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INTERNET BANKING AUSTRALIA
Information About Internet Banking, or Online Banking.
Internet banking is an easy way to handle your finances, without having to leave the comfort of your home or office. Most banking tasks can quickly be processed online. Of course, the actual deposit or withdrawal of cash or cheques still needs to be done in person, but many other transactions can be done electronically.
These online financial transactions include:
- Bill payment
- Rent and other periodic payments
- Direct deposits and withdrawals
- Funds transfers
- Account balances and transaction statements
- Online purchases
Most normal bank accounts (including credit unions, building societies etc) are now able to be accessed via the internet. You will need to contact your particular financial institution to set this up, as you will need log in details, password etc. Once you have this information, be careful to keep it secure, so that other people cannot also access your account without your knowledge.
Special internet bank accounts are now also available through various financial institutions, which are linked to another ordinary bank account, either with the same institution or another.
The funds in these accounts are not directly accessible (eg you cannot take it out from an ATM or supermarket etc), but you can quickly transfer funds from this account to your ordinary account (with some this is instant, others take a day or so), from where it can be used as usual. You can also have direct debits and credits through the special online account.
The advantage of these accounts is that they usually charge no fees, and have relatively high interest rates compared to standard accounts (around 6% at this time, 2007), so are a good place to store funds you don't need immediately, but don't want to tie up in long term deposit accounts. In fact, the interest rates are often equal to, or higher, than many term deposits!
FEATURED ONLINE BANK ACCOUNT
ING DIRECT
- High variable interest rate of 6.00% pa
- No bank fees ever
- No minimum deposit
- No minimum balance
- No fixed term
- 24 hour, 7 day customer service
- Easy access via phone or internet banking
- Link to your external bank account
- Security for your savings
ING Direct also has Business Accounts, Term Deposits and Home Loans.
The website has some useful calculation tools, so that you can work out such things as how much money you may be able to borrow, how much your repayments will be, and savings calculators.
There are many other excellent internet bank accounts, some more suited to certain needs than others, so it is advisable to visit the websites of several different financial institutions to see what is on offer. It is then usually quite simple to set up your online banking, which will then save you lots of time and hassle.
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