At Osoyoos Credit Union, we often talk about how digital solutions can improve our financial institution services. More specifically, our team discusses how digital banking can enhance our members’ user experience with our financial institution.
If you are a regular credit union member, online shopper, tech-savvy person or have taken out a loan, you may have heard the term digital banking. Interestingly, most people have a different take on what digital banking is. There is a lot more to digital banking than just a few features that we can see on the surface.
What is Digital Banking?
Digital banking is the digitization (or moving online) of all the traditional banking activities and programs that historically were only available to members when physically inside of a financial institution. This includes activities like:
- Deposits, Withdrawals, and Transfers (Personal, Business, or Community Accounts)
- Chequing/Saving Account Management
- E-transfers
- Paying Bills
- Account Services
Osoyoos Credit Union provides services for all the activities mentioned above and we encourage our members to take full advantage of the digital banking feature of each one of these services.
We love seeing our members face to face, but our digital feature makes banking more convenient and accessible for our clients; for example, you don’t need to worry about the hassle of coming into a financial institution to pay your bills if you’re too sick or travelling abroad. Instead, with digital banking, you can pay your bills from the comfort of wherever you are.
If you feel overwhelmed by digital banking and technology in general—that’s okay! Our team can patiently assist you with any online inquiries or concerns you may have.
Advantages of Digital Banking
With the advancement of technology, many people prefer to do everything online. Our digital banking services offer many comfortable features and possibilities to OCU members regardless of where they are in the world. The advantages mentioned below highlight how digital banking has helped our members.
Digital Banking is Much Easier
Our online banking feature provides you with the luxury to access banking anytime and anywhere. Throughout the year, our website and online banking services are offered round the clock except for during website maintenance (which we aim to notify our members about beforehand).
After you log in to your online banking account, you can see the summary of your real-time bank transactions. Online banking allows you to view, access and use your bank account at any time. Even if you want to make some payments, change your mailing address, or contact details, all that you need to do is click on a few pages and follow a few steps.
This process is made even easier with help from our credit union experts who are always happy to help.
Advanced Financial Institution Options
We offer several advanced digitized banking features. For example, our website contains loan calculators, premium calculators, financial planning tools, tools to help analyze investments, budgeting, forecasting, and tax preparation.
These features help our members keep alert with many different features in an effortless way. As a result, most of the financial planning can be done efficiently without the need to personally visit a financial institution.
Mobile Banking Options
Our mobile banking app allows for online banking to occur from anywhere. This can be particularly useful especially if you’re in a rush to transfer funds.
Ever been notified that you have insufficient funds in your chequing account while standing at the grocery checkout? In this case, there’s no need to leave your bag of groceries at the till while you run to your financial institution or to your car to grab cash—instead, you can easily transfer funds using our mobile app (on your phone).
Or, in the situation that you’re a student studying at the library and realize your rent is overdue, open up your laptop, head to the online banking feature on our website, login, and transfer the funds to your disgruntled landlord.
Along with the benefits mentioned above, online banking is also an eco-friendly option. With the help of digital banking, a lot of paper is saved and less gas is used to get to and from your credit union.
Highly Beneficial Option for Business Accounts
Many businesses have built their brands and are thriving because of digital banking. If we did not have the luxury of online banking, businesses like Amazon and eBay may not be in existence today. However, now that businesses can enable the online payment option, every process that follows is much simpler.
Through our digital banking feature, you can see your business’s banking activities such as deposits, wiring of funds, e-transfers, bank checks, etc. So rather than waiting for monthly statements, you can instantly make a financial decision for your business when needed; this proactive approach can benefit your business in the long run. Also, any financial errors and delays can be quickly sorted out before there’s any negative impact on your business.
Increased Productivity in Business
With the help of our digital banking feature, businesses no longer have to rely on our operation hours. Payments can be made and received even during the oddest times of the day. There are also some processes like paying bills or making regular payments that can be automated in the digital banking platform. As a result, businesses are able to save a lot of time on the traditional manual processes of transferring funds; as a result, this improves business productivity.
Efficient Transfer of Payments
We recognize that one of the most important things for businesses is time, and so our digital banking feature allows business owners to seamlessly deposit or transfer funds to their employees’ financial accounts without a huge time commitment.
What is the Difference Between Online and Digital Banking?
For the most part, these two words have the same meaning. However, we define online banking a bit more narrowly: online banking primarily focuses on remote deposits, money transfers, bill payments, and basic online management of accounts.
Other synonyms for online banking include internet banking, virtual banking, and e-banking. So, online banking focuses on digitizing the core aspects of banking, but digital banking encompasses digitizing every program and activity undertaken by financial institutions and their members.
Digital Banking Services at Osoyoos Credit Union
Whether you’re looking to apply for a loan or open up a personal, business and/or community account with our financial institution, all of our services have a digital banking feature.
We also understand that technology can be frustrating and so our team is available to answer any questions you may have about navigating our website or any other online features.