Paying bills - online or via mail? - Page 2

[FloridaBorn]

After my mom's bank account, online mortgage account, online health insurance account, AND emails were hacked last year, and the subsequent case with the FBI, I DO NOT PAY ANYTHING ONLINE. The FBI agent who met with my mom told her in no uncertain terms NOT TO.

But I don't have a Facebook page either so I guess I'm just into the old timey way of doing things.

[annethcz]

I pay everything online with the exception of the electric bill. For some strange reason, our electric complany charges $3 to make an online payment. Normally I wouldn't care about $3, but for some reason it just grates me the wrong way, so I pay that bill through the mail.

[Belia]

I pay every single thing the old fashioned way- individual checks via snail mail. When we were first married DH used to pay a few of his bills online or through automatic account withdrawals, and one month they were all screwed up and never happened so we got hit with a bunch of late fees. That kind of soured me on the whole online process.

Granted, that was 11 years ago, but still- old habits die hard I guess.

I find that opening each statement, looking it over, writing the check, and balancing my checkbook really keep me in touch with our accounts and our spending.

[AAK]

I love online bill pay. Once, about 10 years ago a check was stolen from my outgoing mail, washed, and rewritten in the amount of 2400. Since then, I avoid checks in the mail. When I do, I bring them directly to the post office. Of course, the fraud dept of the bank took care of it, but it was frustrating and time consuming.

Amy

[limette]

100% online

[Pumpkin_Pie]

I actually pay the majority of my bills at the grocery store. I go in to get groceries, then stop by the service desk, and they can take my bill and I pay by debit card right there and they transfer it over to the utility. My rent is paid by check, but I walk it over to the office which is in my complex. The few bills that can't be paid at the grocery store, I usually pay by phone and debit card. There is actually only one that I really pay online. I definitely don't have any that I pay by check through the mail.

[sanguine_speed]

[Shellie]

I have paid everything online for at least 5 years after discovering online banking close to 10 years ago....and we're "paperless" on everything possible. I've had a few mix ups and snafus over the years, a couple resulting in dings on our credit which I suppose could have been avoided if I'd had better follow-through. Dh was very leery of paying online up until a couple years ago but he's finally on board. He thinks I should print everything (confirmations, etc.) but I created a compromising by saving a pdf (CutePDF is free...) of everything so I don't have to use up paper and keep massive files.

I often pay our water bill in person because it's the only thing I can't pay directly to the co. or have e-sent from my bank. The bank will send them a check but then there's a 5-7 day period where I don't know if they've gotten it.

[crunchy_mommy]

Online. I hate when companies don't have any way to pay a bill online (like our quarterly water bill ) and I'd spend a lot of money in stamps etc. over the year if I did it the old-fashioned way! I also like to pay certain things (like the credit card) twice a month... so I like having the control & how easy it is to pay them as often as I want. BUT, I'm weird, I *need* to still get the paper bills in the mail. I know it's a waste of paper but I just feel the need to have all the bills all filed nicely in the file box (and we don't have a printer)... and I fear somehow the bills won't get paid right if I don't get the paper ones, even though I pay them before I receive them... OK I think I'm weird about this...

[mattemma04]

I pay many bills online.I did not know some places will not accept online bill payment,and the bank will actually send a check.

It was not an issue till one time the water company said I did not pay.Online payment showed I did. I was charged a late fee.The bank paid again and covered the late fee.I usually take my mail to the PO instead of putting it out in the box due to theft issues.

The cost of stamps makes it expensive to do all bill paying by mail,but I would do it if we did not have internet.I don't think I would want to do banking on a library computer.

[painefaria]

I pay everything online Lets be honest, I would not have excellent credit if I had to send them myself

[Caneel]

99% on-line, mostly through my bank's bill pay. It used to scare me from a security stand point but not anymore.

Our business account information was stolen and used in a Nigerian check scam. The fraud department said most account information is stolen from a paper source - a check or a bank statement.

In our case, we actually had a check go missing. It was a payment to a nationally-known company. The payments go to a lock-box, processed off-site.

Our bank's fraud department's best guess, based on the timing of the lost check and the fraud, that someone in the lock-box processing area pocketed the check and sold the account information. This is the only time in 10+ years that a check was lost in the mail.

[lyterae]

There are only two bills I pay with checks (propane and trash) everything else is auto-pay or I pay manually on-line.

[Monarchgrrl]

100% bill pay, all through my bank. And when I lost my book of checks in my house when we last moved I never ordered more so I don't even have any checks and I haven't bought stamps in years!

My landlord even lives across the street and when I lost my checks I started paying her via bill pay, too.

[Austin'smom]

I switched to primarily using Bill Pay about 3 years ago, and love it! It saves me time and the cost of the stamp. I typically don't have things on automatic with drawl, I don't feel in control of the money that way. After DH gets paid I go on our banks website and submit the payments for everything that needs to be paid.

[nola79]

I pay everything online.

[wife&mommy]

I usually pay them online.

[nd_deadhead]

I've never used billpay, but I pay almost all of my bills with automatic payments from my checking account - including credit card bills (which are paid in full every month). So my automatic payments include mortgage, gas/electric, water, insurance, 529 contributions, church offering, retirement account contributions, and two credit cards.

Our paychecks are direct deposited, so I know when the money is going to be there.

I go through check registers (to monitor all the deductions) faster than I go through checks!

The only things I write checks for are school lunches, cello lessons,

[CookiePie]

I use bill pay through my credit union, but I enter them manually. We also get Direct Deposit for all of our pay checks. I love not having to buy stamps, or run the the credit union weekly!

[honeybunmom]

I just started using bill pay - and I work for a bank! I had a couple of things, like the mortgage, set up for automatic bill pay. When the banker pointed out that I was not using this free service, he commented that with a check, a scammer gets your account number and your signature. I hadn't thought about that before. So, it's all online for me, now.