Thursday, March 21, 2013

Protecting your Bank Accounts



In today's society, protecting your identity is a growing concern. Much heartache is brought to those who experience fraudulent activity. Fortunately, there are steps and processes that we the client can follow day to day to help avoid such unfortunate events. Within this article I will go into depth about what is offered to us.

 
BBT (Branch Banking & Trust) 
  1. SecureMessage- This allows you to send secure messages between you and staff members of BB&T. This is done while logged into your BB&T online account through the Internet to insure the identity of the account.
  2. TimeOut feature- You are automatically logged out due to inactivity on the webpage after a certain amount of time.
  3. Firewalls- Used to enforce another layer of protection for their clients
  4. Online Bill Payment Guarantee- Guarantees reimbursement for bank error. BB&T has a 3 day delivery window of all payments. When you opt in to use bill pay, and you choose your date of payment, it shows you the delivery window time. If the payment is delivered outside of that window, and late fees occur, BB&T will take responsibility and reimburse you. 
  5. Provisional credit- This feature is used when you submit a fraudulent transaction claim. This policy insures that within 5 days you will receive a provisional credit payment of the money that was fraudulently claimed. 

    BOA (Bank of America)


  1. Total Security Protection- This is an amazing feature that is not offered by all banks. This refers to zero liability protection. If your identity is stolen you are not held responsible for the charges they made to your account. 
  2. Photo Security- BOA offers for your picture to be included on your check card or credit card. By having your photo included, it allows the company to physically verify your that the card you are using belongs to you. This is something that just by including your signature on the back does not allow so this is a great security measure to take.
  3. SiteKey- By definition, is an image for verification of your identity for an extra layer of protection. What this means is that after you enter your username and password a picture will appear on your webpage. An example would be a photo of a truck. You are to confirm that the photo of the truck is the picture of which you chose when setting up your privacy information. Only by choosing the correct photo will the website allow you to continue to the next page. 
  4. SafePass- This is a feature you may opt to use once you have downloaded Bank of America's mobile application. This feature sends a 6 digits password to your phone through a text message in which you then enter in into your mobile banking application. This helps to ensure that the same person who owns the phone also owns that specific information used to access the bank account. 

Tips to staying secure online

  1. Do not use personal information to create your user name or password. (ie. social security number) 
  2. Never write down or share your passwords with anyone you do not trust. I personally keep my password on a portable USB. It is ideal to remember all passwords so there is no trail to them. However, in this day and age we are a part of so many websites that each have different password requirements I feel it is near impossible to maintain or keep up with all of them.
  3. Do not walk away from your computer while signed into your bank account. It is important to always sign or log out.
  4. Go paperless. You may do so by logging onto your bank account and altering your settings. Certain banks even have incentives for doing so such as higher interest rates for your savings accounts.

Sources



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3 comments:

  1. Ebony StancilMarch 21, 2013 at 2:22 PM

    I bank with BBT (Branch Banking & Trust) so I am aware of the some of the security features they offer to clients. NCSECU (North Carolina State Employees Credit Union) has a photo id on their ATM and debit cards which makes it easier when making transactions. Some companies still ask for a photo id when you use your debit or credit card so having your picture already on your card helps. Jcpenny online credit center has a Site Key that appears on the screen when you are asked to type in your password; which is after you type in your Username. When you go paperless with some banks and companies they waive certain fees. At BBT they waived my saving account fee because I went paperless when I set up the account.

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  2. Danielle and Laura (team 6)March 25, 2013 at 10:10 AM

    Yes there are definitly some advantages to choosing one bank from another. I had not previously heard of NCSECU. I do understand that more than just banks use SiteKey. My Lowes account as well uses a SiteKey that appears when I enter in my password. I personall think providing clients with incentives to go paperless is a wonderful idea. I received a letter in the mail a few years go stating that if I did not choose to go paperless that was perfectly fine, however I would be charged a $2 service fee once a month!

    Laura Mayhew

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  3. Alvaro Villacres "Andy"March 26, 2013 at 2:33 PM

    By working in the bank environment I know this is one of the biggest issues we are currently facing. Banks are spending millions of dollars per year for online security purposes. Not only affects the information you entered on the computer but they get access to your accounts and to your personal bank information as well. I recently saw a news report on CNN about how to avoid getting your information stolen on the internet and one of the thinks they mentioned is to avoid logging in to your bank accounts when your are using an open Wi-Fi area like a Starbucks or McDonald's restaurant. What I understood by that is; it doesn't matter how much security we are being offered when we log in to our bank account, hackers are still able to access you information if you are in a public Wi-Fi area.

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