Can You Lose Money In An Online Bank?

Depending on how you feel about computers, you may be worried about using online banking or putting your money into a bank that's entirely online. Nothing is ever perfect, so it's impossible to guarantee that you will never have a problem, but there's almost no chance of actually losing your money. Here's what can go wrong and how it would be fixed.

The Bank Goes Out of Business

When you deposit money into a bank, you're not investing in that bank. Your deposit accounts are a service provided by the bank, and they have to return your money. While they do use your money to try to make more money, there are guarantees that you get your money back even if the bank goes out of business.

The primary guarantee is FDIC insurance. FDIC insurance covers far more money than most people should have in a checking or savings account. If a bank goes out of business without returning your deposits, the insurance will pay you up to the insurance limit.

In most cases, it won't even get to the bank going out of business. Usually, another bank would take over a struggling bank and your accounts would be handled by the new bank.

You Lose Your Password

You may have heard of people losing millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin because they lost their Bitcoin key, but that can't happen with personal banking. If you forget your banking password, most banks allow you to reset it online by answering security questions. If that doesn't work, you can call the customer service number to regain access to your account. The absolute worst thing that can happen is you'd need to visit the bank in person to show them your ID so that they can verify that you're the account owner to let you back in.

You're a Victim of Fraud

Online banking is no different than if you only go into a branch and get paper statements in the mail. You are not liable for unauthorized transactions on your personal banking accounts.

If you ever have an unauthorized withdrawal from your account, follow the bank's procedure for reporting fraud. Your bank is obligated to investigate and return your funds to you. If they give you a hard time, you can file a complaint with federal regulators and they will make sure the bank is following consumer protection laws, but you'll never need to do this if you pick the right bank.

To learn more about personal banking online, contact a local bank today.