Do you pay bills online

[Gigi22]

We don't pay any bills online. We take most of our bills to our bank and pay them at the counter. I pay some bills over the phone--very convenient, especially during the winter when the driving conditions are bad.

 

[DVC-Don]

I've had far more problems with the few vendor payments I've made by check over the last 12 years than I have with the online payments I've made. We've written less than 400 checks over that time. Paper checks are really only worthwhile, for us, for donations and such at church. Everything else we prefer go through the bank.

Same here. All paid either through the company websites or bank online billpay service. Very few checks are written out here. I just finished a box of checks that I purchased in 2005. When we bought our Florida house last fall I had to pay some bills via check until I got the bank set up. Some of those checks took over 10 days to make their way down to Florida! I've never had a problem with an online payment.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Almost everything we have a bill for is charged to our AMEX cards (cable, internet, mobile phones, gym, monthly unlimited car washes, etc.), and what isn't is either directly debited from our bank account (rent, car, insurance) or we just do directly with the vendor as soon as we get the bill (AMEX).

I write maybe two checks a year and they are to charities that do not accept credit/debit cards.

 

[Bilberry]

Not yet, but just made arrangements for paying online. It makes sense for me since I'll be traveling between homes in the future. The postal service isn't the most reliable when forwarding mail I'm coming to find.

 

[FayeW]

I don't think so. We don't have a debit card. I know people who have had trouble with theirs plus when we had an ATM card years ago I was always forgetting to write it in the check register so then we'd be overdrawn, don't want that happening with a debit card so it's easier for us to just write checks. Most places have the machine that writes it out, so it really doesn't take any more time than a debit or credit card transaction anyway.

Plus I like my pretty outdoorsy checks!

Your banking system is obviously very different that ours. We pay all our bills online, and use our debit cards for all of our purchases. It's rare for either of us to have more than $10 or $20 in actual cash in our wallets. All of our purchases and online payments are taken from our accounts at the time of the transaction so it would be impossible to spend more than you have available.

 

[njmom47]

I do have 2 auto debits (they are debited on a particular date so I make sure the money is in there). Never had a problem with them. I pay almost everything else online; the only thing I write checks for monthly is our HOA (although they do have auto debit, it doesn't always fit with my pay schedule, so I have until the 10th of the month to get a check to them). DH pays utilities and he pays by check or phone; he gets paid every 2 weeks so he pays multiple bills at once.

 

[ProudMomTo3Boys]

Most everything is paid online, I rarely write checks anymore. I am also trying to go paperless with my bills. If I have the option of paperless I take it.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

Same here, i hate to be old fashion but when you do it only line it isn't like they take the money out of your account the next day, it could be at any time, and I hate that

How is that different from writing a check? Unless you're taking a check into your own bank, you have no guarantee on when the money is taken out.

The only thing I write checks for is donations.

Any bank worth banking at will guarantee their online bill payment system. You're not going to get that with check writing. If you write the check and it gets lost in the mail, you're the one paying the late fee. If you process it through the online banking and it doesn't show up, the bank is going to take care of it. If they don't, you need a new bank.

The reason some payments clear your account quicker than others depends on several things. There are essentially three different ways for a bill pay to be processed:

1. The payment is sent to your payee electronically. It's going to come out of your account quicker and it's going to reach your payee quicker. The problem is that not all payees will accept an electronic payment.

2. The payment is sent to your payee via a check. This will clear through your account as if you were the one writing the check. But again, if this gets lost in the mail, you aren't the one responsible.

3. The payment is withdrawn from your account, put into a "holding" account, and a check is sent to the payee drawn off of the holding account.

The basic difference between 2 and 3 is that with option 2 you have to wait for the check to clear before you see it coming out of your account. With option 3, the money is debited from your account immediately but the payee is still getting a paper check.

Most bill pay options are either #1 and #2, or #1 and #3. It's not often that all three options are utilized by the bank and/or the vendor.

 

[Acklander]

I haven't written a check in years. Everything is either paid on line where I enter the amount in. (electric, water, phone, cable) or automatic out (mortgage) or by debit card.

 

[SookieStackhouse]

Yes I do...I cannot even remember the last time I wrote a check and mailed it for a bill.

 

[LindaG4458]

My bank has bill payment for no charge. I only pay through them. I figure only having one institution will help decrease any problems. So far, it has been wonderful. I NEVER have any bills automatically paid from my accounts. I have heard of too many problems with them. I go in monthly and submit each one myself. Some are paid electronically and some they write checks for. I can see the checks in my account and images if I want. I pay bills every 2 weeks so some are paid very early and some closer to their due date. I'm never late and that is a relief. I go trough a book of stamps about every 6 months now.

I NEVER ALLOW ANYONE TO PULL FUNDS FROM MY ACCOUNT!! It's too easy for them to take it when they want rather than when I expect it.

My credit union offers free bill payment PUSHING the funds when I specify. There has never been an instance that a payment was made other than when I wanted it to go, and there has never been a problem with any vendor receiving the payments. The service functions like that described above. It has made my life so much easier!

 

[MichelleVW]

No way would I ever pay a bill with a check in the mail. I like to be in control of when my bills get paid, not the Postal service. Only time I write checks is for the guy who trims my horses feet and if a repairman comes to the house.

 

[tvguy]

Your banking system is obviously very different that ours. We pay all our bills online, and use our debit cards for all of our purchases. It's rare for either of us to have more than $10 or $20 in actual cash in our wallets. All of our purchases and online payments are taken from our accounts at the time of the transaction so it would be impossible to spend more than you have available.

I have a rule, nobody leaves the house without at least $20 in cash. DS is 24 and always laughed at that, until he got stuck in 2 situations over the course of 2 weeks. He was at Los Angeles International late one night, waiting for a redeye flight, and he was hungry. A contractor had cut the datalines for all the debit/credit machines and ATMS. There was plenty of food available, if you had CASH. Then 2 weeks later he was out late and needed gas, the debit/credit system at the only gas stations were down for software upgrades. If he had CASH, he could have purchased gas.
I pay most bills online, write a few checks, and do use my debit card, but I will always have cash too.
And of course, those of us with kids know, you HAVE to have CASH on hand, because a couple times of the year they will tell you at 11 at night that they need $40 cash for that yearbook, that field trip, that lab fee the next morning for school.

 

[bicker]

Any bank worth banking at will guarantee their online bill payment system. You're not going to get that with check writing.

Yes, that's a good point. There really is no significant operational advantage to paper checks, except satisfying one's personal preference (which is a very valid reason for sticking with paper checks ). EFT is far safer, and easier to keep control over.

The reason some payments clear your account quicker than others depends on several things.

Good points, but it should also be noted that paper checks will clear at different rates, depending on aspects that are very much more unpredictable, such as how long the paper check takes to reach its destination, how long the vendor takes to actually submit the check for processing, etc.