracing down this group and gathering information that can facilitate their arrest. This is not a simple task and I’ve heard many people saying that this is almost impossible due to the level of sophistication from criminals and the complication of the justice system. However, this week’s crackdowns in the UK and now in the US, along with a few others that preceded them show that this can be achieved."

    Trusteer and some other organizations have actually been involved in an initiative in which they were able to penetrate the criminals’ servers and gather a lot of evidence, Boodaei tells us. "This shows that criminals are vulnerable," he says. 

    "By running more operations like this and by the banks and other organizations investing effort in tracing fraudsters and not just blocking their activities, there is a good chance we can lower the volumes of attacks," says Boodaei. "Customers can take their banks’ advice and implement fraud prevention tools that provide valuable capabilities to banks in detecting and blocking these threats. By working together we can definitely stop this threat from growing."

    According to PCWorld, the Zeus software is sold in black market forums and there are over a dozen Zeus gangs in operation around the world.

  • Online Banking Satisfaction Sees Slight Drop

    Customer satisfaction with online banking dropped two points in 2010, from 83 in 2009 to 81 (on a 100-point scale), according to a new study by ForeSee Results and Forbes.

    The study found that despite the drop, online banking still faired better than offline banking channels and most other online industries with the score of 80 considered to be the threshold for excellence.

    ForeSee-Results

    "Despite everything that’s gone on in the financial sector over the past several years, including a stumbling economy, bailouts, and credit freezes, financial institutions have turned to their websites as a way to maintain and even increase customer loyalty," said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results.

    "While the dip in score could predict more trouble for the recovery, it also shows that the online channel continues to be the most effective marketing channel for banks and credit unions."

    The five largest banks in the country (Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, PNC, and Wells Fargo) scored the lowest in the study, while credit unions tend to have the highest online customer satisfaction scores. However, with all financial institution categories scoring higher than 80, online banking (81) is providing more satisfaction than offline banking (75).

    "When it comes to customer satisfaction, big banks, with relatively unlimited resources, are not performing as well as smaller institutions with fewer resources," added Freed.

    "While the big companies try to outdo each other with lots of flashy bells and whistles, the small banks have had to keep their focus on satisfying the customer because that’s the only way they can compete. And as the data shows, it’s paid off."

    The study also found highly satisfied online banking and credit union customers report being:

    *56% more likely to purchase additional products and services and 65% more likely to increase online bill payment.

    *64% more likely to use the website as the main way for interacting with the bank

    *76% more likely to recommend the bank overall and 63% more likely to recommend the bank’s website.