What's the Deal: Protecting your money during emergency banking outages
It took more than 24 hours for Wells Fargo to restore service to all of its customers after that massive power outage at its data center.
That outage left a lot of people without a plan B to check their accounts or even access cash.
Experts don't expect this to be a one-time thing and advise consumers to get ready for the next tech failure.
"The government shutdown and this Wells Fargo incident kinda gave us a little preview of coming attractions," said Matthew Schulz, Banking Expert, CompareCards.com.
So, what should you do when all online systems are down and you need cash now?
Experts at CompareCards.com recommend taking these three steps to prepare for a bank outage:
Number one, keep some cash on hand to save for a rainy day.
"When the inevitable glitch or snafu happens with bank technology, it can really make for a very messy situation," said Schulz.
Step two, review your records. This means checking your bank statements on a weekly basis to quickly spot an unauthorized transaction and combat fraud.
"What you're looking for are charges that you don't recognize even if they're really small or an account that you don't recognize on your credit score," said Schulz.
Step three is to set up a backup bank account. Experts say it's a smart idea to spread your money around so you can access it when you need it most and make money in the process.
"Savings interest rates can really vary so it's important that you do your homework when you're looking around for an account," said Schulz.
The experts also recommend guarding against fraud with strong passwords.
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