Millennials and Internet Banking

Millennials are people who were born between the years 1981 and 1996, a period of rapid technological change that has led to the stage of today’s internet banking. The change did not feel like it was in the Global North for people in India, but its effects were trickling down with policies like liberalisation. Millennials are the generation caught in transition as far as understanding capital is concerned because their dads believed in the conservative idea of slow but sustained growth, mostly as interest paid by banks. There was a solid reason for it: banks were mostly nationalised and paying handsome interest.

• Internet banking helps you keep all your financial data in one place and makes transactions easier.
• Track your spending habits through Internet banking and manage your expenses efficiently.
• Beware of security breaches on your device and take measures to keep your device safe.

When millennials began to earn and realised that the economy had been turned on its head, they began to rethink established norms. If the rate of interest provided by banks is less than the inflation rate, what kind of savings are they making? Therefore, they decided to invest, and even banks, who had been investing money all these years (being open to the world market post-liberalisation), have provided millennials with the option of investing through their Internet banking service.

There is hardly anything that Internet banking does not offer with regard to managing your money, whatever your focus area may be. These are the basic functions that you can make use of:

• Easy access to account details: Gone are the days when you had to reach for your passbook to take a look at transactions. Thanks to UPI, millennials make too many payments every day to accommodate on a page. Banks offer a user-friendly interface to access all your accounts.
• Activity tracking: With Internet banking, millennials have full control over their capital. You can see all your expenses in one place and have a better understanding of your spending pattern.
• Easy transfers: Through Internet banking, you can easily handle multiple accounts under one umbrella. Furthermore, you can transfer money from one account to another, pay all your bills, make recurring payments, and more.
• Insurance management: If you are a millennial, you will be impressed by the versatility of the Internet banking service. You can buy and manage your insurance, pay premiums, and keep a track on due dates without having to worry about privileges getting lapsed.
• Security: It is at this point that Internet banking is sure to impress even the hardliner baby boomers. Banks keep everything account-related encrypted so that no one but you can access the account without going through an authentication process. Make sure you do not share any banking-related information online even with people you trust.

Despite all its advantages, there are some caveats that you should never forget while using Internet banking.

1. Mind your device: Do not be apprehensive about using your device for financial transactions. However, you should first check certain things before you permit your phone to access data on your banking app. If your phone is rooted, then it is probably not wise to keep sensitive financial information on your device because of a possible security breach.
2. Use a good password: Password hacks are not unknown, and they might happen on any device with a security lapse. To prevent such incidents, make sure you enter a strong password, and enable a two-step authentication procedure so that an OTP is always required to sign in to your account.
3. Beware of phishing: Do not click suspicious links that may be sent to you either by SMS or email. Typically, scammers send these links along with some exciting information as a clickbait. Furthermore, refrain from making any purchases through apps or websites that you have not heard about.
4. Review your account: From time to time, review your account activity to check if any unauthorised transaction has been made from your account. In case you come across anything of the sort, report the incident to your bank immediately.

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