Independent living residents at Selwyn Village have benefited from two very informative and practical ‘Confidence with Banking’ workshops that have been hosted by volunteers from Westpac New Zealand over the last two weeks.
As cheques are to be phased out from May, older people will need to undertake their future financial transactions online, so will have to know how to use internet banking. Westpac is the Foundation’s bank and so kindly volunteered to hold ‘teach-in’ sessions to unravel the mysteries of online banking for our residents.
The first interactive morning session was held on 8 April and included a mix of presentations by the two Westpac experts on hand and proactive input and questions from residents – some of whom are already very well versed in using the Internet! More than 30 residents attended, and a wide range of tips and techniques was shared – especially useful was the advice on security and how to create secure passwords.
Our thanks to Westpac’s Karianne Grimes and Navroze Kotwal, who volunteered their time to facilitate the first workshop, and who were also supported by representatives from SeniorNet’s Balmoral branch, Ray McDonald and Cherie Torepe.
In the second session held on 15 April, residents were invited to bring their own device, whether smart phone or tablet, and were also able to use tablets provided by the village. A live demonstration was held of the ‘Westpac One’ internet banking platform, with residents then able to do some ‘hands-on’ transactions using the Westpac One demo site as well as learn where they can go to find help if need be.
The second workshop was facilitated by Amit Kumar and Dilip Ragavan from St Lukes Westpac, who are also based at the Selwyn Village Westpac outlet on Tuesday mornings, and was attended again by Ray and Cherie from SeniorNet.
The sessions were greatly appreciated by our residents, who will now be much more confident in handling their finances online. The learnings will be of help not only to residents who are existing Westpac customers, but also to those who are customers of other banks.
It’s hoped that this programme can be rolled out to our other villages in due course and that an additional session on Business Online Banking can be organised, to assist our various IL resident committees who may have two signatories on their soon-to-be-phased out cheques.
Thank you, again, to Westpac and to SeniorNet for all their assistance in this important initiative.
