Changing your banking ways

Caroline

I'm a conflicted frump  (see definition #2).

On the one hand, I'm kind of resistant to new things, especially when it comes to technology. But on the other hand, once a friend starts to sell me on it, I'm pretty easily converted.

DVR ? No way. My kids are going to wait to see their TV shows at the time they're aired. Just like I had to.

iPod ? Well, I have this Walkman, see. And it still works.

iGoogle^tm ? What the heck happened to my plain old Google  page? This is so annoying! (Yeah, even little changes tend to throw me.)

Well, in the past year, I've fallen in love with my DVR, (Staci sang its praises to me), my iPod (I took one look at Staci's adorable Nano  and it was all over) and now iGoogle (again, Staci convinced me how cool it was to customize my page).

I'd like to say I'm old-fashioned because of my age, but I can't. Staci and I are both proud grads of the class of 1989 ! I think I just have to chalk it up to my personality. So with that, I can totally relate to people who are resistant to changing their banking ways. But let me try to be the friend who changes YOUR mind.

A few years ago I was pretty old school when it came to finances (imagine that!). I got my bank statements in the mail and I paid all my bills the traditional way: checks, envelopes, stamps. But when I got married, my husband introduced me to the world of online banking.

I eventually came to realize that banking online is pretty great for a lot reasons – quick balance checks, you can transfer funds easily, pay your bills online, etc. But the really cool thing about it is that it lets you cut down on all those paper bank statements you receive.

Recently we've implemented a system at Wells Fargo where if you bank online you can view your student loan statements there, and with a couple clicks, you can request to stop receiving your paper billing statements. Getting online statements not only helps minimize the amount of paper mail you have to deal with, it also reduces your risk for mail fraud and is generally a nice thing to do for the environment.

Even a frump like me can get on board with that.