[Clips] Banks Seek Better Online-Security Tools

[leichter_jerrold at emc.com]

| You know, I'd wonder how many people on this
| list use or have used online banking.  
| 
| To start the ball rolling, I have not and won't.
Until a couple of months ago, I avoided doing anything of this sort at all.
Simple reasoning:  If I know I never do any financial stuff on-line, I can
safely delete any message from a bank or other financial institution.

Now, I pay some large bills - mortgage, credit cards - on line.  I just got
tired of the ever-increasing penalties for being even a day late in paying -
coupled with ever-more-unpredictable post office delivery times.  (Then
again,
who can really say when the letter arrived at the credit card company?  You
have to accept their word for it, and they have every incentive to err in 
their own favor.)

I have consistently refused on-line delivery of statements, automated
paying, 
or anything of that sort.  I cannot at this point forsee a world in which I 
would trust these systems enough to willingly move in that direction.  (It
doesn't help that, for example, one credit-card site I use - AT&T Universal
-
sends an "invalid" certificate.  AT&T Universal has its own URL, but they
are 
owned by Citibank, so use the citibank.com certificate....)

Of course, increasingly one has little choice.  My employer doesn't provide
an 
option:  Pay "stubs" are on-line only.  Reimbursment reports likewise.

There are increasing hints of various "benefits" if you use the on-line
systems for banking and credit cards and such.  The next step - it won't
be long - will be charges for using the old paper systems.  How many people 
here still ask for paper airline tickets?  (I gave up on this one....)

							-- Jerry


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