Over the last several years, governments, industry, and companies have committed huge amounts of human and technical resources to analyzing their systems, fixing the problems, and testing to assess whether their systems are compliant. However, even with those efforts, some disruptions caused by the Y2K glitch are expected and will undoubtedly occur. While panic and overreaction could do more harm than good, experts do caution people to be prepared by learning about potential problems, making informed decisions, and taking some reasonable actions. Here are some areas where prudent individuals may focus and some sources of further information. By all accounts banks, credit unions, finance companies, and securities firms over the last several years have made significant progress in addressing the Y2K problem.
Consumers can gain some added security about their financial accounts if they prepare now.
In most instances, standard record-keeping what a prudent person would do normally should suffice. Keep your statements during 1999 showing amounts you owed and statements and cancelled checks noting amounts you paid. For your mortgage and other loans, such as car loans, before the end of the year, you might want to ask your lender to provide you with a current amortization schedule that shows both your past and expected future payments against principal and interest. Carefully check the accuracy of statements beginning in 2000 against your records. For deposit accounts, you will want to hold onto your statements in the latter part of 1999.