Mobile banking apps have changed the way society banks these days. The days of having to go to the bank to make a withdrawal or deposit are long gone. With features of being able to check your balance, deposit a check, transfer funds, and even pay bills, mobile banking has become increasing popular over the past few years. History of Mobile Banking According to Wikipedia, mobile banking began in 2009 and was done through SMS or text messaging. For example users could text "BALANCE" to their bank and would get a reply with balance of an account.
With Apple's success of the iPhone and Google's emergence of the Android based phones, mobile banking has grown exponentially since 2010. The number of mobile banking users has grown from 17. 8 million in 2010 to 53.
...1 million in 2013 (Vaidya, 2011). This increase can be attributed to the growth in Smart phones and banking apps that have been written by different banks. USAA Mobile Banking App USAA is a bank/insurance company that caters specifically to military personnel and their families. Its online banking has many different features, that go beyond just being able to see your account balance.
In addition to being able to view information about your account and transfer funds, USAA offers that capability to deposit checks from your mobile phone. To deposit a check from a mobile phone, users access the app, and will take a picture of the front and back of the check, " and once you hit the send button, that image is going into our deposit-taking system as any other check would" (Maesto, 2009, para
). USAA was one of the first banks to do this, although it was not part of the top 20 banks largest banks in America. The USAA banking app is also able to be linked to other accounts.
Users may import other accounts from different banks or even mortgage companies to view these accounts. Example if a user has a home mortgage through Wells Fargo, the mobile app will import all the information pertaining to the account, including balance, next payment amount, and the due date of the payment. This feature of importing non-USAA accounts, is compatible with all types of accounts including savings, checking, automobile loan, car insurance, home mortgage, and even investment accounts. When these accounts are imported, the user is able to transfer money between the accounts, and pay bills.
Another feature of the USAA app is to help users track their money. The app tracks where the user shops and spends money and based on this information puts the money spent into certain categories. During a month the app will tell the user how much money was spent at grocery stores, paying bills such as a credit card, on gas and various other categories that can be customized by the user. The app takes this information and helps the user make a spending plan to help him or her know where the money is going and how to save money. Other Banking Apps There are other types of banking apps as well.
Paypal came out with an app in which the user sets up an account and paypal sends them a mini MSR(Mag Stripe Reader) that can hook
to the phone. This enables the user to take credit or debit cards from people and it deposits the money directly into the paypal account. This is an excellent feature for taking payments from people in a world that doesn't use checks or carry cash nearly as much as it used to. Another feature of mobile banking is to pay bills at retail stores with a smart phone. Certain stores are now able to accept payment by a user swiping their phone at the pinpad.
This type of payment is known as NFC (Near Field Communication) (Turban, Volonino, & Wood, p. 206, 2013). Potential Risks The biggest risk for mobile banking is security. Loss of users login information or even smart phone can lead to unauthorized access of someone's bank accounts. This is a primary concern. Steps have been taken to help prevent this. Once logged in, may apps ask for a pin number that has been set up. Also some apps ask a security question to help prove identity. There are some risks to mobile banking, but these risks can be greatly minimized by caution of the user.
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