We all have ways we electronically monitor our bank accounts- for me, I get daily account balance emails, but I know other folks who get texts or other forms of electronic updates.
One odd thing I’ve noticed with my Bank of America account update emails: when my account has plenty of money in it, I will- like clockwork- receive my daily account balance no later than 8 AM PST. Every single day. The minute my balance drops below about $100 (I have other bank accounts, don’t worry, I’m not wrought with poverty just yet), the account balance updates will suddenly become totally unpredictable- sometimes they’ll arrive in the afternoon and sometimes they wont arrive until very late at night (9 PM+). Looking at my past email updates, actually, the lower the balance, the later these emails seem to come out.
Now, the cynical side of me says this is BofA’s way of slightly fucking people over so they overdraw and the bank can collect overdraft fees. And of course, this isn’t as important anymore now that such fees have been reined in a bit. Still. I’m curious.
So, are your bank account electronic updates regular? Sporadic?
There’s a whole host of reasons someone might check their account daily. Fraud, identity theft, etc. Or if you’re a poor college student (or poorer person in general), maybe every $5 counts, so you need to keep track of it.
Personally, for me, it’s the first reason- I figure it takes me 10 seconds to open an email on my Blackberry and make sure all is right in the world.
I get updates in the mail once a month, but I keep an eye on my account regularly online. It’d be more annoying than helpful if I got emails every day.
Well, sometimes people are not very nice and steal other people’s bank account or debit card information. Often, those not very nice people will then use the victim’s information to make fraudulent purchases. This can be dangerous for the victim, because aside from being an inconvenience, it can be a sign of greater identity theft or- at the very least- cause significant financial harm. I would like to make sure I am not one of these victims, you see.
I voted for dummyface, because I thought Diosa would enjoy it.
And like the people who have already chimed in, I don’t get the daily update emails. I just log in and check it every few days. However, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if B of A has a policy of timing withdrawals to try to trigger overdraft fees, because they’re total assholes.
Yeah, I log in every few days and make sure everything is kosher, but when they offered me the option of receiving a daily email, I figured- what the hell? It’s no inconvenience for me and it’s just another way for me to keep an eye on that account. It also emails me if the account falls below a certain amount.
I do not have online banking period. While I know that it would still be possible for someone to steal my identity and mess with my account, I consider the possibility to be strongly diminished since there is no online activity at all. I do check my ATM receipts to make sure the balance is correct.
I still keep a balanced checkbook and record every transaction, so there is no issue with tracking how much money is in the account.
In the last week alone, I’ve received them between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM. It’s been making me nuts but I’m too lazy to click on a bookmark, input my ID, input my password and click on the appropriate account. How my father survived through actually going to the bank for every little transaction, I will never know.
The annoyance I would feel from receiving daily emails from my bank, when I already get more email in a day than I know what to do with, is outweighed by the miniscule likelihood that my identity will be stolen. I do most of my banking online so I’m on there a couple times a month, and balance the checkbook when I get my paper statement.
I use Internet banking for all my accounts but none of them has an option for balance notifications via e-mail - I would not use it if available as I would not want to have my balance bouncing around the Internet in an unencrypted e-mail.
I use the Web almost daily to look at the balance and latest entries, though.
I check mine regularly, I don’t know if I can get email updates, but if I could I would turn them off. I prefer just to go in and look when I want to look.
I no longer get paper statements, but I don’t get emailed statements, either. I check my balance online periodically, but on average about once a week, maybe every six days.
I have it set up so that I get emails every time an item over $100 is debited to my checking account as a safeguard against fraud, but other than that I think I only get a monthly email notice. I usually log in and reconcile my records with the bank’s records about once a week.
Debit transactions immediately (we’re talking seconds) come out of my account. Credit transactions are taken off of “Available Balance” immediately, but not debited until later.
This was actually why I changed banks. Even debit transactions wouldn’t come out of my old account for days.
I don’t get unsolicited updates from my bank, but I check my chequing account electronically at least a couple of times a week. ATM deposits and withdrawals are always visible the next time I look (large ATM deposits are partially frozen for a week [in my case I think it’s any amount over $600] but I still see them). I do a lot of electronic fund transfers between ING Direct and my chequing account at my usual bank; I have never quite figured out any pattern to the time of day that the money shows up in my chequing account (I almost always see the money some time during the 2nd business day following the transaction, but I’ve occasionally seen it the next business day or 3 business days later).
(Thinking about your OP I think my answer is probably irrelevant to your question, but since I already voted I’ll leave my answer intact anyway :D).
I don’t get emails or anything, just check online when I want to know what’s going on. The available balance is always correct to the minute (or second, I don’t know, I haven’t timed it or anything) but the latest transactions may not show until the next day. For example if I go to the petrol station and fuel up the car for $30 and then check my balance, it is the previous balance minus $30 but the actual transaction is not yet displayed.
