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Mobile banking apps have made paying bills, money transfers, and other financial transactions much more convenient and fast, than ever before.
However, as technology improves banks come up with new banking app features, which can be useful for the customer and make the mobile banking experience more exciting and simpler. This is one of the key areas, where banks work to attract new clients.
So, let us take a look at some of the most interesting banking app futures, you should know about:
1) Depositing Check By Mobile Banking App
Considering modern life’s busy schedule, sometime it might be challenging to find spare time to visit the bank in person to deposit a check. It can be frustrating when you know that you still can’t access those funds before you do not deposit the check at the bank.
Luckily, some banks have identified this problem and offered their customers a solution. Using the mobile banking application people can scan the check and upload it using the app.
Some of those apps even allow their customers to take a picture of the check, instead of scanning it. After some time, the bank will process this check and if everything is in order, will deposit it in the bank account.
This feature saves time for customers and makes depositing checks much more convenient. Banks with this feature can have an advantage over those financial institutions, which still cannot offer this service.
2) All Bills In One Place
This mobile banking feature allows you to add and memorize your regular billers. In this way, you can see all of your bills listed on one page with the payment information. This makes it much easier to control your spending and avoid missing payments.
In addition to that, this feature lets you schedule payments on specific dates so that you do not have to worry about forgetting making payments.
One thing to keep in mind here is to make sure that you always have sufficient funds available to keep up with those payments. Some banks might charge you fees if there are no sufficient funds available for automatic payments. So ignoring this aspect might prove costly for the customer.
If you do not want automatic payments, then you can set reminders for utility and credit card payments and other types of bills. Some banks also offer demo versions of the bills payment page, so that customers get a better idea about this feature.
3) Investment Account Performance
Besides opening high yield savings accounts, checking accounts, and CDs, some banks allow their customers to open investment accounts as well. However, in many cases, customers have to log in to a separate website or app to view the performance of their portfolio.
Some banks started integrating investment accounts into their online and mobile banking applications. This has several benefits for customers.
The first obvious advantage of this approach is that people can view all or most of their financial assets, like savings, CDs, and investments on one page. Consequently, this app feature makes it much easier for customers to calculate their net worth.
Another benefit of this feature is convenience. People do not have to memorize separate usernames and passwords to take a look at their investments. Instead, they can do their portfolio analysis and bill payments at one website or mobile app.
4) Branch And ATM Locator
This is yet another handy feature banks offer their customers. The idea here is simple. People can check the location of the nearest branches and ATMs. It also shows the distance from the current location of the individual.
Indeed, people can always visit a bank website and search those locations from there. This can work for some people. However, using the branch and ATM locator is more convenient, since it shows the client’s current location and the distance. This is not the case with many bank websites.
Surprisingly, this feature can also help people to save money on fees. Some banks will charge you a fixed or percentage fee for withdrawing money from the ATM, belonging to another bank. This might seem a small sum, but over time this can add up to a considerable amount.
This app can help you to easily locate the ATM of your bank and avoid those hefty fees in the process.
5) Financial Analysis Tool
Nowadays several banks offer financial analysis tools. The actual name of this feature might vary from bank to bank. Yet, the main idea is the same: The financial analysis page lists all of the current financial assets and liabilities of the client. For example, Chase Bank offers some great tools to budget and manage your finances. Another bank that has made great progress is Wells Fargo, which offers a bunch of tools for customers.
In most cases, the list is accompanied by charts, to make it easier to visualize the financial situation.
Now the fact of the matter is that there are many paid financial analysis tools on the internet. Some of them even have large subscription fees. However, people can get this for free via a mobile banking app.
This feature makes it much easier to get a better idea about one’s financial situation. It also helps people to measure their progress towards their goals. When you see your asset column rising and debts falling, it can be very encouraging. So this makes it easier to stay motivated and remain on track.
6) Linking Bank Account To Credit Card Rewards
Most credit card companies and banks do have a separate website, which lists the rewards, customers can earn on their credit cards. However, some banks have added the credit card rewards page to the mobile banking app.
Here customers can see how they can earn points with different purchases. It also lists information about businesses, where people can earn cashback or other types of special rewards. For example, American Express even offers a fixed amount of rewards if clients spend a specific amount of money at some businesses.
On this page, people can also check their credit card points and even redeem them for different rewards.
This feature is very helpful for credit card holders. This allows them to maximize their credit card rewards and earn more points than before. In this way, people can offset some or all of the annual fees they have to pay for their particular credit card.
Finally, with some apps, on this page, people can also check the rewards of other credit cards the bank offers. This can be also handy for the decision-making process in the future.
7) Withdrawing Cash From ATM Without A Card
It can be a quite frustrating experience to approach an ATM, only to discover that you left your card at home or some other place. Luckily, some banks can offer a solution to this inconvenience.
The fact of the matter is that some financial institutions allow their customers to withdraw money from ATMs, using the mobile app, instead of standard debit or credit cards. So how this works? Well, in most cases the ATM will display a QR code and the customer has to scan this code with their phone, using the mobile banking app.
This can make cash withdrawals more convenient for people. At the same time, this makes it more difficult for thieves and fraudsters to steal your money. Yet, it is worth noting that even this type of technology cannot give a 100% guarantee that your money will never be stolen.
8) Automatic Transfers To Savings Accounts And Loan Repayment
Many people find it very difficult to save any money or repay debts. In this case, this mobile banking feature might be handy.
The fact of the matter is that many banks allow their customers to specify the amount which will be automatically transferred to the savings or money market account. For example, SoFi offers you to set up recurring vault transfers via your SoFi Savings account
Customers can modify the amount saved, as well as change the frequency of payments. This gives people additional flexibility in managing their finances.
For example, if an individual is going through a financially challenging period, then he or she might decide to reduce monthly contributions to savings. On the other hand, if a person is having some windfall or pay rise, then it might be a good time to consider increasing monthly payments.
In most cases, this feature also extends to loan products. Here people can pay down their credit card, loan, or mortgage debt. Here it is possible to make one payment or set a fixed amount of automatic payments on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.
Bottom Line
As we can see from the above examples, there are several mobile banking apps, which can be helpful for customers. Some of them focus on making banking more comfortable, like depositing checks online, or ATM locators.
At the same time, others are designed to help customers to make informed decisions and improve their financial situation in the process.
