Paying bills - online or via mail?

[Tradd]

This is just an idle curiosity sort of post.

Do you pay your bills online or via mail? I don't mean the odd one either way, but your primary way...

It's odd, but I've run into some folks various places (IRL, online) lately who've been doing it the high-tech way but are now doing it the old-fashioned way. And I'm not really sure why.

I know for me, with the online bill pay, it sort of distances me from my money. A few clicks, and it's gone. Rather than writing out checks. I've been using cash for things like groceries, gas, etc., to have a better handle on my spending. That seems a lot more real than the plastic!

[Purple*Lotus]

Someone on MDC told me how to use Bill Pay, and I have never looked back.

I used to work at a bank, but that was back before BillPay was around, so I was kind of scared of it, at first.

But now I love it. I tend to get overwhelmed easily. So having to deal with a stack of paper bills could make me upset and jittery. Now most of my bills I don't even have to really look at. I open them to make sure nothing totally wacky happened, and then just file them ASAP. I have my schedule set up online. I log in twice a month, enter the amounts, then enter them in the Excel spreadsheet I use for my register, and I am done.

[EricaDoula]

I mail mine, I feel like I just have better "control" over them. That way I can see the carbon copy of the check and now when they were mailed, if they were cashed and I have proof they were sent. I use to do all online billing, but then I was reading about fraud and all sorts of stuff, so I decided to do paper bills!

[Drummer's Wife]

Online through my bank's bill pay - and actually, I pay them 99% of the time from my phone. It's quicker to use the app than it is to log on to the bank's website and pay them. I don't write checks hardly ever, and wouldn't know where to find a stamp if I needed one. LOL. I've never had a problem with bills not getting paid this way, or had extra money taken out or anything odd like that.

Honestly, I would be more afraid of sending a money order or check off in the US mail. Seems like the chance of it getting lost or stolen is higher than using a secured site to transfer funds.

[Ornery]

All of our monthly bills I pay through my credit union's billpay. I love it. It makes doing the bills so much easier!

[zebra15]

Billpay all the way. Like the PP I wouldnt know where to find a stamp. LOL

[sunnysandiegan]

We have nearly everything set up as "auto pay" via the company directly (gas & electric; phone; mortgage; auto/home insurance; health insurance - DD's individual policy; etc). Always easy and seamless and efficient.

I write one check a quarter to our CSA and mail it. It feels weird.

Since we have had zero consumer debt for years, we took advantage of free financing for certain replacement costs when our house flooded last year. Insurance paid us and we could have paid it off with the first bill on each account, but we chose to let the money sit in an online high (LOL) interest savings account and pay it off over the free financing period. For those two accounts, I go online to set up the payments each month for the due date on each (for the total divided by the number of months for the 0% interest period). I consider this a PITA and wouldn't ordinarily do this. In fact, I am itching to pay them off early just to be done! We have made money on the deal, though...

We also started using the American Express card through Costco last summer. I go online and set up the payment for the due date, as described above. However, we have been paying for our vacation expenses from a specific account and regular expenses from our joint checking account. AmEx doesn't allow more than one payment per month online, so I had to get creative with that and set it up via BillPay through both accounts and I pay the vacation expenses one way and the regular expenses the other way. We just got home from that vacation, so it'll probably be another two cycles before that is finished and I will be thrilled!

I'm all for separate accounts for separate expenses in order to keep spending in check and to know where money is and so forth. I just don't care for the mechanics of it all. I usually keep everything as simple as possible and have a plan for 2010 to simplify our finances again.

[Kyamo]

Primary way is automatically deducted from the chequing account, but a few I manually pay online.

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan

I write one check a quarter to our CSA and mail it. It feels weird.

LOL! The CSA is the only one I've set up auto-billing with.

Our mortgages are auto-deducted from our checking account - it's all with the same CU, and it was a condition of the loan. But everything else gets written out by hand and mailed in. I'm just not comfortable doing them online - I know myself too well and something would get missed. Doing it this way I physically have to remove the tear portion of the bill, so if it's gone I know it's been paid.

[ErikaLeigh]

I pay everything that is optional (water is not ) online and water i just go downtown to pay it.

