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Internet banking - brave new online world

By Julie Hutchinson, Special to the Rocky

Published October 5, 2008 at 11 p.m.

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Plenty of people wrestle daily with the march of technology.

At the top of the pile, you'll find the ultratechies, those whose only issue with technology is finding the latest, greatest thing. They've got GPS in their hybrid cars, Bluetooth headsets in their ears and laptops as thin as crackers in their briefcases.

At the bottom: A group of people who, regardless of income, education or professional experience, struggle with which remote to use to turn on the TV.

These are the people who, contrary to overwhelming trends in American lifestyles, still don't bank or pay bills online. If you can't believe such people still walk the face of the Earth, you'll find these folks standing in lines for tellers, sitting in lines at banks' drive-through windows and waiting in lines to buy stamps at their neighborhood post offices.

Still, about 63 million Americans conduct banking and bill paying online today. How did they make the switch? And why hasn't everyone migrated to online banking and bill paying? If you want to make the switch but don't know how, what do you do?

Roger Christensen, a retired communications executive who lives in Parker, is certainly no technophobe. He's at ease with his computer and loves the super-duper technology in his home that controls lighting and intercoms and the doorbell and even opens and closes his window coverings.

But Christensen says he is "kind of a paper guy. People e-mail me documents and a lot of times I'll print them out to read them because I don't like to sit there at my screen and read."

Christensen's wife, Jeanne, handles the family's banking and bill paying and has yet to venture online for her banking business. In fact, she has never visited her bank's Web site.

"I'm worried about the security part of it and I know it's nothing to worry about but it's a hang-up," she said. "I was really slow with e-mail, too - I've only been doing e-mail a year and a half. I guess it's because I didn't do it when I was young."

But Jeanne Christensen is feeling the pressure to learn to bank online from friends who can't believe she still does her banking the old-fashioned way.

She recently noticed her local bank has installed a computer in the lobby to help people learn to bank online. She vows she'll make the switch . . . soon.

Banks have been offering online services since 1994 and find that as customers migrate online, they're quickly converted to banking 21st-century style.

"The numbers are pretty astounding," said Wells Fargo spokesman Tom Unger.

Sixty-seven percent of Wells Fargo consumer checking-account customers bank online. Wells Fargo counts 10.6 million active, online consumer customers - a 14 percent increase over the previous year. The bank's online small-business customers have increased 20 percent over last year, Unger said.

In fact Unger, who lives in Portland, Ore., helped a neighbor learn to bank online last year when an ice storm hit the city.

"She wasn't very skilled with computers, but she was able to do this once I showed her how easy it was," Unger said.

Unger recalls his own initial skepticism about banking online.

"When I first heard about it, I thought I'd try it out to see how difficult it was and it was just bing, bing, bing. I thought 'Wow, this is amazing.' Then you realize how much time you're saving not having to address an envelope and buy stamps. I can pay a bill in 25 seconds."

Unger said Wells Fargo is eager to help customers who need a hand to go high tech.

Although one industry estimate indicates in-person transactions cost U.S. banks some $8.5 billion yearly, Unger said Wells Fargo's motivation to help customers go online isn't about saving money.

"We've found our customers want it, so we're providing it as a service," Unger said. "We spend millions a year upgrading and maintaining our online services - there's a huge cost involved."

It's the increased convenience and, yes, security that motivates banks like Wells Fargo to help customers migrate online, Unger said.

"Research has shown that online banking is one of the quickest ways to identify anomalies in account transactions," Unger said. "Plus, you don't have to wait for your monthly statement to arrive in the mail. The U.S. mail is the most common way people's identities are stolen. We tell people your inbox is safer than your post box."

Kathy Dodge, a senior vice president for US Bank in Denver, said she "can't even remember the last time I wrote a check." She recalls making the switch to online banking and says "without a doubt it was very easy."

US Bank reports more than 5 million customers use Internet banking now but Dodge declined to say what percentage that represents. "But the number who use this has definitely been growing at a healthy rate every year," Dodge said.

Businesses find customers like the convenience of paying bills online as well, and statistics show it's a habit that more Americans are adopting every month. According to Pew Research Center's 2006 Internet & American Life Project, 38 percent of Internet users pay bills online.

In August, 14.2 percent of customer payments to Denver Water were Internet-based, said Denver Water's Stacy Chesney.

Xcel Energy spokesman Mark Stutz said 11 percent of the company's 1.6 million metro-area customers pay their bills online.

Qwest spokeswoman Jennifer Barton said the company doesn't track precisely how many customers pay their bills online, but about a third of its 12.5 million customers in 14 states have conducted some kind of online transaction, from paying bills to ordering service upgrades.

How to start banking online

* All major banks and credit unions offer free, online tutorials for first-time users of Internet services.

* These tutorials are easy to follow and allow users to proceed at their own pace in a step-by-step format.

* US Bank and Wells Fargo will assist any customer who asks for help in switching to online banking.

* Many banks have computer terminals in their lobbies for customers who need assistance with online banking.

* Bellco Credit Union's Internet home page includes a link for first-time users.

Older people love, hate electronic transactions

According to the AARP, 75 percent of America's wealth is owned by people older than 55.

At the same time, a 2006 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation reports that less than a third of people older than 65 have ever ventured online.

That's a lot of people with a lot of money who have never tried banking electronically. At the same time, learning to use the Internet can benefit senior citizens in more ways than simply the convenience of online banking.

The National Council on Aging sponsors a free, online service that helps seniors with limited income and resources determine what benefits are available to them.

The site, www.benefitscheckup.com, has helped more than 2 million seniors since 2001 identify more than $5.8 billion in public benefits ranging from medical to housing to energy assistance. In addition, the site helps connect seniors to volunteer and training programs and education programs.

But for some people of a certain age, doing anything online is just too much of a switch.

Evelyn Brown, marketing director for Parkplace, a senior-citizen facility in Denver that offers on-site banking, said a number of residents are computer literate and conduct intricate financial dealings online.

But changing technology is a frequent topic of conversation among other Parkplace residents, Brown said.

"If they're not computer savvy, that's not the way they want to do their banking," Brown said. "In fact, they do miss old-fashioned banking. They miss the bank person and they talk about that a lot. The residents have incredible stories about their relationships with banks, when they were in trouble and you didn't go through what you go through now."

Comments

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    9:52 a.m.

    Suggest removal

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