I was just thinking about Online banking.
I see so many banks advertising about offering so many services just online these days and how secure your money etc.
But how secure is it really to bank online?
Are these companies really well protected and are your details secure?
How many people here use Online banking?

I've used on-line banking through JP Morgan Chase and I've never had a problem. I think it's safe. However, make sure you do it with a reputable national bank and not some local rinky dink bank.

Online banking is safe so long as you remember that you need to look after your own security as well. That means watching out for those phishing scams that claim to be from banks asking you to log in again but really they're sending to to a site in Russia to record your bank details.

Online banking should be pretty safe, but as Palm mentions, as with any bank details and similar personal information, just look after it ptoperly and safely.

I think online banking with a brick and mortar bank is fairly safe. As safe as anything else is going to be. There is so much digital theft these days it is hard to label anything as wholly safe.

I would be more skeptical of banks that are entirely ethereal. I know some have been around for 10 plus years, but I have never felt comfortable with any of them, and I don't mind the bleeding edge of technology. I think there is a level of comfort from knowing your financial institution where you do your banking is a tangible place that you can touch.

One thing to watch out for is that some companies use third-party payment processors, which mean that your credit card details are never seen by anyone except these processors.

However, some online merchants use a secure server to process orders, but not online process the orders offline, but also in a potentially insecure database. Anyone who hacks such a site gets instant access to potentially thousands of credit card details.

I like to think that its all safe and most problems that could occur are usually to do with people failing to protect their own security and use their common sense.

Ordering merchandise is certainly riskier than banking on line. As far as a savings account with HSBC or ING, I don't think you have too much to worry about. The major mistake people make is that passwords are too easy to guess. You should really try to have passwords that are random sequences of upper case and lower case letters and digits to maximize security and you should change them every few months.

I personally have a checking account with a debit card that is exclusively for on line purchases. I keep a $50 balance and transfer the exact amounts of any on line purchases from my primary checking. better safe than sorry.

Thats the best approach imo if you happen to buy a lot of stuff online, just like you said its important to not have a lot of cash sitting on your card, better spend some extra time moving it from your account to a card to keep safe.

That's great advice skull pilot. I have a friend who has one simple passoword for everything he has. He's nuts. Everyone should take your advice about the passwords.

Then again I had a very hard to guess password and the last time I rng my automatic banking phone service I was forced to change it as the computer on the other end of the line thought that it was too easy to guess. very annoying

Another way to ensure you have a strong password is to use an acronym that involves numbers. A new password for you would become 'Anp4u' which is a bit short but not likely to be used in a brute force attack on login details.

I have tried online banking and it works quite well. It is convenient and fast. I also agree with Palm, it is important to have a strong password consisting of a word that is not commonly used by you and it must also have a combination of numbers and letters.

While I think online banking is generally safe. It is just as risky as handing a credit card over to a waitress at a restaurant. The waitress could easily take over your credit by copying your info.

I have been using online banking with Natwest since last year and i have to say it is generally safe. Everytime you log in there is always a message saying when the last time you logged in was. If you think there is something wrong you can easily contact them. Plus it saves a lot of time!

I'd like to address the "local rinky dink" comment. My local bank is great. I have never and a problem with online banking and the one time I typed in the wrong password, it shut it down and I had to call and talk to them to get it released. Because they know me personally, it was a quick phone call.

There is a great deal to be said for personal service.

I just started using firefox a few days ago. Normally when I go to my banking site on Internet explorer it has the little gold lock in the bottom right of the screen. on the same site, firefox doesnt not display the encryption lock.

so is firefox secure for online banking?

Firefox is seen to be even safer than Internet Explorer. I have found them to be equally safe and reliable. It's a matter of personal preference.

I like my local bank, but, I have to admit their website is often behind the times. It gets the job done but it's not the best designed, or easiest to use.

My local bank is locally owned in a very small town. The original site design was for a huge corporate bank and designed by a firm in a major city. I talked to the president of the bank (He lives behind me) and told him what was wrong with it. I designed the site that replaced the original. They say that online banking have gone up 75% since the redesign.
The original people designed from a corporate view. I looked at it as a customer.