Citibank ATMs are more secure than I thought
November 6, 2007
Every time I use an ATM, I always have this almost irrational need to position myself in such a way that people behind me can’t see the screen. With a screen that shows all of the accounts to pick from, with the account numbers and account balances for each, and because all the savings accounts have between three and four digit balances, it’s always seemed wise to try and keep the screen covered up. Of course I look like a twitchy spaz when there’s more than one person behind me, and even worse when the people waiting are spread out to the right and left of me. I’m sure I make them nervous with the neurotic glances over my shoulder and such.
BoyDucky went with me to the ATM yesterday and noticed something, “You know, I’m standing right next to you and can’t see anything.” Intrigued, I looked at the screen from his angle: nothing. I looked at it from the opposite angle: still nothing! Wow, I’ve been a total dork at the ATM this whole time for nothing!
Then, he experimentally leaned over: “I can’t see anything from this angle … this angle … not unless I’m looking straight on … ” at which point he caught sight of my Expenses account balance: “and just from that one second, I can see you have FIVE TIMES more money in your checking account than I do!” *chagrin*
LOL, silly BoyDucky, that’s not my checking account, that’s my Expenses account for the year. I have $13 in checking; I’d never keep that much money in my checking account, it earns so little interest!
He takes this as proof that I’m a better money manager than he. If I am, it’s because I know better than to keep a lot of money in a low-interest bearing account, not because I have much 🙂
My ING checking account earns around 4 to 4.5% interest, so we don’t worry quite as much if we keep a couple thousand in there to cover expenses. Gotta’ love interest.
~Bart~ You know, I’d considered using the Electric Orange account but just haven’t had time to research it. Is it really as convenient as it seems, not having to deal with paper checks? I’ve still got a ton for my WAMU account, but maybe it’s worth another look.
It’s a little bit of an inconvenience to not have paper checks with ING. That’s one of the main reasons we still have our WAMU checking account with a few hundred dollars in case we need to write a check on the spot.
But we pay all of our bills either by automatic credit card payments or Electric Orange Online Bill-Pay., and it’s easy to transfer money from ING to WAMU if the need arises.
We just found that we were leaving a few thousand dollars in our checking account most of the time for monthly expenses, and with ING, we’re making a few dollars of interest without having to switch it back and forth from checking to savings. The interest isn’t a lot of money, but we’ll take it.