"(PeteCresswell)" wrote:

once somebody drained my account, it
would be on me to get the financial institution to put money back into
the account. May sound simple on the face of it, but I would expect a
major PITA and much pain.

How big a PITA it is probably depends on the bank.

Speaking as a long-term developer of computer applications, I would not
even consider online banking or any other online financial transactions
except for those against my VISA credit card.

However paranoia is causing you a bigger PITA.

I haven't been to a branch in over a year. I do everything online,
most of it from my phone. I'd hate to have to go back to the bad old
days.

That is not to claim any particular expertise in online development or
security... but I know in my heart that there are thousands, if not tens
or hundreds of thousands, really, *really*, REALLY smart people all over
the world trying to figure out how to separate me from what little money
I have.

I can't lose anything from unauthorized transfers or debits from any
of my accounts. It's likely the same for you.

It also seems like the first line of "defense" of most large
corporations where online fraud is concerned is stonewalling it -
denying that anything happened.

I hate to add to your paranoia but you don't need an online bank
account to be a victim. Wasn't it around 50 million card numbers that
Target lost? Shop at Target? You say you use Visa... 8-O