Banking
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Yes, there is an E-LOAN bank, it is not just a popular loan website.
My wife and I have an E-LOAN savings account and so far things have worked out very well. The E-LOAN rate we get on our savings is about 5.25%, and we recently increased our balance by making a big deposit. I set up a link between my checking account on Everbank.com, and my E-LOAN savings account. This makes the transfer seamless and easy. We are hoping to load up our savings account with 6-12 months of expenses as an emergency. If everything goes well we might be able to accomplish that by early 2008.
Between our checking and savings accounts we average about a 4% APR, which is well above the national average and is keeping up well with inflation.
Written by Nagel on July 10th, 2007 with no comments.
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Everbank.com has been my bank for almost a half-a-year, and it is a time for an update.
I had a very high level of problems at the beginning; it seemed never-ending. My level of frustration was to the point to withdrawal all my funds and go to a different bank. My wife even said she wanted to take it out because she was worried about the future of our money.
Months have passed and things have improved dramatically, mainly because I no longer need to contact them for anything. I received the 6.01% introduction APR and I could not pass that up.
Written by Nagel on May 22nd, 2007 with no comments.
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With the proliferation of online banking you might think that telephone banking would go by the wayside. The rumors of its death were greatly exaggerated.
Telephone banking is a service provided by many, if not most, banks and financial institutions which allows customers to make banking transactions over the phone. Most telephone banking systems use an automated phone answering system with phone keypad response or voice recognition capability. Many consumers are concerned over security, and to guarantee security, banks have the customer authenticate via a password or individualized security questions. This convenience was extremely popular before the internet took over as the method of making banking transactions. But telephone banking remains popular, especially with those that are less comfortable using the internet to make transactions.
Now that cell phones are ubiquitous, the convenience of phone banking is even more important. While many cell phones do have internet capabilities, it remains simple to just call into your banks 800 number and execute transactions. So telephone banking will retain popularity until its conveniences have been surpassed with new technology.
Written by Nagel on May 5th, 2007 with no comments.
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Money market accounts are a portion of the capital market where short-term obligations such as Treasury bills, commercial paper and bankers’ acceptances are bought and sold. These short-term obligations have a maturity date of less than 365 days. Because they are obligations they do provide a better return typically, than holding cash in a checking or savings account.
Money market accounts are an excellent option for investors who desire a mid-level return that is close to guaranteed as you can get. Money market rates often are better than other type of liquid accounts. Money market funds are securities that can that offer lower risk with returns that will outpace inflation. Many investors choose to put at least a small portion of their investment portfolio in order to diversify.
Currently, money market accounts are gaining popularity because “The Street” is divided between raging Bulls and raging Bears.
Written by Nagel on May 2nd, 2007 with no comments.
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Bricks and mortar banks, and online banks sometimes too, seem to try to find ways of charging you fees any way they can (see credit card fees). One major reason I strayed from the traditional banks to go to a strictly online bank was these ridiculous fees they charge you and nickel-and-dime you to death. That was several years ag and many banks have changed to be more customer friendly, but there still are some banks fees that will drive you nuts. Smartmoney provides some insight to these bank fees you need to be aware of.
Click for the article on Smartmoney.
Written by Nagel on April 19th, 2007 with no comments.
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I was really impressed reading about the beta version of Paypal Virtual Debit Card. With this you can use PayPal Virtual Debit Card when making any online purchases as long as they accept Mastercard. It generates a virtual card number each time you make a transaction online so you won’t be using your personal debit or credit card number–so no one can then steal those numbers! It also protects your sensitive financial information every time you shop online. Paypal’s Virtual Debit Card pre-populates your information in shipping in billing forms at checkout. More features:
- Protects you from fake eBay and PayPal websites
- Offers zero liability on unauthorized purchases made from your account
- It’s free
When making an online purchase a notifier appears asking if you’d like to pay with PayPal Virtual Debit Card. You can click on the notifier to use PayPal Virtual Debit Card or there are other icons you can click to access their service. Each time you make a purchase on a website, a new number is generated, so their is no unique account number that is attached to you and your financial information. To start, you just link it up to your bank account.
