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Digital banking isn’t a new concept, but the coronavirus has highlighted its importance and accelerated its rise to prominence. Gone are the days when you had to spend hours at your local branch to deposit a check, pay a bill, or transfer money to another account.
With digital banking, you have 24/7 financial access. Instead of heading to your local branch during working hours, you can conduct transactions and manage your account from the comfort of your home whenever you want. In addition to unprecedented convenience, online banking has a lot more to offer. Let’s explore the top nine benefits for consumers.
Simple Onboarding
With a virtual process powered by the latest technology, digital banks have an easy onboarding process. You can apply to open a checking or savings account without going to your local branch and spending time meeting a bank associate. The process involves the traditional onboarding procedure, but in a faster and more secure way via the Internet.
Rich Features
Over the past years, banks have been increasingly investing in online banking to offer an outstanding user experience. Mobile banking apps have made digital banking even more convenient and rich in features. In addition to accomplishing basic daily banking operations, mobile banking apps may offer personalized financial advice, big purchase calculators, savings tools, and even virtual assistants to guide your spending. Locating nearby ATMs, budgeting and tracking tools, and cardless withdrawals are also perks that your mobile app may offer.
More Secure Banking
Banking sites and apps have robust security practices to ensure your personal information is safe. For example, many digital banking sites allow you to add multi-factor authentication and use biometric authentication to log in. Also, your app may automatically scan for risks and ask for additional verification if it spots a suspicious activity.
Greater Control
With digital banking, you have access to your account anytime, so you can easily track your transactions in real-time. Additionally, you can quickly review your transactions history. This gives you greater control over your finances and helps you understand the full context of your spending.
Higher Interest Rates and Lower Banking Fees
The lack of overhead costs allows banks to pay higher interest rates on savings than traditional alternatives. Another perk of digital banking is the lower fees. Since online banking demands less overhead than conventional banking, those savings are often passed to customers. So, you can expect lower or no monthly maintenance fees, transaction fees, and minimum account balances.
Simple Bills Payment
You can pay your bills conveniently using your bank’s website. In most cases, you’ll need to fill in the required information once and then choose that payee whenever you need to make a payment. Additionally, many banks will have the option to set up a recurring automatic payment in the same amount every month, helping you stay on top of your money flow for recurring expenses. When needed, you can authorize providers automatically to remove money from your account when your bill is due. This is especially helpful for providers such as mortgage lenders or electric companies.
Seamless Money Transfer
Online banking supports seamless money transfers. If transferring money between accounts at the same bank, the transfer should go through on the same day. If the accounts are at different banks, it may take three days. Moreover, you can open multiple savings accounts and transfer money from your checking account into them. Many banks will allow you to schedule automatic transfers.
Flexible Mobile Deposits
Digital banking offers more flexibility when it comes to depositing your checks. You can endorse a check, take a photo of it, and deposit it in mere minutes. Keep in mind that banks sometimes limit how much you can deposit in a single transaction or one day. Also, sometimes all of the funds may not be available immediately. But, even with such limitations, digital banking makes the process completely hassle-free and has amazing time-saving perks.
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Convenient Budget Management
Many banks offer services that help you track your spending and manage your budget smarter. Not only do you have insight into your spending, but you may be able to categorize each expense so you can visualize it. What is more, some banking services let you set your saving goals and track your progress to achieve the goal quicker.
Final Thoughts
Considering the benefits we’ve listed here, it’s not hard to see why digital banking continues to grow in popularity, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Developed in response to consumer demands for more efficient ways to execute financial transactions and access banking records, digital banking has completely transformed the banking industry, providing unprecedented convenience, quick transactions, and innovative tools.
