Verizon Wireless customers with the BlackBerry Curve 8330, BlackBerry Pearl8130
and BlackBerry 8830 World Edition smartphones can now use Verizon Wireless'
Mobile Banking application. Also available on a number of popular Get It Now-capable
phones, Mobile Banking offers customers the following capabilities and features
on their handsets
- Account Balance and Transaction History -- Get account balances and account
transaction history. - Transfers -- Transfer funds between eligible accounts at the same financial
institution. - Bill Payment -- View and pay bills when enrolled in their financial
institution's Bill Pay service. - Mobile History -- View the last five transactions successfully completed on
their mobile devices.
Verizon Wireless customers must be account holders of a financial institution
that offers Mobile Banking to enroll in the application. Currently Wachovia,
Regions, SunTrust, USAA, Synovus, America First Credit Union (AFCU), Arvest,
Bancorp South, FirstBank, South Financial and BECU offer the service. Once
customers sign up for Mobile Banking through their financial institutions'
online banking site, they will receive an eight digit secure initialization
code that will allow them to access the Mobile Banking application on their
phones.
Mobile Banking is a safe and secure application, offering customers the
following security measures
authentication including initialization codes and six-digit
requirements; lock out after three invalid
entries; use of account nicknames instead of account numbers; encrypted transactions;
time out of application after two minutes on Choose
screen and 10 minutes on other screens; and lost device functionality, which
disables the application. In addition, funds can only be transferred between
accounts that are set up with online access, and Bill Pay payees cannot be set
up or edited on the phone.
To get Mobile Banking, Verizon Wireless customers with the BlackBerry Curve
8330, BlackBerry Pearl 8130 and the BlackBerry 8830 World Edition can go to the
Home screen on their handsets and select the BlackBerry® Browser icon to go to
the VZ Start home page. Once there, click on the Mobile Banking link to
download the application. VZ Start home page can also be accessed by going to https://mobile.vzw.com from the browser.
There is no monthly charge for the application, although data charges may
apply.
Mobile Banking is also available on a number of Get It Now-capable phones in
the Tools on the Go shopping aisle of the Get It Now virtual store for no additional
monthly charge. Mobile Banking-capable phones include the Voyager by LG, Venus by
LG and LG VX9400; MOTORAZR maxx Ve and MOTORAZR2 V9m; and Verizon Wireless
FlipShotby Samsung, Verizon Wireless Juke by Samsung and Alias by Samsung.
Airtime or megabyte charges apply for sending and receiving data using Get It
Now, depending on the plan. Customers need a Get It Now-enabled phone and
Verizon Wireless digital service to access the Get It Now virtual store.
Personally, I think that online banking is overrated and I am a little bit suspicious of online banks in general. I come from a generation that used to go to the high street bank branch and do all my transactions face to face with a human being. But today, this is becoming rare and so banks are becoming faceless internet empires, using our money to gain capital growth. I think most of the online banks listed on the bank index at sites like http://www.dozenbanks.com are safe but some of the smaller, international e-banks are more open to identity fraud and security issues.