Once this is out of beta this will be huge for Paypal and Mastercard, becausethere is growing concern about ID theft and online secure payment and this will go a long way to alieving many fears.
Written by Nagel on April 14th, 2007 with no comments.
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Netbank online is an excellent online only bank. I have had an account there for several years, with few probelms. Netbank payment systems work well are comparable to any online bill payment systems available and you can go to www netbank com to start up an account. Years back Netbank online was one of the few legitimate banks that were online only. Friends and family were wary and sceptical that online banking could work. I first tried it because they offer interest for checking accounts when no other banks at the time did. It was never like I ever really needed or liked to visit the bank. There is rarely these personal relationships between customer and banker. Also, there is rarely a need to walk into a bank to transact business.
I closed my Netbank online account even though it has been a wonderful service. Everbank.com came up with a better offer and now I have fully jumped over to them.
www netbank com
www everbank com
Written by Nagel on April 12th, 2007 with no comments.
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Today, more and more banks are offering cell-phone banking to their customers. With this feature you can access your bank account and make transactions. This convenience will be a large benefit for consumers. For example, before you take out $200 out of one of your bank accounts you can make sure that money is available to be withdrawn. Also, you can easily verify when checks have been cashed.
In order to receive this benefit you must have internet access, and this could be a huge benefit to the cell phone companies if you need to upgrade plans or spend more money each month.
Wachovia (WB), CitiBank (C) and Bank of America (BOA) have lead the way for this to now become on industry standard. Each bank has recommendations of which applications will be most efficient to access your bank account. Many consumers will be concerned about security and each bank has their own plan with dealing with it. Bank of America offers a 60-day “zero-liability,” but it must be reported within that time-frame.
Cell-phone banking will be the next be thing in banking and is something to consider when investing in banks and cell phone plan providers.
Written by Nagel on April 7th, 2007 with no comments.
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We all know how expensive personal finance software can be. For those of us on a budget, open source personal finance software is a viable option that you should examine. Some popular options available are GnuCash, Grisbi and KMyMoney.
GnuCash is a well-known open source personal finance/accounting package. It can track everything with your personal or business finances: bank accounts, income, expenses, and stocks. It is a very sophisticated personal finance software package with features that will provide real benefits for you. KMyMoney is easy to use for all users.
It is similar to MS-Money and Quicken including a lot of bells-and-whistles that can enhance your detail and efficiency of use. Grisbi is another open source personal finance software package that runs on Linux as well as MS Windows. It possess many of the functionality of other personal finance software options.
Why pay when you can access excellent options for free!
Written by Nagel on April 6th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Banking and Budgeting and Credit Cards and Household and Investing.
Everyone knows that money can be the impetus to ruining relationships, but does anyone really considering when getting married. Of course some do, but most do not consider their money situation before they marry.
It is one thing to get a joint credit card and another to get a joint checking account. The former deals with spending money (which is a whole other problem facing couples) and the latter deals with earning money. Let’s face it, men’s egos are often fragile when it comes to earning less money. So if his wife brings home a larger paycheck that can genuinely hurt the relationship because although our society has evolved, it is not to the point where it is 100% acceptable for the man to make less than the women.
This obviously is one one instance that can divide a couple when it comes to the subject of money. Most importantly is to figure out what situation you both are comfortable when it comes to your checking account.
- Separate checking accounts for everything outside of shared expenses
- One joint checking account for all the money
- 100% separate checking accounts
All three options are viable, but you really need to hash out what will work for you as a couple. If one is a spendthrift and the other frugal, a one joint checking account might cause friction. 100% separate checking accounts causes more paperwork, but works for a lot of people. Separate checking accounts for everything outside of shared expenses is very popular because each person needs to come up with their share of the expenses, and after those obligations are met they can spend the excess on whatever they choose. This requires a lot of trust as well as do the other options, because not always knowing what the other is doing with their money can causes problems as well.
So if you are about to get married you need to have this conversation to nip a potential money problem in the bud before it is too late.
Written by Nagel on April 3rd, 2007 with no comments.
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