Net banking: consumers and business owners swarm to the Internet to do their banking. It's easier than a trip to the bank, and it saves loads of time.

As the controller for Carlile Transportation Systems, Judy Eckart spends the first 15 minutes of her day pouring over her company's bank statements: checking balances, seeing what checks have cleared the bank, which new deposits have come in.

Sound like a chore? It's not. This daily routine saves Eckart and an assistant countless hours when it's time to close the books at the end of the month--no more scrounging up old receipts or long-lost paperwork. And, she said, her company saves about $1,500 a month in what used to go toward banking fees.

And she's finished before most bank tellers have traded their bunny slippers for business shoes. Eckart does all her banking in her office, simply by turning on her computer and logging on to KeyBank's Web site.

Carlile has joined the growing millions of businesses and consumers who choose to let cars rest while they take a trip to the bank through the Internet. Online business banking has soared in popularity in a relatively short time. According to statistics provided by S-1 Corp., which provides software and similar services to financial institutions, of roughly 11.5 million active business bank accounts in the U.S., about 33 percent do at least part of their banking online, up from 12 percent in 1998. And, experts believe, that number will continue to climb as people become more familiar and more comfortable with the Internet and its security features.

"Internet banking is not a choice for banks anymore," said Barbara Brock, who's in charge of Alaska First Bank and Trust's Web page. "At first banks thought this was a passing fancy, but people want this."

The ability to use a computer for banking has been around since the mid-1980s. But it was a tedious, slow process, said Paul Ayres, senior vice president and manager of KeyBank's online services. It wasn't until the Internet became widely available did the average consumer begin to toy with the idea of doing business online.

A full two-thirds of today's households have a computer, as do most businesses across the nation. Lives are busier now and people have grown to expect any service to be fast, reliable, safe and convenient, Ayres said.

"We put an awful lot into trying to mask the complicated things on our Web page so it would be transparent to the customer," he said. "People have special expectations for what they want from banking online and they don't explore much to find other things. It's not like how they surf around on the Net."

But while consumers and business owners may realize online banking is there, some may be surprised by how much is available.

The services banks offer vary, but nearly every bank in Alaska offers cash management services, where customers get online, check balances and see what money has come and gone. Some banks allow customers to download this information into accounting software such as QuickBooks or Microsoft Money. Often, customers also can transfer money between accounts, make loan or credit card payments, stop payment on wayward checks and even order new checks. This service also helps increase internal security, allowing customers to almost immediately spot fraud or embezzlement.

Most cash management services are free.

While business owners seem increasingly comfortable with online cash management, many are still a bit weary of other available electronic services. But things like direct deposit, bill pay and federal tax payments also can save time and money while still offering the same level of security as other business transactions.

Direct deposit is one of the fastest growing electronic banking services available. For the last few years, Alaskans have had the option of having their Permanent Fund Dividend checks paid directly into their accounts. Payroll can be paid in a similar manner.

For most businesses, the largest number of checks goes toward payroll. With direct deposit, there are fewer checks to buy, to write and to keep track of.

Jana Phelps can't say enough about direct deposit. She works for Payroll Connection, which contracts with businesses to provide payroll services. Using First Bank's Web site, Phelps shaves off up to 30 minutes a pay period for those customers who use direct deposit. There's less paperwork to wade through and employees still get pay stubs so they have a record of their pay, taxes and leave time.

Banks generally charge businesses a small fee for payroll direct deposit, but often it's comparable to buying a stamp.

Phelps said she handles about 145 direct deposits for her clients every month. But she'd like to see more, adding that only 10 of her roughly 50 clients currently take advantage of direct deposit.

"I think some people are scared of the direct deposit system. I don't know why," she said. "They like having that check in their hand. But it's a lot easier, a lot safer and it's way faster."

And employees like it. Alaska USA Federal Credit Union reports it takes in about $240 million a month in direct deposits.

THE JURY IS OUT

While people like to get their money though Internet transfers and watch over it online, they don't always use the same methods to dole it out. A widely available service that business owners and consumers have yet to fully embrace is the ability to pay bills online. Financial institutions have offered bill pay for a couple of years, but consumers have found it doesn't always make sense to use it.

It's a given that utility and credit card bills, for example, will have to be paid at the same time every month. But few utility or credit card companies around the nation have taken steps to accept online transfers. When a customer signs on to bill pay, the money is taken out of his account electronically, but a bill pay vendor often has to cut a check in the customer's name to pay the balance due. It then goes to the company through the postal system. Most banks offer bill pay and fees for bill pay vary greatly. Bill pay also is available from nonbanking sources, such as on the Web sites of the U.S. Postal Service and search engines like msn.com or Yahoo. Costs range from a flat fee for a set number of bills to a specific fee per bill.

Wireless banking also seems to be a service people aren't ready for. Key-Bank recently ran tests to offer services through cellphones and handheld computers. There was no charge for the service, but only about 1,000 people signed up, Ayres said.

"It was too early," he said. "There's just not enough information available on that little screen and people didn't want to go though the exercise to use it. My take on that is that wireless is a solution looking for a problem to fix."

Wells Fargo, which was the first to offer Internet banking to the nation, currently is running a test of its own to see if customers will use wireless banking. But early indications didn't look good, said Debra Rossi, executive vice president of business Internet services.

SECURE SOURCE

Bank owners and their Web masters insist they wouldn't offer Internet services if they weren't sure it was safe and secure. The industry constantly works to update security measures.

"We're doing a lot more checking than when you call into a mail order catalog," Rossi said.

With each transaction, bank sites run a variety of security checks aimed at stopping those that don't add up, for example, matching the credit card number with the holder's name, address and password. And the industry hires experts whose main job is to try to break into these systems so weaknesses can be eliminated.

If the bank isn't sure of the security, they say the customer won't get the service until it is. That assurance is part of what took First National Bank Alaska so long to offer online transactions, said Alan Dablemont, vice president of deposit services there.

First National has only offered business banking since April and for only a year for personal customers. The company worked on getting the site for about two years, however.

"We were making sure everything there was what we wanted and it was secure," Dablemont said. "We wanted to know that things were automated and that it was a seamless integration."

Craig Dahl, president of Alaska Pacific Bank, said his institution brought e-banking online a bit later than most, too--in January 2000 for personal and last year for business. But he wanted to ensure the security and that the service was something their customers would use.

"Unlike the consumer product, the commercial service had an automatic mass appeal," he said. "We haven't really had to sell the product so much as make it available."

But don't expect Internet banking to replace the branch on the corner, as was touted during the early days of e-banking, ATMs and phone services.

"I haven't found a computer yet that has completely replaced people," said Gary Roth, president of Denali State Bank. "We've put in Internet banking to help our customers, but we still want people to come into our lobbies."

The bottom line is that it's worth taking a look at your bank's Web page, even if you're not comfortable with the computer. In addition to transactional services, many bank sites offer great resources for running a business and handling finances.

Northrim, for example, has available information on how to plan for retirement or putting the kids through college, and offers calculators to help figure out how to get where you want to be financially when you want to be there.

The site also offers links for business advice, such as how to write a business plan or how to complete financial statements.

Financial institutions see their Web pages as another service for their customers; they certainly don't offer online banking for the money. Costs for the initial Web site, its maintenance and security measures are high.

"It's a good product, but it does have to be managed," Dahl said, "and it's not an inexpensive product. It's one of the larger budget items and you can't afford to ignore it to stay competitive."