While there are few areas of business that the internet has not touched in some way, the financial sector has benefited more than most from the internet super highway. However, while there are many savings to be made by missing out the “middle man†there are some areas when “savings†are perhaps not as large as advertised.
One of the main downsides to the internet revolution is the lack of personal contact with third parties whom you may be dealing with. While many would argue that this has it plus points (which it does), it has also opened up the internet - and most importantly customers - to fraudulent activity. Many internet frauds have been active for months before actually being noticed, and it takes even longer to alert customers and close the sites down.
While many have mocked the promotion of “Green†issues designed to help the environment and improve standards of living, does “Going Green†really equate to massive savings for the consumer?
It has emerged that the debacle which is Home Information Packs (HIPs) may have had more of an impact upon the housing market than first thought. Data from the last two months has shown an unexplained rise in the number of homes for sale, against historic trends and totally unexpected. Did the HIPs situation play a part?
While the UK continues to be one of the more buoyant internet markets in the world, with internet usage higher than even the likes of the US, you have to ask the question “Are you making the most of online finance?â€. The answer for many UK surfers is probably no, but why is this?
There are a few reasons why surfers may not be making full use of the internet superhighway, but some of the main ones appear to be :-
Saturday saw millions of Royal Bank of Scotland customers unable to withdraw money from cash points due to a technical difficulty with the banks withdrawal system. While these things can happen, the most worrying element to this particular episode was the fact the Royal Bank were unable to pin point the problem - leaving many wondering if their personal detail were safe.
