Estate Planning

Keeping Your Personal Financial Information Safe Online

By Greg Herman-Giddens

From guest author Aaron Huber:

Whether you're keep your money in a conventional financial institution or in an internet based bank without a physical location, it's a good idea to ensure that you're doing business with a reputable organization and that your money deposited is federally insured.

Listed here are guidelines created specifically for individuals who conduct banking transactions on the internet – which is pretty much everyone these days as traditional banks now charge extra to perform transactions in person or even over the telephone.

1.         Never access your on-line account using open public computers. There might be viruses on those computer systems or even most severe spyware that can keep track of your financial transaction and can steal your identification.

2.         Look at your online bank account on a regular basis to make certain that there aren't any unusual purchases on your statements. If you see any kind of problems, report the incident to your financial institution right away.

3.         Pick a robust username and password or PIN which is tough to guess. A powerful password consists of random sequence of characters with both uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. It is usually not advisable to use any personal information in your password like birthday, address, or anniversaries because these are the first thing that hackers will try to get in your accounts.

4.         Never disclose your personal security details like account number, PIN, or security code to other people even if they claim to work for the bank. The bank may ask for personal information like birth date, middle name, or maiden name just to verify your identity but never the PIN or security code.

5.         Be careful with email messages that appear to come from your bank. Because of so many phishing scams – most banks no longer send their customers email directly. Instead they will send you a message informing you that the bank has a message for you which can be accessed via an internal messaging system on the bank's website. Although this extra step is a hassle – it protects you from imposters claiming to be the bank.

About the Author:

Aaron Huber is a staff writer for Global Finance School. Global Finance School is a leader in producing interactive e-learning courses on finance, accounting, and economics.

Full post as published by North Carolina Estate Planning Blog on February 03, 2011 (boomark / email).