topic Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h in Community Polls

Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most helpful for managing your credit? See the results of this poll.

Barry — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:08:57 GMT

Do you have a favorite time and money saving feature offered by your bank or credit union? Anything you know of not listed in the poll? Anything not being offered by your bank or credit union that you'd like to see?

Please vote in the current poll and share your thoughts about some of the credit management resources currently being offered by banks and credit unions.

Thanks to all of you who contribute to these poll discussions!

Poll results:
* Online bill pay? (52%)

* Online banking? (44%)

* Monthly newsletter? (0%)

* None of the above? (4%)

Total Votes: 25

Message Edited by Barry on 06-19-2009 10:08 AM

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

haulingthescoreup — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:48:05 GMT

Online bill pay, hands down. I pay most of my CC's from the CCC online site, but everything else comes from online bill pay at my credit union.

It also has a great website, very user-friendly, stress-free online banking, easy to move funds around, easy to find transaction history, including pending payments, deposit from home using a scanner, all the goodies. I've never laid eyes on the physical site (USAA in San Antonio.) It's not really a CU, but it works a lot like one.

edit to add: I did think of something --there's a credit union in Pennsylvania that has started giving its members one of their FICO scores (think it was Experian.) And it seems to be a classic one, not one of the doofus-y credit card enhanced scores. If USAA started doing that, it would be perfect. As it is, they offer the Experian CreditCheck Monitoring, but its the PLUS score, big whoop. Nothing particularly wonderful about giving consumers access to FAKO scores, especially when I know that they pull FICO EQ's and EX's for their decision-making.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 12-06-2008 11:48 AM

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

laz98 — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:28:59 GMT

I like that Chase offers mobile banking. I can check my balance & recent transactions by text, which is good for me, because I'm very OCD about checking my balance. It makes me feel like I am more in control & better able to avoid (or at least stay a step ahead) of thieves & hackers, not to mention my own occasional overdraft.

While some people might say this isn't very secure, checking your banking info by text message, I don't think I'm risking anything. I can even set up alerts to tell me any time a transaction occurs, so it's pretty safe IMO.

If Chase offered me access to one of my FICO scores, I would be in heaven!

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

wmarat — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:47:22 GMT

Ilike BOA. I use online banking, bill pay, My Portfolio, mobile banking and e-mail notifications. Helps very much.

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

cam006 — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:31:30 GMT

I guess it would have to be the online bill payer. I didn't use to use it because there was a service fee, but now things are starting to reverse. Several CC's and utility companies have a fee to pay at their sites or on the phone and the cu's bill payer is free. They have a monthly fee if there's no activity on the bill payer for 90 days.

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 05:09:32 GMT

shared branching. i belong to a dozen cu's and only 3 don't participate. for the other 9 i can conduct transactions in real time just like i would in person almost anywhere in the country, and all i have to do is find a participating cu.

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:14:40 GMT

Online banking/bill pay without a doubt. There are almost too many benefits to list.

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

MattH — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:58:12 GMT

Online bill pay, I particularly like to sort the list of my creditors by date of last payment to check who has not been paid in a while. If it's been over three weeks since I paid somebody I call their 800 number to check my balance and pay it.

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

umbrellagirl — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 02:03:34 GMT

Bank Of America has the most outstanding program out the keep the change it's better than any bank out

yes stand up on it and clap your hands cause change adds up now every penny that i get i deposit it and yes it adds up without my knowledge and unlimited bill pay no fees with hello kitty an betty boop debit cards or your favorite sports team I Love the alerts it have of my every day balance

pls let me no if you open up and account there we both can get 25.00 each

Message Edited by umbrellagirl on 12-19-2008 09:03 PM

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

Henrietta23 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:01:15 GMT

Online bill pay plus being able to earn dollars for dollars spent.

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:38:48 GMT

Online Banking/Billpay.

I don't have to wate for a statement to arrive, and in all reality I open my statements, punch holes in them, and put them in a binder in case the mortgage lender wants to see them, but other than that, they're useless.

So I can immediately see things clearing, determine my balance, figure out if I've been robbed, see if something's gone wrong, and see my house fund balances go up.

Additionally, in the past 15 months since I started a budget and paying off debt, it's been neat to realize that I've gone from a person who never had any money in her accounts, to actually having between 3-4K in the bank. Now, $1800 of that is to pay a 0% interest card off in Feb, I'm collecting interest while I wait to pay the card off, and another $1800 is for my House Fund. So it's not like I've got money with nothing to do, but 15 months ago there's no way I could have that much just sitting in the bank. So, progress!

And the online bill pay my bills get paid within 1-2 business days, and I can keep track of what I've paid to them.

If we were to suddenly have an evolution where online banking and billpay disappeared, I would be lost.

Re: CURRENT POLL: Which of these resources provided by your bank or credit union has been the most h

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:55:51 GMT

I think there's two questions here, really.

1. What has been the most helpful in managing my credit is, unfortunately, going to disappear at the end of this month, and that's the free TU credit score and related credit tools offered by WaMu to its credit card holders.

This score, although usually "stale" by about three weeks or so, allows me to gauge the effect that my credit card usage and payment habits have on my overall credit profile and FICO score. The tools included on the WaMu site have permitted me to see the estimated effect of actions such as paying down a CC balance by a certain amount or opening a new line of credit. Using these tools before using a line of credit or opening a new line has enabled me to maintain my FICO scores at the level where they need to be while still being able to use the credit resources available to me.

Again, this is going away at the end of February 2009 with the takeover of WaMu by Chase.

2. What has been the most helpful in managing my time and money is another question, I think. Online bill payment is the biggest money and time saver for me, but definitely NOT the most important tool in my arsenal.

I made up a chart on one sheet of paper several years ago, and I update it every several months or so. On one side of the sheet, I have all of my credit obligations listed, with each account's statement ending date and payment due date. I have the current outstanding balance listed under the account's name, and add any purchases to that total as I make them.

On the other side of the paper I have my bank accounts listed, along with their available balances. I add or subtract from these balances as deposits or debits are made.

How has this helped me to manage my credit, my time and my money? I've got a snapshot of my finances readily available to me any time I like, and it's up-to-date and easy to manage. When a credit card bill or other statement come in the mail, I open it, check it for errors and then file it away...because it has already been paid, usually online, the day after the statement date. I know what I owe and what I've got for cash and when each payment is due, and try to pay down each balance as quickly as possible.

I don't know if this would work for anyone else, but it works well for me and gives me piece-of-mind on a daily basis.

Hope this helps!

(P.S. - This forum is terrific, too bad links to it aren't on every banking/credit card site!)