|
1. Provide your personal information to the bank.
This is exactly what you would do to open an offline account. But,
we hesitate to open online savings accounts just because of this
one simple step because we have to do this electronically. The only
really vital information you give to the bank is your social security
number and birth date. Just about everything else can be found out
about you via a quick Google.
Here's the information they require from you:
Name, Address
Home and Work Phone
Email address
Birth date, Social Security
Pin Number and Security Questions
If it makes you feel better, most banks allow you to complete this
step over the phone. In fact, the first online account I ever signed
up for was over the phone for the same exact reason.
2. Passing a series of questions based on your credit report.
To speed the signup process and insure security, most online banks
will run your credit report and ask you specific questions that
in all likelihood would be implausible for anyone else to know.
For example, my last online savings account signup required me
to answer 7 multiple choice questions each with four choices. I
remember the following question:
A. The approximately monthly cost of my mortgage.
B. The total amount of money I owed on car(s).
C. How much I owed on college loans.
D. The amount paid on my last credit card bill.
E. How long I have had my mortgage.
After you answer these questions, the banks verify the information
and will allow you to move to step three. In some cases, they will
require you to call an agent from your home phone to verify some
other information.
3. Link the new online savings account to a checking account
You then provide the bank with the account number and routing number
to your current checking account. This will allow you to transfer
money to and from your checking account in the future. After the
checking information is verified, you have a 3 to 10 day wait.
The bank you are opening the savings account online with will deposit
two small amounts of money into your checking account. Once you
verify these deposits with them in order, your account will be activated.
Note: you need to verify the exact order the amounts were deposited
in.
4. The holding period
At that point, your account is active. There is usually a ten day
hold on your initial deposit, just to give them even more time to
verify you are legit. This means you can't touch that money for
that period of time. There will always be some sort of holding time,
it just reduces as times goes on. Don't worry, you are getting interest
during the holds.
|