President
& CEO Bruce Cleveland answered your question on Quote.com
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September
20, 2000
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Other Quote.com
Online Chat Sessions
September 5, 2000
September 7, 2000
September 19, 2000
Do some
banks offer financial software as part of their online bill pay package?
In the future, will we have a single place to do banking, pay
bills, shop for cars, loans, etc...?
Will online bill pay allow customer to see the running total
of their account?
What about bill paying services that aren't run through a bank?
Why to you pay more interest for your checking account than
your savings account?
Besides bill payer, what other functions are unique to online
banking?
Explain why your charge a fee for "Account Research"
and "Statement Reconciliation"?
How do I make a deposit if I don't live in D.C.?
What about hidden ATM costs?
Will online banks be moving towards online investing?
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Do
some banks offer financial software as part of their online bill pay package?
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We can’t speak definitively for other
banks. However, Presidential’s bill-payer system operates over the Internet using
your regular browser, without the need for any special software. We believe that
most other banks operate in the same way.
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Is
the way this all is going is to have a single place to do banking, pay
bills, shop for car/house/college loans, everything? What's your take,
Mr. Cleveland?
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Your one-stop shopping list is limited
to financial products and services. Therefore, it appears to us that the answer
is generally "yes", many people we do everything financial at a single
place or just a few places, online. Presidential already offers online just
about everything you mentioned, because these products are either loans or deposit
accounts, which are traditional banking products, or are essential online banking
services, which we offer as an Internet bank. Most banks will probably end up
offering about the same comprehensive list of products and services online,
but it may take quite a while.
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I
told a friend that the Internet would never be good for anything besides
entertaining college students... How wrong was that? But now I'm on board,
and hungry for info: will online bill pay allow customers to see the running
total of their account? As opposed to just seeing the total owed at the
end of the month?
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I am not sure I understand your
question exactly, but I will try to answer as best I can. The Bill-Payer system
allows you to schedule recurring payments and make one of a kind payments online,
any time. It will keep a register of all of the payments you have made under
"payment history", but will not total those payments for you.
However, each payment you make is
also immediately charged to your checking account in real time, and so you will
be able to see your payments being deducted from your checking account, using
our related PC Banking system. The PC Banking system shows you a list of all
the recent activity in any of your bank accounts, and the current balance. It
also permits you to move money between your Presidential accounts in real time.
You can use our Historical Statements
system to view an online copy of any past statement for any of your accounts.
These online statements look just like the statements you get in the mail, and
they show the opening and closing balance in the account for the month, as well
as the balance in your account after each individual transaction.
All of these services are free (except
to get free Bill-Payer service, you must have an Internet Checking Plus account,
otherwise there is a monthly charge).
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What
about bill paying services that aren't run through a bank, such as the
post office and OnMoney.com? What are your thoughts on using a nonbank
entity for this account feature?
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Presidential offers an online Bill-Payer
service to any of our customers who desire it; for many of our customers it is
free. However, it is entirely your choice, whether you want to use Presidential’s
bill-payer system or a third-party system. Naturally,
the third-party system will not be free. If you decide to use a third-party system,
you should make sure you are dealing with a reputable, financially stable company.
Third party bill-payer organizations are private companies, rather than federally
insured banks, so you will not be protected by government banking regulation.
They will be charging your account at Presidential or whatever other bank you
use, by direct debit, before the payments they make on your behalf clear. Therefore,
they will be holding some of your money in their own account while your payments
clear. All reputable independent bill-payer companies establish a separate trust
account to hold their customers’ funds while payments are clearing, so make sure
your bill-payer company offers you this measure of protection. Beyond that, make
sure you are confident that your bill-payer company is here to stay.
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I
see on your website that you pay more interest for a checking account
(Internet Checking) than for a savings account (Internet Statement Savings)...
Isn't this the opposite of how most banks do it? Why do you do it this
way? Due to the minimum balance?
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At Presidential, we do indeed have
a rather contrarian point of view on this issue. Most banks pay higher rates of
interest on accounts that are superficially better for the bank. We pay a higher
rate of interest on unlimited checking accounts, which are better for the customer
but more costly for us to service, because we are seeking core customers who will
make us their primary bank and remain with us for a long time We are willing to
pay a higher rate to reward customers who will value us as their main bank and
maintain a stable relationship with us. The
minimum balance requirement is not a significant factor in this policy. We pay
high rates on a variety of checking accounts, some with lower minimum balances
than others.
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Besides
bill paying what other features are there that are unique to online banks?
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Online banks have the opportunity to
offer a variety of services, via the Internet, that a bank that isn’t online simply
can’t offer. In addition to comprehensive online information about our products
and services, Presidential currently offers: PC Banking real time transaction
lookup, online transaction searches, real time transfers between accounts, online
historical statements, an online lookup of canceled check images, secure e-mail
communication, online bill-payer service, online new account opening, and online
mortgage and car loan applications. We also have an extensive array of deposit
account and loan products and services for business customers. Additional products
and services will be coming soon.
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On
your website, under schedule of fees, you have a fee for "Account research"
at $15/hour, minimum of $5. What does this pertain to? If I have an account
at Presidential and a mistake outside my control was made, will I get
charged this research fee to have it investigated and my account correctly
credited? And what about the "Statement reconciliation" ($15/hr, min $5)
fee?
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You have been doing your homework on
our web site. The Internet makes this a lot easier, doesn’t it?
From time to time customers will
conclude that we have made some kind of mistake in their account. Often it is
the customer who is mistaken, but some customers are very persistent in pursuing
these claims, even when the claim is not true. If we have actually made a mistake,
then of course we will correct it immediately and even credit the customer with
any interest that has been lost. And, of course, if we do make a mistake, we
never charge the customer to research the problem.
However, if it turns out that we
must spend significant amounts of time researching a customer claim that proves
to be baseless, or to do research on a customer’s account where the customer
does not claim that we made a mistake but just needs extensive information,
then we reserve the right to charge the customer for the employee time involved.
These charges do not apply to routine customer inquiries, but only when significant
research of old information or complex activity is required.
Statement reconciliation is a service
that we do not need to provide very often. However, occasionally a customer
will become confused about his or her account balance and actually ask us to
reconcile the account. To do this, we need to receive a copy of the customer’s
check book register. We then use our own records of deposits made and checks
and other debits paid to calculate a reconciled balance for the customer. For
this service we charge the same hourly and minimum charges as we would charge
for account research.
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How
do I make deposits to my account (other than electronic) if I don't live
in DC?
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Make your deposits by mail. E-mail
us, and we will be glad to send you a supply of mail deposit envelopes. You will
already have your deposit slips in the back of your check book.
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What
about the hidden ATM costs? Since all of the transactions will be electronic,
what if I want to speak with someone? Will I be charged?
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At Presidential there are no "hidden"
ATM charges. We will not charge any fees to your account when you use your ATM
card. However, you must be aware that many other banks impose surcharges when
you use their ATMs. But these fees are charged by them, not us. We
consider our telephone customer service center to be an important part of our
Internet banking service. We will never charge you to talk to us. Your call via
our "800" number is free (inside the U.S.), and we will welcome your
call. Our customer service people are there to help you. Feel free to call and
ask questions, even if your don’t have an account yet, at 1-800-383-6266.
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What’s
up with deregulation? Will online banks be moving toward online investing,
too?
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It appears inevitable to us that more
and more banks will move to offer online investment services. Presidential has
had an affiliated securities brokerage firm for many years, and we will be expanding
its online services to our customers in the near future.
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