Do you have bank alerts on your phone? While you may be of the mindset that avoiding noisy alerts on your phone is the best policy, you must employ a few safeguards that will help you protect yourself. Bank alerts are safety features that will update you anytime something out of your normal activity occurs with your finances.
While most of the time your alerts will bring your attention to a situation you are already aware of, the one time they update you that there is fraudulent activity will make you grateful you chose to use this feature. Here are 5 banking alerts you should be getting on your phone.
UNUSUAL ACTIVITY ALERTS
According to FTC Consumer Sentinel Network Databook 2018, there were 444,602 cases of identity theft in 2018 with 9.72% being some form of bank fraud. To help you avoid identity theft, it’s wise to set up unusually activity alerts with your bank. This way you’ll receive a notification when your bank detects fraud. If there is an unusual purchase or if your bank detects card usage outside your normal travel area, your bank will contact you to verify it was you.
LOW BALANCE ALERTS
To avoid overdraft fees, set up a low balance alert. Often, banks will let you set up low balance alerts ranging everywhere from $20 to $1,000. In addition to avoiding unnecessary fees, this alert will help you prevent overspending, which in turn, helps you avoid overdraft fees. While it’s encouraged to check your accounts often and keep a continual knowledge of your finances, having a low balance alert will allow you to rest at ease should you become distracted from your normal bookkeeping habits.
Much like tracking unusual activity, a low balance alert may also notify you if unauthorized transactions are taking place. It will assure you catch this issue before it becomes an even larger problem than it is.
PASSWORD OR PROFILE CHANGE ALERT
When it comes to basic security measures, this alert is probably one of the more important alerts you should have on your phone. Even though most of the time you’ll be changing your password and profile, it’s wise to have this alert in case someone tries to hack your account. Your bank will let you know if someone attempts to change your profile or password. Then, you and your bank can take action right away.
LARGE PURCHASE ALERT
This alert will notify you whenever you make a large purchase or a large dollar amount is leaving your account. If you don’t recognize the large purchase, you can then find out quickly where it came from and how to resolve the attempted fraud. While you may think this is unnecessary (and we hope it is) it’s good to have this safeguard in place. The more ways you can quickly determine a situation of fraudulent charges, the more effectively you can stop the spending and resolve the problem.
CLEARED CHECK ALERT
If you write a good amount of checks, you may want to consider setting up a cleared check alert. This alert notifies you when your checks have cleared. This way, if you’re expecting a larger check amount to pull from your account, you can pause spending so you don’t spend money on what isn’t actually there.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Setting up bank alerts on your phone helps you stay on top of your finances. From helping you avoid fraud to preventing overdraft or late fees, banking alerts support you in creating positive money management habits. So, contact your bank and set up these 5 alerts today.
