Written back in 2005 when paying your bills online was still a more novel thing. Now it is what we do, but back then, not so much.
I think online banking has made my life more complicated. It has also allowed me to do a few things I would never have been able to do if I’d had to go to a bank to do it.
- Pay my bills when the money appears in my account RIGHT AWAY. I don’t have the “opportunity” to squander the money elsewhere.
- I get paid BI-Weekly (i.e. every two weeks), but most things get billed MONTHLY (e.g. mortgages, electric, gas, etc.), so what I do is pay 1/2 of a bill on one pay cheque and half on the other.
Example Scenario, say my monthly bills were:
Mortgage: $650 Property Tax: $200 Electric: $80 Phone: $40 Gas: $90
Each pay cheque, I have each of these “bills” set up on my automatic bill payment side that on my PAYDAY (no later than that or I would have squandered my money by then) I make the following payments:
Mortgage: $325 Property Tax $100 Electric: $40 Phone: $20 Gas: $45
And twice a year I don’t have to pay these at all, or better still, for debt like my Mortgage I can get ahead of the game and have 2 extra payments!
Now some companies don’t seem to like getting paid in installments, but I haven’t gotten any complaints directly from them (Gas grumbled once, claiming I hadn’t paid when I had).
- If I forget a bill, I can quickly pay it without getting to a bank branch!
I still hate paying bills, but at least with online banking my life is a little easier.
Hello, I am interested in hearing from others
Its funny, but online banking has saved me from financial mess. I used to be so sloppy with paying bills (forgot to post, forgot to buy stamps, ran out of cheques). With online bill payment, I set the bill to be paid 3 days before it is due. I think so far I’ve missed one or two bills in 3 years.