FNBO Direct originally challenged a group of five people to pay themselves first and the president of FNBO Direct is now expanding the challenge to Americans at large.

FNBO Direct Pay Yourself First

I think it’s great that FNBO Direct is encouraging people to save more money and to pay themselves first.  Here is how they describe it:

“You pay your bills every month, maybe even through automatically scheduled payments. However, there might be someone you’re forgetting to pay – yourself. Paying yourself first is an important step toward a more secure financial future.”

Certainly it’s not a new concept but FNBO Direct reminds us that if we direct deposit money into our savings account before we use our paycheck to pay our mortgage, credit cards, and other monthly bills then we’re more likely to save some of it instead of spend it all.

Savings Challenge

I think that we as a country are saving more of our money now that the last few years have reminded us of how uncertain our financial situation can be. 

Financial experts were telling us we needed to save more and use credit less back five years ago but not many people listened.  Unfortunately it’s taken a major financial downturn to remind us of some basic rules of personal finance, such as:

• Spend Less than You Earn
• Save & Invest to Leverage Compound Growth
• Diversify Your Savings & Investments
• Build an Emergency Fund for Rainy Days (Years)

Now that times are tough many people have less money to put towards paying themselves first.  Understandably if you lost your job your primary concern is paying your mortgage or rent each month.  However, for those of us fortunate enough to have missed the job cuts it’s not a bad idea to automatically put aside some money each month to help save for whatever our economic future holds.

FNBO Direct mentioned their online savings account as an easy method of “going green” in their latest email newsletter.

I guess I’d never thought of online banking as being good for the environment before but it makes sense that electronic delivery of bank statements helps to cut down on paper waste. Here’s a statistic they quoted in their newsletter:

“If every U.S. household stopped receiving paper bills and statements, 687,000 tons of paper would be saved every year, enough to circle the Earth 239 times.”

They also pointed out that using online bill pay, whether through FNBO Direct or any other service, helps to cut down on the number of paper bills and checks each month.

Another obvious environmental savings from online banking is that you don’t have to drive to your local branch for deposits and or withdrawals (FNBO Direct ATM).

Of course, there is certainly energy required to fuel the servers that make the online banking system and document storage run but I was impressed to read that the data center for First National Bank of Omaha is powered by fuel cell technology.

Online banking with FNBO Direct, ING Direct, or any other online bank certainly isn’t going to save the world, but combined with other small changes, like being environmentally friendly at work, it can make a difference.

As an FNBO Direct online banking customer, I get regular emails about their product and services and got one yesterday about thier online bill pay service.  I’ve been using a third party online bill pay service for years and absolutely love how much time it saves me; I literally spend only 10 minutes a month checking on and paying all our bills online.

Online Bill Pay and Interest

One of the things that’s not great about my current bill pay system is that it’s linked to one of our checking accounts so we usually have a big chunk of money sitting there waiting to pay bills and not earning interest each month.  That’s why the email below from FNBO Direct caught my eye, it would be nice to have that money in a high yield savings account and quickly accessible to transfer over when I needed it to pay bills.

Here is what they have to say about their online billpay service:

FNBO Direct Online Bill Pay

Direct deposit your paycheck into your FNBO Direct Online Savings Account. When bills are due simply transfer just what you need from savings to your FNBO Direct Online BillPay account. Whatever’s left over – whether it’s $25 or $500 – stays in your OSA and earns an interest rate that is higher than traditional saving accounts.

Adding a BillPay:

* Log into your FNBO Direct account.
* Click the “BillPay” tab.
* Choose the “Apply” button and proceed to fill out the application.

Setting Up Direct Deposit:

* Contact your Human Resources Department
* Provide them with your FNBO Direct Account number located on your online statement. To access your online statement login to your FNBO Direct account. The click on the View Statement button on the Account Detail page and choose the Save button in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
* Provide them with FNBO Direct’s routing number: 104000016

Timeframe
Transactions successfully requested by Midnight Central time will be credited to the destination account you selected within three business days.

If you’re interested in an FNBO Direct online savings account, and would like to try it out – Click Here.