[Nita Nupress]

This is a very timely thread for me. I was in my bank today on some other business, so I asked the account representative lady about security with their online bill-paying service when using a wireless laptop.  She knew zilch about it, but to her credit, she called "the person who would know" and put her on the speaker phone so I could ask my question again.

As it turned out, the 2nd lady didn't know zilch either.  Basically, all they knew to tell me was that their bank used "the highest level of encryption possible."  Beyond that, they didn't know anything about wireless network connections and possible security breaches.  It didn't give me a lot of confidence.  I've done the electronic bill-paying in the past and loved it, but never over a wireless setup.  Even though they assured me I'd only be liable for $50 if something happened..., still.

Am I being paranoid?  All opinions are welcome here.  I'm behind 3 firewalls (2 hardware, 1 software), but still...

 

[Casloy]

service when using a wireless laptop.

Wireless or not, as far as I know all transactions of this sort are conducted using Secure Socket Layer, which encrypts the data from your computer to the bank or whoever you are paying. You can see a little padlock on your browser indicating it is in secure mode. Bill paying online has an excellent record for security. There are other ways bad guys get credit card information, but generally not by eavesdropping on transactions. I think you are more at risk when you use your credit card in the store. You are handing a stranger your credit card with all the info on it he or she needs to misuse it.

[papertyger]

I've been using BOA online bill pay for about five years now, and I can report absolutely zero discrepancies during that entire time.

I use it to pay everything from the light bill to the dog groomer with never a hitch.

And BTW Vast, I've had my balance inadvertently "go red" for several hours and not been charged any fee.

The only significant story I have to tell is when the power company claimed I had not paid my bill for three months, and was about to cut me off. BOA stood behind me all the way and in a three way call, told the power company in no uncertain terms they HAD been paid, they HAD accepted the payment, and if they didn't know what happened to the funds after they received them, it was not our problem.

Turns out the power co. had unilaterally changed my account number, and so it was no wonder they didn't acknowledge payment.

Not only did BOA stand behind me for their names sake, they made sure any smudge on my record was removed before hanging up the phone.

Now That's Service!