Ken Sheldon
Much as vendors of imaging and electronic-forms software want to create the paperless office, developers of personal-finance software are introducing on-line services that let you handle financial transactions without paper. These electronic links have many benefits for consumers: faster and more accurate data entry, PC-based transaction verification and funds transfers, and the ability to download data like current stock prices.
Quicken, the personal-finance program from Intuit (Menlo Park, CA), has a feature called IntelliCharge that, when used in conjunction with a special Visa card, lets you eliminate data entry by downloading transactions directly into Quicken. Money, from Microsoft (Redmond, WA), offers a similar feature for statements i
ssued by a few select banks. Both programs also let you pay your bills electronically.
Microsoft and Intuit, which recently announced plans to merge, say they want to broaden the electronic-commerce services they will offer their customers. But both companies also admit that only a small percentage of their current customer base takes advantage of these features. Software developers and financial institutions must overcome hurdles that are both cultural and practical.
``Electronic banking is a ship that's been coming in for a long time,'' says Tom Smith, a certified financial planner and moderator of the financial conference on BIX, an on-line service. ``People that don't use computers are afraid of them, and the people that do use computers know that they can break. If you aren't consistently backing up and your hard drive freezes [with all your electronic bank statements], that's not a very good feeling.''
Smith says there are other practical reasons why users haven't yet eagerly embrac
ed electronic banking. Electronic bank statements do not include the canceled check, which can be needed as a backup. ``The average ATM is capable of much more than just dispensing cash,'' Smith notes. ``But many people don't trust it for after-hours bank deposits.'' Smith says ATMs are analogous to electronic banking. ``There is something about having all of those tangibles under your control that automated systems may never be able to address.''
Another problem is that electronic statements are not universally provided by banks. To address that problem, Microsoft and Intuit are actively recruiting banks to do so. Matt Glickman, product manager of Quicken for Windows, says the company plans to offer a wide variety of electronic services. Says Glickman, ``We're putting all the building blocks in place so that we can deliver these services at a cost that people will want to use them.''
Still, vendors acknowledge that widespread acceptance of electronic financial services is not imminent. ``I thin
k we're at the start of a many-year task toward automating financial services for individuals,'' says Glickman. ``But there's no question that in the long term it saves people money and time and hassle.''
Electronic Banking Faces Numerous Hurdles