Since a lot of you use it, and I do have a credit union, what is Bill Pay?

[weliveintheforest]

online! I love how easy it is.

[EmsMom]

The only thing I pay by check is my rent and if the timing would work out I would have that mailed by the bank as well. Saves me money on stamps or envelopes, but the thing I like best is that I can set up the payment to go out the moment the bill comes in and then essentially forget about it. Anything regular has an automatic monthly payment set up as well. Even the things like cell phone that vary a bit each month I just use a standard payment and catch up the few cents every couple of months. No stamps, no envelopes, no late fees because I forgot something. I do need to stay on top of the payments, though. Every once in a while one goes missing so I log into my account more often to keep tabs on everything. that way if something goes wrong I can take care of it immediately. I do also keep a large cash cushion in my checking account ($1000) in case of a double deduction or something. If my bills were bigger, I would probably keep even more. Even though I am losing interest on that amount at my bank, the savings on the other things outweigh the paltry interest I would earn on my $1000 even in a "high yield" savings.

[HappyMommy2]

Online bill paying is so simple and easy. I will never go back!

[TwinMomPlus]

Bill Pay, all the way!

I LOVE online bill pay! It is so much easier and faster! I don't feel like I have any less control over my finances. In fact it is easier because I can see the balance irght in front of me as I pay.

Also, I use the PNC Virtual Wallet, and it is the best!

[TiredX2]

Definately online bill pay. We write checks for the kids school activities and that's it (if we have enough turn around time, I've even put those through bill pay).

Originally Posted by ErikaLeigh

I pay everything that is optional (water is not ) online and water i just go downtown to pay it.

Since a lot of you use it, and I do have a credit union, what is Bill Pay?

It's just a check writing service that a lot of banks and credit unions provide. You fill in the payee (once--- it's saved from month to month) and then the amount. They worry about sending it--- either electronically or through the mail based on how the payee accepts payments.

What I like is that I can set up a reoccuring bill pay. So, when I get my new mortgage amount for the year, I set up the next 12 payments and don't have to think about it again. Same for HOA. For other things (credit card bills, water, electricity...) that vary I set up the reoccuring bill pay with a "normal" amount and then go and change it when I get the bill. I used to just set up a new one each time, but this guarantees that I actually get each bill paid even if its not for the exact right amount (we weren't getting our Comcast bills for awhile--- that is when I set this method up, so at least we were paying at the right time if they "forgot" to send a bill or not).

[TwinMomPlus]

I have even paid individuals (babysitters, my mom for money I owed her when we went shopping at Sam's together, etc) through online bill pay.

[pbjmama]

Originally Posted by EricaDoula

I mail mine, I feel like I just have better "control" over them. That way I can see the carbon copy of the check and now when they were mailed, if they were cashed and I have proof they were sent. I use to do all online billing, but then I was reading about fraud and all sorts of stuff, so I decided to do paper bills!

This is interesting because I use bill pay to feel in control! If I tell it to pay on the 1st of the month I know that money is coming out on the first, not the 30th, not the 5th. My bank provides a confirmation # and a copy of the check they sent as an image.

I just love how it saves me time and money. So, so easy to do bill pay. The only thing I pay online through another site is my credit card, just because I always like to go and look at the images of the statement.

[Adallae]

I pay everything online, but I do it all manually, because I like knowing how much is going where when, and I like to look at the bills before I pay them. There's something I don't like about automatic deductions. Weird, I know...

Asking me to find an envelope, find my checkbook, find a (working) pen, find a stamp, put it all together, and put it in the mailbox is a sure way to get your payment late.

[caiesmommy]

-Mortgage(bi weekly)/dh's car/insurance(house car ect) is automatic same day everymonth.
-water/gas/hydro/student loan-I pay online and I love it..makes me feel safer. No checks go missing/i dont forget to go to the mail box/im not constantly wondering if the check is going to go through on the right day

Grocery w pay w cash every week. Dh has a gig thursday nights and we grocery shop with a portion of that on fridays

[bluebunny]

Primarily online thru our bank. Like someone else said, paper bills made me anxious. I feel much more in control with online paying.