Univest In The News
financialSEN$E Tips to Help Consumers Start Banking Online
SOUDERTON, Pa., March 7, 2008 – More and more people are getting comfortable with the idea of online banking.
According to a September 2007 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 53% of online users, or about 39% of all adult Americans, have done banking online. This is an astounding increase over the 9% of Americans who had done some online banking in 2000. The most popular features of online banking are:
- 24/7 access to account information
- Doing one’s banking from home or office rather than visiting a branch
- Seeing account transactions in real time
- Paying bills quickly, including setting up automatic payments on a scheduled date
- Transferring money between accounts
- Accessing past bank statements and check copies, making financial record keeping simpler and more organized
Three Tips for Online Banking Beginners
Still, many consumers just can’t get used to the idea of handling financial transactions over the Internet. Here are some suggestions from Univest National Bank and Trust Co. (listed on NASDAQ: UVSP) to help novices begin taking advantage of the benefits online banking can provide. Univest’s online bank account services through www.univestdirect.com have recently been highlighted in Reader’s Digest and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Through its financialSEN$E financial literacy program, Univest provides financial advice and guidance to individuals through every stage of life.
- Start slowly with features such as viewing your balance online and moving funds between accounts in the same institution. These are the most common, secure and simple online banking activities.
- Once you become accustomed to these online banking tools, you can then move to transactions such as online bill payments and funds transfers between different banks.
- Make a deposit online or apply for a loan online. Consumers considering such transactions over the Web should expect to enter their personal information and answer specific questions about themselves that are based on their credit history. Such questions are required by the USA Patriot Act and are based upon specific details only that person would know about his or her own financial history. Once a person’s identity has been confirmed, they will be required to fund the accounts with funds from another bank account or by mailing in a check.
“Many hesitant online bankers are concerned about security and the issue of identity theft,” says K. Leon Moyer, president and chief operating officer of Univest National Bank and Trust Co. “But multi-factor authentication, a security precaution required of all financial institutions, makes online banking safer than ever. Multi-factor authentication can take a variety of forms. For example, the customer is asked to provide his or her user name and password as usual, but is then asked a customer-selected challenge question and must respond with the correct customer-supplied answer to the question.” Consumers that bank online enjoy the convenience of handling their financial transactions by computer, the benefits of real-time banking and the added security of multi-factor authentication. If you need additional information or guidance about online banking, contact a Univest financial service center near you or visit www.univestdirect.com.
Headquartered in Souderton, Pa., Univest Corporation of Pennsylvania (www.univest.net) and its subsidiaries serve the financial needs of residents, businesses, and nonprofit organizations in Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery counties. Univest National Bank and Trust Co. offers customers 33 financial service centers, 12 retirement financial services centers, and 39 ATM locations throughout the region, and is the parent company of Univest Capital, Inc. (doing business as Vanguard Leasing, Inc.), a small ticket commercial leasing business; Univest Insurance, Inc., an independent insurance agency headquartered in Lansdale, Pa., which serves commercial and personal customers; and Univest Investments, Inc., a full-service broker-dealer and investment advisory firm.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results and trends could differ materially from those set forth in such statements due to various factors. Such factors include the possibility that increased demand or prices for the Company's financial services and products may not occur, changing economic and competitive conditions, technological developments, and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.