Is it important to keep track of your balance even when you have online banking? Online statements give you the same information your monthly statement gives you, but in a more timely manner. It is important to remember it may not be completely correct and up-to-date.
Online banking has become a reality for most bank customers in the United States. Though not all people use it, when available, it is a great tool to have to keep on top of your account balances and transactions. It's a great way to track checks, debits, and withdrawals as well as keeping track of your balances, but it is not perfect.
Online statements give you the same information your monthly statement gives you, but in a more timely manner. It is important to remember it may not be completely correct and up-to-date.
Online statements give you the same information your monthly statement gives you, but in a more timely manner. It is important to remember it may not be completely correct and up-to-date.
If you use online banking to keep track of your account balance, you may at some times run into trouble. Though online statements are updated each business day, there can still be changes to your account of which you are not aware.
Steve Twirago, personal banker with Chase Bank says, "Sometimes people come in thinking they have a certain balance online and then all of a sudden they are in overdraft."
This may especially true if you have a joint checking account with your spouse. It's not always practical to call your spouse at works just to update them on the status of your checking account, but you should come up with a system to avoid confusion.
"Joint accounts can run into trouble when one person makes a withdrawal or debit transaction without letting the other person know," says Twirago.
You may also run into problems if you have written checks in different towns while traveling. These checks take longer to appear on your statement.
"These checks may have been cashed with the merchant's bank, but have yet to be deducted from your checking account," Twirago explains.
Another problem might be timing. If you have an agreement with someone for automatic payments each month, chances are good the payment may come out earlier or later than expected.
"If a customer has a certain day of the month they expect an automatic payment to hit, a weekend or holiday could throw that off," says Twirago.
Along the same lines, if your online account is updated at midnight, but a check goes through the next morning, it will not show up on your online statement until you account is updated again at midnight the next day.
There may be times when your online account may simply be unavailable. Twirago says this may happen due to server maintenance, system crash, or even a power outage.
Some people run into trouble when they assume their online bill paying transactions are immediately deducted from their account balances.
"With Chase people often don't read the fine print and they get confused," says Twirago. He goes on to add, "Any payment you make after four PM won't post until the next business day. Check with your particular bank for their specific cutoff time."
The problem becomes compounded around holidays and weekends, the same way it might affect auto-payments.
"If you try to pay something on a Friday afternoon and there's a weekend and/or a holiday, there can be several days of lag time in there," says Twirago.
What is the best thing about online statements?
Twirago says, " You can view them at any time instead of waiting one to three months (depending on your account) to get one in the mail."
This doesn't mean you can neglect your checkbook.
"When in doubt, do it the old-fashioned way," suggests Twirago.
Though online statements are more convenient than monthly statements, you may run into trouble if you use them as the sole and true picture of the state of your account. Nothing will replace keeping your checkbook register up-to-date.
