There are some people that do worry a lot about bank security. They may rather deal in a branch face to face as they worry that any other form of banking may not be secure. However, as local branches are closing and more accounts are moving to only being able to be dealt with online or over the telephone then there are many of us that will have to change even if we do not want to. It is good to have some concern about security with regards to these methods but it is also good to realise that there are things that you can do which will mean that you will be more protected so the security of what you are doing will be better. So if you are telephone banking be aware of the following:

Only Call a Number you are Sure is Your Bank

It is a shame, but there are people out there who try to con us and pretend to be our bank that are not and they get our bank details so that they can steal our money. This can put a lot of people off telephone banking but there are lots of things that you can do to protect yourself from this sort of thing. The first is to make sure that when you are phoning your bank that you are completely sure it is them. If you get the number from their website, make sure that it really is their website. Type in the web address yourself rather than going through a link in a search engine which could be incorrect. Otherwise get a number off a leaflet or letter that you have from the bank and then you can be totally sure that you are going through to the right place.

Never Give Details to Someone that Calls You

A bank should never call you and ask you to give your bank details over the phone. If they need to get in touch with you, they should leave you a message and ask you to call them. So, if anyone calls, hang up and call the bank back to see if it was them and use a number, as above, that you are sure will work. Never give any details unless you have called them, even if you think it is the bank, because you can never be totally sure.

Only Make a Call When you are not Being Overheard

It is important to also make sure that no one overhears you when you are making a call to a bank. You will find that you will be asked to give details such as your security passwords etc, although this be done differently by different by different banks. Make sure that you are not overheard by anyone when you do this. It is better to do it from home, rather than when you are out and about as someone could easily listen to your conversation and then get your bank details.

Keep Your passwords Really Safe

It can be really hard to remember all of the passwords that we use for the different things and therefore many people will write them down. While this can be handy, we do need to be extremely careful about what we do with them. The best thing to do is to keep them locked in a safe or drawer somewhere so that only you can access them. Never keep them in the same place as your bank cards or statements so that your account details are not with them, as you normally have to provide both bits of information over the phone.