Survey says: Parents support usage of cell phones by children

A recent survey finds that many American adults with wireless phone service think it’s a good idea for most children between 12 and 18 to have their own cell phones.

In a survey by Fenton, Mo.-based Maritz Poll, 54 percent of 803 people said safety was a primary reason why children should be allowed to carry mobile phones. And, they think children should be allowed to carry them to school, despite bans on them.

“Parents and adults who subscribe to wireless services appear to view cell phone ownership among teenagers as perfectly normal equal to buying their kid a bicycle or a new video game,” said Maritz’s Paul Pacholski.

Checking up: Few banks could provide statistics about past checks

Consumers can get fast bank service by phone, but most customers still don’t get real-time answers about checks written more than a few months ago, according to a survey by Mobius Management Systems Inc.

The survey, which called the customer service numbers of 34 of America’s biggest banks, found that 44 percent of the time it took less than a minute to connect to a live customer service representative. But when asked about the amount of a check written a year ago, 91 percent of the service reps said they couldn’t pull up the information on their computer screens.

Information about past checks can be helpful in confirming when a particular payment or deposit was made.

Only three of 34 banks could look up checks written more than a year ago. Fifty-nine percent of bank service reps could only pull up account information from the past 90 days; 21 percent could scan transactions made six to 12 months ago; and 12 percent said they weren’t sure how far back their systems could search.

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