What are automatic deposits and how can I set them up?
Do you know someone who seems to have everything together? Who seems to breeze through life without a care?
They’re the worst, aren’t they?
But here’s the secret: People who seem to have it all put together don’t do it all on their own. They have all sorts of people behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly.
The good news for you: As an OCCU member, you have the tools and a team of people working for you to make sure things go smoothly … at least as far as your finances are concerned.
If you want to get yourself together financially — save time, save money and feel secure — we have three words for you:
Automate your banking.
When you automate your banking — like setting up automatic deposits and scheduling your bill payments — you can rest easy knowing your money is moving as it should, and enjoy some newly found free time.
What are automatic deposits?
Automatic deposits are a convenient and time-saving way to manage your money. By scheduling deposits to go straight from your checking account into, say, a high-yield savings account, you can save your money before you have a chance to spend it.
If that money is tucked away in a savings account or CD, it creates another step to gain access to it — and you’re doing your future self a favor.
Our Change Jar program also falls under this category. We’ll round up every purchase you make with your OCCU debit card and place the difference into the savings account of your choice.
Then there’s direct deposit, which is how many people get paid these days. The payer — your employer, for example, or your client — issues a payment electronically, and it’s automatically deposited into the account of your choice. There’s no need to go into the office to pick up your check or stop by a branch to deposit it.
We miss seeing your smiling face, but we save you time and hassle, so that seems like a decent trade-off, right?
Can I automate my payments, too?
Absolutely. You can schedule one-time and recurring payments from your OCCU accounts to ensure your bills are paid on time using the Bill Pay tool on MyOCCU Online & Mobile or by visiting your nearest branch.
How do I get started?
Automating your finances is easy. And this little effort upfront will benefit you greatly down the road.
Deposits
By using MyOCCU Online & Mobile, you can transfer funds between your accounts, to other OCCU members and to external accounts. When you go to the Transfers tab, you’ll find all your OCCU accounts listed, as well as any external accounts you may have added.
Make a single transfer under the Quick tab, or go to Classic for more options, including scheduling your money moves.
The Scheduled tab allows you to see all the deposits and transfers you have scheduled within your account.
A convenient way to enhance and prioritize your savings is the Savings Goals tool. You can establish different savings goals, like “Emergency Fund” or “Vacation,” and then make automatic deposits into them.
We can also help you arrange these transfers offline when you give us a call or visit your nearest branch.
If you want to participate in our Change Jar program and automatically round up every OCCU debit card purchase and save the change:
Payments
Using MyOCCU Online and Mobile, you can schedule payments for your monthly bills using the Bill Pay tab. To start, you’ll be prompted to add a payee, identify whether that payee is a business or a person, fill out the additional fields and verify your identity.
Once that’s completed, you can schedule and customize your payments, including frequency and setting an end date. You can find detailed instructions on this process here.
We can also help you set up automatic payments offline, when you visit your nearest branch. You’ll need your banking info (which we can certainly help you with), as well as that of the person you wish to transfer money to. After filling out a simple form, you can schedule one-time or monthly payments as needed.
Manage your money with ease
If you’re setting out to automate all your payments and deposits, it might take a little effort to cover all your bases. But once it’s done, you can relax, knowing your bills are being paid on time and that your savings account is growing with no further effort on your part.
Don’t wait, automate!
