How Safe is it to Use Your Bank Account Number Online?

There are still many people that feel using online banking is not secure when it comes to using their account number. However, you might want to rethink this because in many ways online banking can keep your account number from fewer eyes than if you use paper checks, which is typically the norm with ground-based banks.

Paper Checks – Not as Secure as You Thought

Since you probably have used paper checks for many years, you have a false sense of security that your account number is safe. Think for a moment about the various pieces of information on your paper check: your address, name, bank account number, and routing number. This means that whoever you hand this paper check to has a lot of information about you, but it doesn't stop with them, the check has to be processed and it will pass through many hands.

Online Banking and Bill Pay

Even when you enter your online bank account and your account number is displayed, you are on a secure website, which means that your information cannot be passed to anyone over the Internet. Moreover, if you use bill pay with your bank to make your payment is printed on a check and sent to the recipient, but it includes your name, your bank address, and it uses an account number and routing number that are different from your actual account numbers. This means forging is very difficult with these types of checks.

Before you make up your mind that online banking is not secure or that using your check account number will somehow be seen by others, think about how much information you give to someone by handing them a paper check.