Paying Bills Online vs Check

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Riyonuk

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Ever since I got my cellphone, I've been urked by the idea that in order to get a cheaper deal, I must enroll in an "Automatic Bill Pay" service, in which the monthly bill is automatically deducted from my account. I've never owned a checkbook (I'm 18), but the idea of doing everything online kinda leaves me an uneasy feeling. I always wonder if I'm being ripped off, and don't even know it. What if my cell-phone company made a mistake in how much they charged me? I would never know. Does anyone pay online, yet still keep hard written transactions into a checking book (I think that's what they are called, I plan to get a notebook sized one, A4 Paper, Office Max carrys them). A lot of stores around me don't accept checks, debit/credit only.

I also would like to know how I can use my Cell Phone to help my finances, besides Google SMS Alerts and Mint.com.
 
When you sign up for billpay, you still get an itemized invoice from them so you can check the charges to make sure they aren't ripping you off.
 
Once you have multiple bills coming in, online/automatic payments are a godsend. You should still get a bill(either online or mailed) to compare bank statements to if you don't trust it.
 
Related, I despise the fact that a lot of companies are now charging customers who do not pay bills online a $1 or so surcharge.
 
Be careful my friend, I've been a banker for about 5 years now with Regions Bank. NEVER give a bill company your account number and routing number, they have control over your account now. I've seen this a milion times now, if you cancel service they're going to say we can't stop the payment it's in route already. You call your bank and they're gonna say, "we can block it, but it's going to be $36 for a stop payment fee" (because it's an ACH draft). I would say the safest way would to be by debit card, because if you for some reason don't want to pay them you can call your bank and cancel your card for FREE and get a new one (instead of paying a stop payment fee). You could also try your banks online billpay service, just be careful though because a lot of the time you'll think it's going electronic and fast, but they're actually sending a paper check instead and it's SLOW.
 
I often use auto-bill pay onto my credit card then pay off the credit card balance in full each month. Not only do I avoid giving the vendor access to my bank account and can have the credit card stop payment if there is a dispute but it also helps boost the reward points on the credit card. I would only recommend this though if you are sure you can pay off the balance each month.

Many banks also offer bill pay services so you can automatically pay your bills online but instead of the vendor taking it themselves, your bank issues a check to them automatically so you still have control over your account.
 
I've been "online" for a while. I'm in the "I'm screwed" when someone breaks into the online world and decides to take stuff. It's too late to worry about it.
 
[quote name='pimpster4183']Be careful my friend, I've been a banker for about 5 years now with Regions Bank. NEVER give a bill company your account number and routing number, they have control over your account now. I've seen this a milion times now, if you cancel service they're going to say we can't stop the payment it's in route already. You call your bank and they're gonna say, "we can block it, but it's going to be $36 for a stop payment fee" (because it's an ACH draft). I would say the safest way would to be by debit card, because if you for some reason don't want to pay them you can call your bank and cancel your card for FREE and get a new one (instead of paying a stop payment fee). You could also try your banks online billpay service, just be careful though because a lot of the time you'll think it's going electronic and fast, but they're actually sending a paper check instead and it's SLOW.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I pay all of my bills online, but do it through the bank. When I get paid, I log in and just pay all the bills with one stop shopping. Like pimpster says, a merchant may "mistakenly" debit your account, and it may get fixed, but it can be a real nightmare with overages and bounced check fees and what not. Plus, I can see exactly when the money is going out and have the bank to back me if the merchant says they did not get my payment.

Depending on your bank, they may even have a cell phone app to make things even easier.
 
The wise option, would be, paying online, but on an individual basis....I mean, don't enroll in autopay, just pay with your card monthly, so u won't have any surprises in the bills...
 
[quote name='Rocko']Related, I despise the fact that a lot of companies are now charging customers who do not pay bills online a $1 or so surcharge.[/QUOTE]

My insurance company charges me $3 per month to get my insurance bill mailed to me, yet if I sign up for automatic payments they charge me a $1 per month convenience fee or something like that. And they won't allow me to just bring the payment in to avoid any fee. I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. I think it's bullshit and should be illegal. They are charging me to pay my bill to them. Does that not seem wrong?
 
I use my bank's online bill pay, but not auto-pay. I go in, look at the bill, then pay the amount whenever I want. The only thing I have on auto-pay from my bank account is my federal student loan (since they give an interest reduction).
 
I don't do auto-pay, but paying bills online is so much easier. You don't waste stamps and don't have to worry about payment getting there late or lost in the mail. When I opened my checking acct, I told them I don't even want checks.
 
[quote name='DrunkTigerWoods']I don't do auto-pay, but paying bills online is so much easier. You don't waste stamps and don't have to worry about payment getting there late or lost in the mail. When I opened my checking acct, I told them I don't even want checks.[/QUOTE]

If I want to pay my rent online, it's an extra $10 :|
 
I despise auto-pay, but I love online bill pay. They're not the same thing.
That said, unless they charge for me for it, I like getting a paper bill--I have the "inbox" and "outbox" on my desk, and it's just so much easier to keep track if there's a visual aid like that.

My bank offers free online banking with unlimited billpay, and many of the people I pay offer online billpay on their own sites.

On the site it tells you how long it will take to process the payment, because some of them are electronic, others are paper payments.

I do still use checks occasionally, although with the ACH instant-clear thing many vendors use, there's no longer as big a benefit to doing so. But there's still use in checks - paying the babysitter, paying one-offs, paying for my boy's school stuff (they have a thing where you can add to his lunch account balance online--but it costs 3.00 PER TRANSACTION, and I usually pay 10 or 20 $ a time, so I would be making 30 or 40 transactions in a year.)
 
I also reluctantly switched over to online from paper. Best tips as mentioned are to pay thru your bank and don't use auto-pay. I don't receive paper statements, but I can view all of them and print them all out if I wanted to.

The convenience really can't be beat.
 
As said, you get an invoice a couple weeks before the money is taken out so you can check.

My cell phone is the only one I have automatically billed--well my gym membership as well since that's required.

All my others I also get online bills and pay through my BOA account. But I don't have them automatically billed. Cell phone I just set auto bill to a credit card a couple years ago to get reward points for the bill and haven't changed it to my BOA. Probably won't since it's a fixed amount since I never use all my minutes or go over my 200 texts.

But I love online billing. Nice to just be able to log into my online banking, see all my e-bills and pay them right there vs. getting them in the mail and dealing with check, stamps etc.

I even do my rent online, since I rent from the person who owns my condo rather than a management company, and they're also a BOA member so I can just transfer my rent to their account.
 
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