|
Virginia banks offer online money management
Mar 14, 2010 (Richmond Times-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Virginia banks offer online management Coming soon, maybe to a bank near you: a cool new tool to manage your money online.
You probably already know about Mint.com, the free Web-based money-management service that started in September 2007.
Consumers go there, open an account, then track and store all their bank, credit-card, investment and loan transactions, and balances, on the site. They type in account passwords, then Mint.com electronically goes to the financial institutions and brings back their information.
Now Virginia banks are in the game.
Kilmarnock-based Chesapeake Bank and Clear Sky Accounts, its national Internet bank, began money-management tool MoneyTracker last month for customers.
SunTrust Banks Inc. also started its Live Solid Network at LiveSolid.com last month for anyone who wants to use it.
Bank of America Corp. was already in the market with its financial-management tool, My Portfolio, for customers.
Here's how these services work and a bit of advice if you're planning to use such a tool:
-- Mint.com is an online service that makes money by observing users' financial behavior, then recommending ways they can save on credit cards, investments, CDs, IRAs and other products.
If people make a switch, Mint.com gets a referral fee. Mint.com is not a bank.
-- Chesapeake Bank's MoneyTracker is an enhancement for its online banking customers, said Paula Milsted, its marketing director. Customers can use it to track and trim their spending and get help saving money.
They also can create graphs and charts, receive alerts on their computer or mobile device, even on their social network, and make a budget, use the calculators, look at a snapshot of all their money wherever it is, and observe their spending trends.
They can track how many times and where they've eaten out each month, and receive an alert when they've exceeded their dining-out budget. Basically, they can slice and dice their data any way they want.
MoneyTracker doesn't make money through referrals like Mint.com does.
"That's not our game," said Jeff Szyperski, president of Chesapeake Bank. "We're doing it as a service to customers to help them manage their money."
The bank wants to gain more customer loyalty, Milsted said. "We will post promotions if we have a promotion going on our own products and services."
-- SunTrust Banks' Live Solid Network is meant to help people "live solid and bank solid," said Gail Letts, president and CEO of SunTrust's central Virginia region.
"The purpose of LiveSolid.com is not to product push," she said.
Its approach is holistic -- to help people manage all aspects of their life and finances. There are hundreds of tips, calculators, articles, videos and podcasts on the site to help users make solid financial and life decisions, she said.
They include such diverse topics as eating healthy, making a budget, saving for retirement, teaching children about money, protecting one's identity, planning an affordable wedding, managing stress and talking to aged parents about their finances.
SunTrust provides links on the site to its products and services.
SunTrust and Chesapeake expect customers and others will believe that their data are safer sitting on the server of a regulated bank.
But Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy at the Privacy Rights Clearing House in San Diego, frets over the potential security vulnerability of consumer money-management sites.
He also urges consumers to first carefully read the online privacy policy and site agreement. They should find out what the site owner plans to do with their information.
Also, users may be violating the terms of their agreement with their financial institution by sharing their password with online services, and canceling the institution's protection of their personal information, he said.
------
Contact Iris Taylor at (804) 649-6349 or itaylor@timesdispatch.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/RTDIrisTaylor.
To see more of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go
to http://www.timesdispatch.com. Copyright (c) 2010, Richmond Times-Dispatch,
Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax
to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave.,
Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
TMCnet LOGIN
Webinars
