I'm used to a smaller bank with online banking and since I moved I had to get a checking account here. Man is their online banking confusing. Last week it showed I had gotten below $500 and now I'm back over $1000 and I've only deposited my work check (payed every week) and it wasn't that much. I dont know. I'll keep my eye on it more often. I keep all reciepts that have gas, personal buys, payments, etc. I throw away small ones like gas station food/drink purchases and nit nats.


Any one else have weird banking problems?

 

go ahead and post the name of your bank, your username and password and one of us on here will be glad to help you out. ;-P

 

Dont tease me I just might.

 

On-line banking -- not for me. Too many hackers in this world.[sm=pcwhack.gif]

 

When at the local quickiemart, etc, I hear from a banker that it's better to select credit over debit. When you select debit, they are able to put a hold on a large quantity of funds (some absurd amount... could be $500...but I really don't remember the amount) versus credit (I think they might reserve the set amount. You can't make purchases with money that has been reserved. Maybe that is what you are seeing? You should always balance your checkbook so you know how much you really have and possible catch banking mistakes.

As for Wildcats comments....in general, online banking is a lot safer than you think. The issue stems more on how secure you are at your end. Do you give your passwords out? Are the passwords easily crackable (pet name combine with child's birthdate or some bs like that)? Do you store your password on your computer? Do you try to access your account from a publicly available space (library)? Is your network secure, especially WiFi?

 

are you with American State Bank here in Lubbock? my fiance has a checking account there, and not too long ago (about 2 weeks ago i think) she logged into her online checking and her balance had jumped like that, and she was confused becuase she hadn't made any recent deposits. turns out they had deposited $600 in overdraft protection to her account (without asking) and then sent her a letter in the mail telling her about all these wonderful benefits of overdraft protection. the extra $600 disappeared from the available balance, but i guess they did that to show her that they have that money earmarked for her account in case she did overdraw (as if i'm supposed to believe they will just let that money sit there and not loan it out to earn interest). my suggestion if this is what happened, don't ever use a bank's overdraft protection. just keep a close eye on your finances and don't overdraw, it sounds really simple but so many people have checks bounce. when you overdraw your account and your bank offers overdraft protection, they are essentially loaning you the money (at a ridiculous interest rate) to cover that $5 or so that you overdrew.

or you could just be really dumb... it's hard to tell sometimes

 

I watch my accounts daily, and caught someone using my debit card. They had placed a small order at a Berkeley food store online that showed up as $.08 and 5 minutes later did a $41.60 order at a phone card site in Lebanon. They use number generators and a known pattern for the different cards and when the $.08 went through they knew they had the right combo.

If I hadn't done online banking and watched my money who knows how far they would have gotten.

If you have a debit card or a credit card you are more at risk by not having that level of access than you are by having it, fact.

 

Yeah, my girlfriend is constantly checking her accounts and gives me a hard time about not using on-line banking. Heck, I don't even like direct deposit. Every couple of months I hear my fellow employees complain that something went wrong with it. Going to the bank is just not that big a deal for me.

 

agreed

You do have to watch yourself for keylogger spyware that might be on your computer but spybot.us will find it and destroy it..but if you have your fire-wall on and use banking online, it's perfectly safe.. keyloggers wont be able to encrypt your text..
But with US bank, debt cards can go into negative and i hate $37 overdraft charges with $7/day charges - so i make sure i'm at least positive everyday and watch what is being put on their.. also if you have quicken with your online banking, it makes taxes so much easy and where your money is going to (you should see mine, 79% into Food muhaha ex. panda express, noodle express, samauari sams, applebee's) i eat out 3 times a day.But technology is a very useful tool, just make sure you know the in's and out's before you use it (which you do know)

 

you can also call your bank and find out your funds that way - it's a speed dial number too. quick and easy (nothing to detail but still nice)