Opening and managing a bank account online
Taking advantage of low costs for online banking
In today´s daily business life, it is essential to have an own bank account. One of the main reasons is that almost no payments are done in cash anymore. No matter whether it is about receiving wages or social transfers, paying for rent or purchases from mail order companies, for all these payments a bank account is absolutely necessary. Opening a current account at the local branch of any bank is the most common thing.
Yet it is also possible to sign up for a current account at a direct bank. Having an account there is usually free of charge, something regular banks rarely offer. A lot of people, though, do want to have a contact person and therefore decide to apply for an account at a local bank branch. Many banks, however, leave the decision how to manage the account to their customers. On the one hand, it is possible to manage the account regularly, on the other hand it is possible to decide for online banking. A regular bank account requires the customer to hand in orders for money transfers personally or send them via mail. It is also possible to complete these sort of orders at a data terminal if available. Managing a bank account online is an alternative that is much easier to handle. In this case, different things can be done from one´s own computer. It is always possible to have a look at account balance as well as filling in orders for money transfers or direct debits. Even account statements can be accessed online. One has to make sure whether tax authorities accept account statements that have been accessed online only. If this is not the case, it will be necessary to get the statements from the bank, but it may involve some fees. On the upside, the account statements are sent on a regular basis. Overall, managing a bank account online offers a number of advantages, most importantly it saves a lot of time. It is not necessary anymore to go to the local branch of your bank all the time, something that may even be expensive if the branch is in the city centre where one has to pay for parking. The amount of time spent on searching for a parking space and walking to the bank is not an issue when using online banking. All necessary data to access the account is sent via mail, it is usually not necessary to use special software as logging in is done through the respective bank´s website. Therefore, there are no hidden costs for online banking involved so that this is no possible disadvantage.
