Am I the only one who won't bill online?

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-19-2004
Am I the only one who won't bill online?
7
Mon, 08-23-2004 - 11:45am
I feel like I'm stuck in the 80's, but I am too scared to pay my bills online! We get our car loan taken straight out of DH's pay, same with life insurance. And I love that. But everything else I send a check or take it there myself (water bill.)

I hear it is such a time saver--but I feel like I would be out of control if I didn't sit down and write those checks and mail my bills. What if my computer crashed? How can I believe that they will actually pay those bills? and not take it twice? I'm so paranoid about my credit being ruined. Am I the only one who refuses to do this online thing, or am I just weird?

But I do love shopping online though! (Old Navy is my weakness)

Nicki

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-13-2004
Mon, 08-23-2004 - 11:58am
I don't pay my bills online either. I have online banking so that I can check my balance and track things, but not for bills. Mostly because I like having that cancelled check as a reciept and everything. HOWEVER...I will look for this article I recently read about Check 21; something where banks are practically getting rid of paper checks. I am going to hold out though.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2004
Mon, 08-23-2004 - 12:29pm
I don't pay bills online either. For some reason I don't like having anything directly come out of my account. I find sitting down and paying bills somewhat relaxing. I also keep better track of how much I'm actually paying if I physically write it down. I also have no home internet connection. I'm a total tightwad and $9.99 a month is just not in my budget right now. I have an very fast internet connection at work that I can use.

Only thing that stinks is using up like 30 stamps a month.

Avatar for skinny42
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-12-2003
Mon, 08-23-2004 - 12:59pm
I pay all my bills online. I find that it saves me so much time and money, not to mention the fact that my checks aren't at the mercy of the US Postal Service. I figure, why pay 37 cents to "snail mail" a check and you have no way of knowing how long a piece of mail will take to get to its destination? Imagine putting a credit card payment in the mail, having it take 10 days to get there (yes, this has happened to me) and the credit card company ups your interest rate because you paid late! I have had an extremely good experience with the online bill paying that my bank (Bank of America) offers. It is a free service, and if you are worried about having a paper back-up for something, you can just get online and print it off your computer. Take all that money you would be spending on stamps and gas and snowflake it onto something else!
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-14-2003
Mon, 08-23-2004 - 6:01pm
I would have to agree with the previous poster about paying for snail mail. It is just so not worth it for bills.

One of your concerns was a computer crash. I think it is more likely your payment will be late or not show up at all when you send it through the mail.

I don't use an online bill paying service, but rather, use the "pay on-line" service offered by most of the companies that I have accounts with. I have instant confirmation that my payment was accepted and there is always a reference number that I tag onto the memo part of my transaction in Microsoft Money. That way, if there was ever a problem with payment, they have a way to track it. But, I have NEVER had a problem with late or missing payments since I started paying bills online. I have also never had double payments taken out, except when it was my own fault and forgot that I had already paid something.

If you can shop on-line, then there is really no difference to paying your bills on-line. It is a huge timesaver and I don't float checks anymore, which is really unsafe.

You'll have to let us know if you try it. It would be interesting to see if you get the hang of it and start liking it.

Windy

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-13-2004
Mon, 08-23-2004 - 9:31pm
Avatar for mahopac
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-24-1997
Tue, 08-24-2004 - 10:08am
I don't do it either.

I pay everything I can through direct withdrawals from my checking account - my DMP, DirecTV, electric company, phone companies, car loan, insurance of every kind, gym membership. I arranged it with each of them directly, and I get monthly statements from all but the gym membership (looks like a bill, but there's no envelope enclosed). I get paid once a month, so around the first of the month, I sit down with the checkbook, add in my monthly paycheck, and take out all the automatic withdrawals at once, even the ones that don't get taken out until the end of the month. That way I know just what I have to work with, because there isn't going to be any more money going in after the first of the month, so there is no point in even trying to float checks. Whatever's left after the regular bills, that's what I've got to spend on groceries, clothing, gas, oil, gifts, etc.

It is even easier than banking online with a 56K connection, plus the checkbook is RIGHT THERE. My DH writes most of the checks, so it's important that he can see what the balance is.

Kelly

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-30-2003
Tue, 08-24-2004 - 11:58am

<<>>


I had to laugh, cuz I too have a dial-up connection and banking online SUCKS. Especially when things time out and you have NO idea if it went thru or not an if you're now going to send TWO payments....or not.


One reason I stopped using a Bank Online type of thing was that it would take 5 days to process. 1. The mail is faster, 2. sometimes I can't pay a bill until 2 days prior, 3. They pull the money out the day the check is processed, instead of when the check is




my pet!