With so much of today's interactions being online, you can now open an account online as well. The steps for opening an account online are similar to the steps for opening an account in person. Banking online allows you to do many of your transactions digitally. Not having to visit a bank branch as often makes online banking very convenient.
When applying for an account online, you will need to give specific information to the bank for the process. What information do you think you will need to provide? In the activity below, click each row to reveal all the information needed to open an account online.
Name, date of birth, Social Security number, and government ID number
Home address, phone number, and email address
Your current credit or debit card number or your current checking account routing and account numbers
Your actual signature or e-signature for signing documents and verifying checks
Sounds easy enough, right? For the most part it is, but it is possible that you will face some challenges when trying to open an account online. Here are some of them:
- not having enough of a credit history
- being under 18 years old
- having a bad checking account history
- not being a U.S. citizen
- opening anything other than a personal checking account (i.e., business or trust account)
Now that you know the information you need to open a checking account online as well as some of the possible challenges you might face, think about the following question:
Question
What should you do if you run into a challenge that prevents you from opening a checking account online?
The first thing to do is contact the bank. It's best to go into a branch of the bank and try to open the account in person if the online system is not working for you.
