We live very busy lives today and so for those of us who take advantage of it, online banking can be one of the great time-savers in our daily routine. Nearly every bank now offers online banking, some with more functionality than others. If you’re not taking advantage of it, you’re definitely losing both time and money.

The two greatest boons you’ll see from the best online banking are time savings and, in many cases, higher interest rates. Let’s look at these two money savers.

You will obviously save a lot of time when you use online banking since it means you don’t have to make the trip to your local bank branch or schedule your day in order to work in that trip. You may also save money since you can do balance transfers, deposit monitoring, and other things without an ATM using just your Internet connection.

You’ll also save time waiting on the phone for a representative to talk to just to make a balance inquiry or a transfer request. In fact, since most online banking also includes mobile banking, you can do a lot of your banking on the go from your mobile phone as well.

All of this means you’re saving time. Time is not just money, but it’s the one commodity that all of us have a limited supply of. There are only 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week. Wouldn’t you rather spend the time wasted visiting your local bank branch just to check on accounts or open a new CD with your family?

Saving time is one thing, but if it doesn’t save you money, you’re only halfway ahead. You can save money with online banking in several ways. The best internet banking allows you to transfer money (make payments) on in-bank accounts, such as moving money from checking to your credit card balance to make a payment.

It also allows you to use Bill Pay features to pay many of your bills, such as household utilities, without writing a check ñ just virtually draft a payment and send it electronically through your secure online banking portal. You can set these payments up to be automated, so you don’t have to do it yourself anymore too. That saves time, saves money in avoided late fees, and gives you peace of mind knowing your bills are covered.

Many banks offer Internet specials on accounts and higher interest rates that are only available to those who open those accounts online. Many so-called “Virtual Banks” have appeared as well. These are banks that exist only online without any branches (and their related overhead) or that have branches only in a small geographic area, but have opened themselves up nationally via the Internet.

In nearly all cases, these online banks, whether brick-and-mortar or virtual, usually offer higher interest rates to customers on the Web versus their face-to-face consumers. This is because online accounts have lower overhead: no teller to pay, no storefront to keep open, and often no paper to be mailed.

All in all, you can save time, money, and even gain higher interest by using online banking. There’s nothing to lose!