ONLINE GIVING…AS EASY AS ONE, TWO, THREE
Almost every bank today offers its customers the ability to view their current account balances, account statements, transfer funds and pay bills online over the internet. If you are like me, you may already be using your bank’s online banking interface for budgeting and paying monthly bills. But did you know that you can also use that same functionality to send your weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual offering contributions to Reformation?
One…To get started (if you don’t already have online access to your checking account) you must ask your bank to create an online account for you, which is easily done by visiting your local branch. You will need to have a unique user name (sometimes you can use your everyday email address) and a password. Remember to use a combination of numbers, upper-case and lower-case letters and special characters in your password to strengthen its effectiveness. You may also have to pick and answer some basic security questions (i.e., in what town were you born?), which you will be prompted to answer if you ever forget your password and need to reset it.
Two…Log-in to your bank’s online banking interface on the internet using your new and unique username and strong password. Your bank can supply you with the web address (i.e., the URL) for the log-in page for the online banking interface or you can use Google and search for it.
Three…Visit the online bill paying window or tab in your bank’s online banking portal. The first time that you do this, you will probably be prompted to enter some basic information about Reformation, including the church’s address (102 W. Rose Tree Road, Media, Pennsylvania 19063) and your particular offering envelope number (for the “account number” if requested by the bank). Enter the specific dollar amount that you want to send and choose how frequently you want that amount to be sent to Reformation, and click “apply.” That’s it. As easy as 1-2-3!
Here is a partial list of the advantages of using online banking for your offering pledge payments to Reformation:
- You’ll never have to write another check to make your offering to Reformation.
- You control when and how frequently payments are sent to Reformation. If you need to delay a payment because cash is tight, no problem…just log-in and adjust when the funds are sent from your account.
- “Set it and forget it.” No need to remember to make your payment, your bank will handle it all for you so that payments will be sent on the dates and in the amounts that you input when you set up the automatic payment…even when you are out of town or cannot get to church because of bad weather!
- No need to specify how much of your payment is for the General Fund, Building Fund and Alina Appeal, as the Financial Secretary will automatically allocate your payment according to the allocation that you indicated on your pledge card for the year.
You can adjust your payment anytime and anywhere from any computer with an internet connection.
It’s as easy as 1-2-3 to set up…
Please feel free to contact John Pritchard or any member of the Finance Ministry if you have any questions or would like some assistance setting up online bill paying for your Reformation offering payments.