Identity Theft & Fraud: How Online Access to your Bank and Billing Accounts Protects You from Fraud

Many people erroneously believe that if you do your banking online, or receive your monthly bills electronically rather than through postal mail, that you are increasing your risk of fraud or identity theft. In actuality, using secure online access to your bank and billing accounts can actually reduce your risk of becoming a victim.

Keep in mind, the solutions presented below are only effective if you are diligent in keeping your computer secure. Make sure you install all security updates provided by your computer's operating system. Install a firewall to prevent unwanted outside access. Install a reliable virus-protection program and be diligent in downloading updates (or better yet, set it to auto-update).

Online Access to your Bank Account - Use online account access for all of your financial accounts, and receive bank, investment, and other financial statements electronically rather than through the mail. Most financial institutions now offer online access to accounts through secure, encrypted websites. Harleysville National Bank offers secure Web Banking to our account holders and you can choose to stop paper delivery of your bank statements with Web Statement Delivery. By accessing your accounts online, and by using passwords that are difficult to guess, you can significantly reduce the chance that thieves can access your financial information.

A word about passwords - using online account access is only safer if you use effective passwords and login credentials. Don't use your birthdate or your child's, husband's, or pet's name as your password, as these are too easy to guess. It is best to use a combination of letters (both upper- and lower-case, if permitted), numbers, and symbols or punctuation (if permitted). A great way to choose your password is to think of a phrase or sentence that means something to you, such as "My daughter Katelyn is the cutest thing ever" and truncate it using the first letter of each word: MdKitcte becomes your password. For an even safer choice, add a number to the password, perhaps at the end, or replace the letter i with a 1: MdK1tcte.

Receive and pay your bills online. More and more companies are offering electronic delivery of recurring bills or online access to your statements in place of mailing paper bills. Less information delivered through postal mail reduces your risk of your mail being intercepted. When you receive your bills online you can either choose to pay your bills through your biller's website, or, if you'd rather not have to visit each and every biller's website every month, consider using our Bill Payment service. Set up your billing information once, and every month just sign in and fill out the amount you wish to pay. For accounts with the same payment every month you can even set Bill Payment up to auto-pay the bill, so you don't have to lift a finger!

Again, see the above section about passwords - receiving and paying bills online is only safer if you choose wise passwords.