Practically any financial transaction can be completed through the use of online banking. The advent of direct deposit made getting your money lightning quick and accurate, and many banks have catered to the needs of their account holders by simplifying online banking features.

Do you remember the days when you had to make a physical trip down to your corner bank just to check the balance of your accounts and to make a deposit? While you may have to take a trek to Wachovia every once in awhile, online banking has drastically reduced the necessity to do so.

Star Reviews reports that the popular Bank of America offers their customers added security features, such as encryption and pass codes. Bank of America even implemented a customized image security feature, whereby you choose an image and if you happen to land on a phishing website posing as the authentic site, you will know it before entering personal information.

Online banking through Bank of America and other big names such as Citibank and Wachovia offer similar features through their services. For starters, you can receive online statements instead of those paper ones that always seem to arrive a month after you made the purchases listed on them. You can also utilize online bill payment and add lists of payees to automatically transfer funds to.

Most online banks also allow account holders to transfer funds between checking and savings accounts. Popular online bank ING Direct even allows you to transfer money from their service to other banks, such as Washington Mutual (WaMu) for free. Add this benefit to convenience such as online loan applications and online banking is hard to live without!