Know These Safety Tips Before Shopping Online

Home Blog Know These Safety Tips Before Shopping Online

Posted On: July 22, 2020 by Peoples Bank of Kankakee County in: Cybersecurity Personal Finances

As fun and entertaining as online shopping is, there are many things to consider in terms of safety. Websites that may look real could be scams, products that look great could be knockoffs, and stores you think are reliable could take advantage of your card information. Keep reading to find out how to stay safe online while you’re shopping.

Be Wary of Free Trials

As you’ve heard before, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. These free subscriptions or trials are usually no good! Normally, these free trials expire and end up charging your card for the next month or rest of the year. While we suggest avoiding these types of offers, if you think the purchase is a must-have, we recommend using a prepaid card and use that for the purchase to avoid your real debit card from being charged again in the future.

Read Customer Reviews

One of the greatest parts about online shopping is reading about others’ experiences with the company or product so you know what to expect. One easy way to see if a product is reliable is to scroll down to the reviews section and see what other customers had to say. Be careful, though, as some customer reviews could be spam placed there for potential customers to be tricked into buying the product they have their eye on.

Make Sure the Website is Secure

This simple double-check could save you lots of trouble while online shopping. Simply take a look at the URL of the website you’re shopping on to see if it’s secure. If it starts with “https” instead of “http,” that means the website will keep your data secure. This is very important since you want the card information you’re entering to be safe.

Avoid Public Wi-Fi

Your personal Wi-Fi or data is the smartest option when online shopping. Public Wi-Fi comes with its dangers since cybercriminals that are using the same network as you can hack into your information much easier. While browsing and shopping around using a public network isn’t harmful, don’t make any purchases until you’re connected to your own secure Wi-Fi.

Do Some Research

This is especially important when shopping from a business you’ve never purchased from before. It's smart to do some research about the retailer so you know they’re legitimate. If you’re shopping on a well-known company’s website, double check the link to make sure you’re on the real website and not a fake one.

Now that you know how important it is to stay safe online, you’ll be able to implement these tips next time you shop. Stay smart with your online purchases and feel free to contact us with any questions. Happy shopping!

An overdraft occurs when you do not have enough money in your account to cover a transaction, but we pay it anyway. We can cover your overdrafts in two different ways:

We have standard overdraft practices that are available after your account has been open for 30 days and as long as you maintain your account in good standing.
We also offer an overdraft protection plan, Overdraft Protection Sweep, a link to a savings account. It may be less expensive than our standard overdraft practices. To learn more, ask us about this plan.

This notice explains our standard overdraft practices.

What are the standard overdraft practices that come with my account?

After your account has been open for 30 days and as long as you maintain your account in good standing, we do authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions:

Checks and other transactions made using your checking account number
Automatic bill payments

We do not authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions unless you ask us to (see below):

ATM transactions
Everyday debit card transactions

We pay overdrafts at our discretion, which means we do not guarantee that we will always authorize and pay any type of transaction.

If we do not authorize and pay an overdraft, your transaction will be declined.

What fees will I be charged if Peoples Bank of Kankakee County pays my overdraft?

Under our standard overdraft practices:

We will charge you a fee of up to $30 each time we pay an overdraft.
The maximum daily overdraft fee per presentment or item paid using the Overdraft Reserve Program is $150.00 per day.
No per item handling fee will be charged on de minimis overdrafts. De minimis overdraft for this policy means transactions that overdraw your account by $30 or less.
There is an overdraft fee of $5 per day that will be charged beginning the 4th consecutive business day your account is overdrawn.

Nonsufficient funds (NSF) fees - if an item drafted by you (such as a check) or a transaction you set up (such as a preauthorized transfer) is presented for payment in an amount that is more than the amount of money in your account and we decide not to pay the item or transaction, you agree that we can charge you an NSF fee for returning the payment. Be aware that such an item or payment may be presented multiple times by the merchant or other payee until it is paid, and that we do not monitor or control the number of times a transaction is presented for payment. You agree that we may charge you an NSF fee each time a payment is presented if the amount of money in your account is not sufficient to cover the payment, regardless of the number of times the payment is presented.

PAYMENT ORDER OF ITEMS - The law permits us to pay items drawn on your account in any order (for purposes of this section "items" means checks, orders and electronic transactions). To assist you in handling your account with us, we are providing you with the following information regarding how we process those items. When processing checks and orders drawn on your account our policy is to pay lower numbered checks and orders in numerical sequence, but electronic transactions are paid first in the order received. The order in which items are paid is important if there is not enough money in your account to pay all of the items that are presented. There is no policy that is favorable in every instance. If the smallest items are paid first, you may have fewer NSF or overdraft fees, but the largest, and perhaps more important items (such as rent or mortgage payments) might not be paid. However, if the largest items are paid first, your most important items might be paid but it may increase the overdraft or NSF fees if funds are not available to pay all of the items. We think our policy attains a reasonable balance between minimizing additional costs to you and paying your more important items. We encourage you to make careful records and practice good account management. This will help you to avoid creating items without sufficient funds and incurring the resulting fees.

What if I want Peoples Bank of Kankakee County to authorize and pay overdrafts on my ATM and everyday debit card transactions?

If you also want us to authorize and pay overdrafts on ATM and everyday debit card transactions after your account has been open for 30 days, you may opt in.

You have an ongoing right to change this consent at any time. If your overdraft privilege has been revoked for any reason, the opt-in or opt-out selection may not apply. Please contact your nearest office for more information.

Alternate ways to Opt In/Out or make changes:

By Phone. Our Customer Care Representatives can be reached at 815-936-7600.
By Mail. Peoples Bank of Kankakee County, 333 E. Court Street, Kankakee, IL 60901
In Person. Please visit your local office and ask a representative to help you decide which plan is best for you.