This post is part of the 100 Ways to Save Money online series.
Taking the (what may seem) giant step towards banking online can help you be much more efficient with your time & finances. However many people are apprehensive about the security & still often feel comfortable with banking at the local teller.
Banking Online saves you time
We all know that time = money, one of the principles that we’ll be talking about over the coming series is that you need to put a level of importance & value on your personal time. Let’s say for example you work out that your time is worth about $50 / hour & taking that trip to the bank to do what you need to do takes you 90 minutes. Then technically you’ve just wasted $75 of your own time, that perhaps could have been used better elsewhere.
Spend Less Money on Petrol
The local bank branch could be anywhere from 1km to 20km from your house. Lets take an average of around 3km (6km round trip). This equates to around $2.30 per trip. If you visited the bank every week that’s an extra $127 per year.
Be More in touch with your expenditures
Instead of waiting until your montly bill comes in you can instantly be across the balance of all your accounts, this can help you identify issues with your money management techniques & budgeting quickly.
Save Money in ATM Fees
If you’re constantly withdrawing money to pay bills from the ATM you might well be paying a small surcharge each time. This money adds up ($0.50 surcharge on $20 for example is 2.5% of the withdrawl!). Using your online bank account to pay these bills completely replaces the need to even pay with cash.
Rack up your Rewards Points
A good technique to use is paying all your bills (even your rent if you can) with your credit card. This means that not only do you save money by not going to the bank & not taking money out of the ATM but you also get something back in return for paying your bills online. Some cards can earn you up to 5% cashback so do the math; if on average you spend around $12,000 p/a on bills you could get back $600.
Get more Interest
The quicker you get your money into the bank the quicker you can earn interest on it. Simple. If you’re still getting paid cash then you may consider getting your wages deposited directly into your bank account. Think about it like this, if you get 6% interest on your money & it takes you 4 days every month to get around to putting your wages in then that’s 48 days per year that you’re not getting 6% on your wages. It may not sound like much but over a lifetime it adds up to thousands.
Money is Safer in a Bank Account than at Home
If your house is broken into & you keep your savings under the bed in a shoebox then you risk losing everything. Transacting online helps remove that threat & even with many of the scams out there banks will still reimburse you of any losses through online banking fraud.
Always be careful online of the sites that you visit, never ever trust clicking on a link to your bank. ALWAYS type the URL intro the browser in order to be completely safe.
Save Money online with cheaper Cheques
On average your bank will charge you around $25 – $30 for 100 cheques. You can order cheques online around 100% cheaper, see Checks in the Mail (800-733-4443) or Checks Unlimited (800-210-0468).
Save Time & Integrate with your Account Software
Another great feature of online banking is that normally you can integrate all of your statements with any accounting software or service that you may use (we’ll be featuring these in a later post). This can save you a huge amount of time when doing your taxes at the end of the financial year.