Online banking gaining popularity
Competition for online bank customers is getting intense. Bank of America Corp. is handing out magnets at NFL games this month to advertise its free online bill pay. Wachovia Corp. launches a new Web site in November. And CharterOne Financials is offering customers "FYI Alerts," notifying them via e-mail, phone or fax when they have a new statement or need to pay a bill.
( By Sarah Lunday, KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS, 09/23/2002 09:45 AM PDT)

Phone-based bill paying proves vulnerable to fraud
Banks are offering consumers an electronic way to pay bills or make purchases over the telephone, using money from their checking accounts.
( By MICHELE CHANDLER, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 07/16/2002 10:50 AM PDT)

Bill due? Phone it in
Banks are offering consumers an electronic way to pay bills or make purchases over the telephone, using money from their checking accounts.
( By Michele Chandler, mchandler@herald.com, 05/23/2002 05:29 PM PDT)

Don't be afraid to shop online
Are you one of those online people who still feel squeamish about giving your credit card number to an Internet merchant? If so, here's something for you to consider. When you last dined out and gave your credit card to the waiter, did you feel insecure? He could have run it a few times to add extra charges or simply copied the numbers and expiration date to be used in some future illegal shopping spree.
( By Craig Crossman, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 04/30/2002 10:14 AM PDT)

Online bill paying on the rise
It took Dan Fitzgerald and his wife almost two weeks to drive from Connecticut to Oregon. On the way, the couple stopped at Yellowstone National Park, the Wounded Knee National Memorial and a sleek Internet cafe in southern Wisconsin.
( By Jim Krane, Associated Press, 04/26/2002 08:22 AM PDT)

E-Loan strives for legitimacy despite successes
Chris Larsen likes to say that Visa and American Express were among the early investors in online lender E-Loan. But it's not the large corporations he's talking about; it's their small plastic icons that funded his business.
( By Kelly Smolen, Contra Costa Times, 04/16/2002 10:37 AM PDT)

Spreadsheet quickly sizes up your pot o' gold
This computer writer has been driven to his spreadsheet, pondering a news story that cries out for some PC arithmetic, the sudden bankruptcy of all those one-time 401(k) millionaires at Enron Corp.
( By James Coates, Chicago Tribune, 03/20/2002 10:28 AM PDT)

As other companies crumble, Ecount carves out a niche in online-payment services
Two years ago, the traditional checkbook seemed doomed, as e-mail payments for goods and services were threatening to make paper checks obsolete. Companies with names such as Flooz and Cybergold sprang up to help consumers and businesses move cash over the Internet via online accounts.
( By Wendy Tanaka, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 02/27/2002 10:13 AM PDT)

Online tools do checkup on 401(k)s
I have a two-part formula for managing your 401(k) plan well. One part is good, clear information and the other is the freedom to use it.
( 02/19/2002 06:07 AM PDT)