Do you pay your bills online?

[acabin42]

I don't (or haven't)..... but have been thinking about it. I still write out checks and mail them out. Have you ever had problems with doing bill pay online?
I know.........old foggy here............can't trust them new fangled ways, you know....LOL...

Encourage me............... or not........ please.

[MsMarieH]

I've been doing it for several years. My bank offers it free.

The only issue I have had is that they are still cutting a check and mailing it, so it's not an instant transfer. You need to make sure you allow like a week's time for the payment to arrive.

If I can't afford it that early, I sometimes go to the other end and have them pull from my account, but I don't really like doing that. Still, that gets the payment credited immediately.

I've had no real problems with it and will definitely continue doing it.

[craftypam]

I don't (or haven't)..... but have been thinking about it. I still write out checks and mail them out. Have you ever had problems with doing bill pay online?
I know.........old foggy here............can't trust them new fangled ways, you know....LOL...

Encourage me............... or not........ please.

I opened a bank account and they asked me about online banking and I told them I was nervous about doing it. They told me that if I paid everything from the banks website, no one else meaning my other acccounts would have my bank information. I have been doing it ever since and LOVE it. Saving soooo much in stamps and paying bills w/o writing checks.

[Daisygirl]

I adore online banking. I've never had a problem with it and it's so convenient that I'm never late with a payment.

[Cricketlegs]

Online here but be aware some businesses--like my water company--don't take an online auto bill pay so when I pay it online my bank prints and mails them a check.

It takes longer and not the next day or two like most bills.

So, the first time you go to pay your bills I would suggest you pay them all early so you can see how they get paid and how fast they get paid.

Who can afford late bills?

[Lady_V]

I pay mine online. I find it easier to pay it through the bank website. The e-billing tells me when the bills have come in, what and when it's due and will stay there on the side to remind me until it's paid.

I actually pay mine ahead so when it comes due, it's already been paid. Some bills are a set amount, but others I go to their site to see what is due and then go back to the bank site.

I still get a paper bill though, I don't trust the banks THAT much, I write the date, amount and confirmation number on the paper bill and I will toss it when the next one is paid.

[jas]

Love on-line banking. Have been doing it for years now. I love the control you have of setting everything up to pay when you want. I have not had any problems with it at all.

[shoiji]

I do not pay bills on line. I did try paying my verizon bill automatically but stopped doing that because the company collecting the money would sometimes bill me twice in one month. Once for that month and once for the next month. Seemed to do with the "system" they used. So I immediately stopped that.

Just make sure there are no additional fees involved and find out if it will be paid each month on a specific date.

[Judi Dial]

DH does online banking, the only way I can get him to consistently do this...we used to fight about it. However, we still also get paper bills. Too many companies that we've done business have folded, been sold, etc. so that the records are no longer available to us. We keep an offline record with balances/dates & amounts paid/confirmation numbers.

Judi

[Spirit Deer]

The last I heard, an average of eight people handle the checks you write. Your account number is on every check, along with (usually) your name, address, DL number which in some states is also your SS number, and other nifty info ID thieves can make use of.

I think the average number of people who deal with your credit/debit card accounts is three. Less potential for problems with ID thieves, although of course no guarantees.

So it's safer to pay by credit card and we pay everything we can by credit card and rarely write checks anymore. We have a free account and get rewards points which is like free money. The account is paid in full every month.

We also pay many of our bills with automatic withdrawals and have for years. No problems to date. We don't really pay anything online, but only because we use other methods like auto pay.

We use PayPal for some purchases and pay online for things we order online, of course.

[IntlMom]

Love love LOVE online BANKING!!!" a book of checks last me about two months...... what did I ever do before online banking?!?

[Telephus44]

Another person who loves online banking. I prefer to pay bills directly on the provider site, but I won't sign up for "automatic" payments since I have heard that they are notoriously hard to cancel.

The few other places I have that don't do online billing, I use my bank's online bill pay - they mail out a check - it saves me a stamp and writing the check.

I think the biggest convenience is being able to pay bills way in advance and not worry about it - so if I want to pay a bill on March 20th, I can go in today and enter the payment, and I don't have to "remember" to pay it later because it's already taken care of.

[zakity]

I do online banking. I get the bill in my email, log into my bank, and schedule it to pay. I haven't had an issue and I have been doing it for like a decade. Actually, we have had it longer than that because we have lived in this house for more than a decade and we had it before we moved here.

I don't do automatic payments. I have some OCD issues with money and I have to schedule it to pay to feed into my OCD issues.

[monkeywrangler71]

I know.........old foggy here............can't trust them new fangled ways, you know....LOL...

My grandmother is 93 and she has been banking online for over a decade.

[DixieJ]

I usually pay all my bills through the provider's website. the only bill I write a check for is my trash service.