Streamline Your Finances: Organize Bank Accounts and Bills Online

Do you want to get yourself on the path to financial stability and independence? Then organization is the key. Getting your finances in order isn’t just smart — it’s easy to do, thanks to a wide range of convenient online tools at your disposal.

Take Inventory of Accounts and Passwords

If you have an online account with your financial institution or a lender, you’ll need a username and password. Your username and password will allow you access to your sensitive banking information on a secure website. It keeps others from viewing your personal information. But you have so many logins you can’t keep them straight, right? Try organizing your information safely.

Organizing your accounts includes tracking and safely storing your usernames and passwords. To safeguard this sensitive information, you can:

Create an encrypted spreadsheet and protect it with a password.
Use services like LastPass to store usernames and passwords safely.
Set a calendar reminder to update your passwords every 90 days to protect you against identity theft.

Just remember — you should never give out your login information to anyone! Monitor your accounts on a regular basis for fraud and scams.

Go Paperless

Why should you continue to collect all those paper financial statements when you can save the environment — and space on your desk? Your financial institution makes it easier to keep track of money in your account. Consider the pros of going paperless:

Ease of access.
Save money.
Save space.
Save paper.

With less mail in your mailbox every day, you reduce the chances of falling victim to identity theft. When printed materials have financial information, it doesn’t matter whether they are stored in your car, mailbox, or filed away, your personal information is open to theft. View them securely online with a complex, secure password.

And if you’re worried that going paperless might mean you forget to pay a bill, you can schedule automatic payments with online banking — more on that later.

Primary Method of Bank Account Access by Age

eStatements

You should opt into your financial institution or lenders’ paperless options. Going paperless reduces clutter and environmental waste, making it easier to keep track of monthly statements and routine bill payments. Receive your statements online with our simple eStatements services. Receive an email or text alert and view, download, or print an electronic version of your statement on your own time.

But just because your financial statements are online doesn’t mean you should ignore them. Make sure you monitor your finances:

Open and save your eStatements each month.
Create your own filing system.
Back up your files periodically.
Check your account online throughout the month.
Keep a record of your bill payments.
Keep your contact information up-to-date.
Make sure your devices (computer, phone, tablet) are secure.

Online Banking

Adirondack Bank’s online banking allows you to conduct financial transactions via the web and offers some of the same services as an in-person bank. You can do your banking whenever and wherever on your own schedule.

Online banking can include transferring funds, depositing checks, viewing transactions, setting up alerts, and more. It’s convenient, easy to use, and secure with 24-hour access to real-time account information on your computer, tablet, or phone.

Mobile Banking

Bank from anywhere, anytime, and on any mobile device with our ADK on the Go Mobile Banking app. If you’re enrolled in online banking, mobile banking is yet another way to access your accounts without stepping into a branch. Some of the benefits of mobile banking are:

Convenience: Check account balances, find ATM locations, transfer funds, and deposit checks at your fingertips.
Timesaving: No need to visit a branch for everyday banking tasks.
Easy to monitor: Watch your daily transactions to protect against fraud.
Good for budgeting: Check your balance before you spend and make sure you’re on track to meet your spending goals.
Mobile Deposit: Have a physical check but can’t make it to the bank to deposit it? Use your smartphone and mobile app to deposit checks on the go! Deposit processing times are the same as if you brought the check to a branch.

Our ADK on the Go app is available on Google Play and the Apple Store for download.

Automate Your Payments

Nothing can damage your credit score like missing monthly bill payments. Automate your bill payments using your lender or credit card provider’s website or app. Our bill pay feature allows you to save time and money, paying anyone at any time. View, pay, and track your bills from one place in the Payment Center:

Schedule payments by due dates.
Set up recurring payments and reminders.
Pay from multiple Adirondack Bank accounts.
Split an expense.
Move money to and from accounts at other financial institutions.

By setting up automatic payments, you can:

Create a consistent monthly budget.
Reduce the chance of missing a payment and damaging your credit score.
Set up weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly transfers to move money into your savings account.

While money should move automatically, you’ll want to be diligent about checking your statements or your account online. Don’t let your account go unchecked — suspicious activity can cause issues. Make sure to monitor your account and prevent financial losses before they happen. That’s where automated alerts come to the rescue.

Adirondack Bank online banking customers can set up real-time alerts for their accounts with Notifi. With new alert options added all the time, choose which alerts interest you such as password changes, low balance, transfer, transactions, and ATM activity. You can sign up online and start using Notifi today!

Organize and Consolidate

Debt can cause financial hardship and mental stress. It can even make it difficult to pay your bills or qualify for loans such as mortgages or auto loans.

Debt consolidation is a way to take your high-interest debt like your credit card balances, and combine them into one monthly payment, potentially at a lower interest rate. With debt consolidation, the benefits may include:

Lower interest rate.
Lower payments.
Shorter payoff term.
Reduce the amount of interest paid over time.

If debt is making a mess of your financial situation, consider cleaning it up to have a better financial future. Think about ways you can organize and consolidate your debt:

Organize it into a spreadsheet with how much you owe, how much you pay each month, the interest rate, and the remaining term.
Devise a strategy to focus on the debt with the highest interest rate or the shortest term, like the debt snowball or avalanche payment methods.
Consider a balance transfer or a consolidation loan for multiple lines of debt.

These approaches will help minimize costs in the long run, but they’ll also streamline your accounts for easier management.

If you’re having trouble with your financial situation, talk to a professional. You’ll find yourself firmly on top of your finances and on the way to a greater peace of mind.

Bank Better With Adirondack Bank

If you're interested in signing up for any of our online or mobile services, visit your nearest branch for more details. Our dedicated staff is ready to help you find the products and services you need for a better banking experience.

The information in this article was obtained from various sources not associated with Adirondack Bank. While we believe it to be reliable and accurate, we do not warrant the accuracy or reliability of the information. Adirondack Bank is not responsible for, and does not endorse or approve, either implicitly or explicitly, the information provided or the content of any third-party sites that might be hyperlinked from this page. The information is not intended to replace manuals, instructions or information provided by a manufacturer or the advice of a qualified professional, or to affect coverage under any applicable insurance policy. These suggestions are not a complete list of every loss control measure. Adirondack Bank makes no guarantees of results from use of this information.