The number of people who turn to the Internet for personal banking isn't growing--but those who are already hooked on such services are using them more often, a new survey has shown.
The percentage of Americans who conduct personal banking activities online has stagnated at 39 percent in the 12-month period ending August 2005, Ipsos Insight said in a study released Tuesday.
The research firm, which interviewed 1,000 American adults for the study, found that many consumers were worried that their personal information could either be stolen by hackers and phishers or sold to third parties by banks. Nearly 83 percent of those who conduct banking online reported such concerns, while 73 percent of respondents said personal information theft is a deterrent for them.
Interesting. I was talking some months ago with someone in a Toastmasters group who works for a bank and is heavily involved in identity theft protection and apparently there have been far more examples of personal identity theft caused by thieves stealing outgoing [snail] mail from people's mailboxes than hacking into online banking sites, and "Dumpster diving" tends to produce more identity theft incidents than anything online. As for banks selling personal information to a third-party--what makes anyone think that only online banking customers would get this treatment?
Not that I care one way or the other what anyone does vis-a-vis their own banking, but it does point out the odd approach to risk assessment that people can have. And I have to admit, in my own case, online banking is far less annoying than any other kind of banking.
No comments:
Post a Comment