Most students use the Internet to access virtually every aspect of their daily lives: friends and family on Facebook, schoolwork on Collab, work schedules by e-mail. They order dinner from online takeout menus and complete their back to school shopping with a click of a mouse.\nIn addition to social networking and keeping up with school, students also are using the World Wide Web to manage their money.\nAlthough online banking is by no means a new phenomenon, it is increasingly preferred to traditional in-person banking. Talk to almost any student on Grounds, and chances are they bank online.\n"It's more convenient for a college student," second-year Engineering student Vicki Greenberg said. "We don't have time to go to the bank all the time. Even though there are lots of ATMs around Grounds, it's still faster to spend two minutes using online banking."\nThe banks themselves are well-aware of the convenience factor and many choose to market their online banking programs accordingly.\nWachovia enables customers to access statements online, to monitor all online activity and to view actual photocopies of deposited checks, ensuring their authenticity.\nBank of America has recently introduced "My Portfolio" which enables its customers to view multiple account statements in one place, even if those accounts are from other institutions. It also analyzes customers' financial patterns online and provides them with personal budgets and savings plans, all without having to step foot in an accountant's office.\nNot only does online banking provides customers with several ways to monitor their financial worlds 24 hours a day, any day of the week, online transactions reduce the chances of in-person identity theft through robbery or physical attack.\nOnline banking also means an increase in paperless transactions, an environmentally-friendly procedure that appeals to University students.\n"Online banking is not only bettering the environment by replacing paper statements, but is also more practical in the sense that college students can track their banking activity at any time," second-year College student Lindsey Shall.\nPaperless statements can safeguard customers who may throw away financial information improperly. To maintain account security, Wachovia and Bank of America require passwords that are usually supported by a personal questions scheme. Several schemes have limited activity periods, requiring the user to change the questions periodically.\nAccording to Wachovia Online Services, each time a customer uses his or her the password to enter an account, the password is encrypted into a code that may only be decrypted by Wachovia. This encryption code changes every time a user logs in.\nWachovia is among many banks that offer personal fund guarantees in case unauthorized people gain access to a customer's account and withdraw money.\nDespite the many benefits online banking offers, students should also be cautious of all the online scams that come with online banking, incuding phishing and spoofing scams.\n"Internet fraudsters send spam or pop-up messages to lure personal information from unsuspecting victims," said Mary Bader, personal banker at Newcomb Hall's Bank of America.\nBader added that phishing scams are probably the most important security threat of which to be aware. They are an aspect of Internet banking over which banks have little control. In 2007, $3.2 billion was lost to phishing scams, according to a study by technology research firm, Gartner, Inc..\nAnother dangerous scam is the spoofing scam, which sends what appears to be legitimate Web sites to a browser and from there steals the information a user inputs. According to an article by Carolyn Salazar of MSN Money Central, "How Dangerous Is Online Banking?," the most common virus used to access bank accounts are "Trojan horses," which, once embedded in your computer, record users keystrokes and gain password information. Losses of money through these viruses are difficult to track, especially because banks cannot always determine if the funds were taken from an ATM or online.\nTo protect their customers, banks track online actions, login frequency and enable users to do the same. This makes it is easier for one to personally ensure the security of their account. Most online banking systems itemize customers' spending so that unauthorized spending can be recognized early.\nDespite these concerns, several students said they remain confident in managing their money online.\n"The more I do it, the less I worry," second-year College student Ryana Burrel said.\nOthers noted that they use online banking more out of necessity.\n"I actually don't know how else to do it," second-year College student Flora Tsui said. "Our generation don't bank 'the other way."
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