Tips for paying bills online
While paying your bills online is a wonderful new convenience, it is also a responsibility filled with potential pitfalls. So before you sign up to pay your bills online, make sure you consider the following pieces of advice:
- Research all companies before giving them access to your account information. Make sure the company has an accessible customer service department should something go wrong and you need to contact them.
- Keep track of all expenses so as to avoid any extra fees including overdraft fees and expensive line-of-credit charges.
- Check all statements for mistakes. Make sure to report any mistakes immediately. Banks are required to investigate disputes. If the bank is unable to determine who is at fault within 10 days of your report, it is required to restore the money to your account until the dispute is resolved.
- Make sure that payments are made on the date scheduled. You don’t want to pay earlier than necessary. And you don’t want to pay a day later than scheduled and pay any late fees.
- If you switch your account to a new bank, be sure to request that your bank handle the paperwork required to setup up your online account.
Note: Paying your bills online is an excellent, efficient, time and money saving option. But make sure you do it right.
Comments
"You don't want to pay earlier than necessary."
This is the conventional wisdom, but in my opinion it's worthless. Assume you get 1% interest on your checking account, and pay bills 15 days early. The lost interest income is insignificant, just $5 a year per $1000 in monthly bills. If you pay, say, $10,000 or more per month, managing the float is probably worthwhile. But for the average Joe, just pay the bills the minute they come in. Your peace of mind is worth the few cents a day it costs.
Another easy way to pay bills onlne is to use your credit card for all payments ans earn miles, points, or whatever and pay the card at the end of the month. Some credit card companies like Visa provides a list of merchants who you can pay bills online.
usa.visa.com/personal/.../