At this point, there are virtually no banks that don’t have both websites and applications. If your bank doesn’t have these things, it’s trying to function in the wrong century, and it’s probably on the verge of going out of business.
You can easily access your bank’s website via a laptop, tablet, or desktop. If you’re using a smartwatch, smartphone, or tablet, though, you’ll want to use their app. Because you probably have plenty of banking to do almost every day, you want both the app and website to function well.
Let’s talk about five of the things you want your bank’s app to be able to do for you. If it can’t perform any of these tasks, then the programmers designed it poorly, and they need to update it.
Digital Lending
You might want to apply for a loan via your bank. However, you may not have the time to go to a bank branch and sit down with one of their representatives. Also, you should know that some banks, like Ally, have no brick-and-mortar locations.
You can use the app for streamlined digital lending, assuming that it has this functionality. The app will ask you a bunch of questions, like how much money you need, what your job is, what you can put up as collateral, and so forth. Within a few minutes, it should be able to determine whether the bank can offer you a loan based on the information you supplied.
Occasionally, you might have to call the bank’s customer service department to accept the loan. Usually, though, you can do it entirely through the app without ever having to communicate with a human either in person or over the phone.
Check Your Account Balance
You can check your account balance at one of your bank’s ATM branches, and you can do so via their website. You should also be able to do this via your smartphone or smartwatch, though.
Even if you don’t plan to deposit money or take any out that day, you should get in the useful habit of checking your account balances when you wake up every morning. Make this one part of your daily routine.
When you do that, you can see whether any deposited checks are now available to you. You can see if there is a hold on any of them. You can also see whether there are any unapproved transactions.
Once you’re in this habit, you’ll know that you’re keeping careful track of your finances. It only takes a few moments, but this way, there are no nasty surprises that you only find out about days or weeks later.
Deposit Checks
Every bank’s app should allow you to deposit checks now. Usually, all you have to do is utilize your smartphone’s camera feature to take a front and back check image. Make sure you sign it first and check the box indicating mobile deposit if there is one.
Once you do that, your bank should send you an email informing you they received the deposit. They’ll let you know how many business days it will take before you can access that money. Your bank should also let you know if you have to retake the pictures because they were too blurry or there was something else wrong with them.
Transfer Money
You might have multiple accounts with the same bank. For instance, you could have both a checking and a savings account. You probably have most of the money in savings so that you can accrue as much interest on it as possible, and you can keep less cash in the checking account because it brings back almost no interest each month.
When you need more money in the checking account, you should be able to use the app to transfer it instantly. There should be no fee for doing that. If your bank is charging you fees for that sort of thing, you should go with a different one.
Contact Customer Service
You should be able to use your bank’s app to contact customer service if you ever have a problem or a question. You ought to be able to do it via a phone call, but they should also have a chatbot that can answer most of your queries.
If the chatbot can’t help you satisfactorily, it can transfer you to a live person. They can then address your concerns via text message.
