Online banking - phasing out checkbook-help

[Hillbeans]

I know I am waaayyy behind the times but I am trying to phase out my checkbook and pay online for 95% of my bills going forward. I am so sick of manually doing my checkbook and it's not been done now for a few weeks . Right now I have my mortgage and CC payment, DSL and Electric bill coming out automatically.

Is there a program like Quicken or something I can link to my online bank account to keep a register? I still occasionally need to send in checks for school events and things that aren't online, but i'd rather keep my check register on the computer instead of writing it down any longer.

It seems as if there is a simple way to do it and I know it'll get me more organized with my bills and save me some time.

 

[CowboyCO]

You can use Quicken. Just buy the software and it will link to your account. I use quickenonline. It's free and seems to work well for budgeting and keeping track of upcpming payments.

 

[bama106]

I've used quicken for several years now and absolutely love it. It has been over 8 years since I have kept a checkbook register. I have all of my checking and savings accounts linked and it works great.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I use Quicken. I have it hooked up to download charges from all of my bank accounts, investment accounts, and credit cards. I do an online update once every few nights. It downloads everything and I add those items to my register.

As I put items on my register, I categorize them (gas, groceries, utilities, etc). I also tag some charges if they are part of a project or a trip. It is great to be able to look back and see how much a vacation cost me broken down by category.

I also get all of my statements and bills online. It is very easy to add those in Quicken. So when I pay my credit card bill and put that payment on my check register in Quicken, I attach the bill to that entry. Now I can go back and any bill that I've paid. That's super helpful when it's tax time and I want to pull up old investment statements, trade confirmations, etc.

It is also possible to use Quicken to pay bills. I'm not sure how that works because I don't use it anymore. They'll even print a check and mail it for you, so you can pay people that don't take electronic payments.

I've got all of my bills set up to auto-pay. My gas, electric, water, insurance, college savings, investment savings, and even my credit cards automatically pay themselves. I was thrilled when my credit card companies finally added the option to auto pay my bill in full every month. I just use Quicken to keep track of who took what when. I also have the bills set up as reminders in Quicken so I see that a bill is coming due about a week before it hits my account.

My wife is not particularly diligent about writing down the checks that she writes. I see them when they hit Quicken. Then I go to the bank's website, download the front and back images, and attach them to the entry in my Quicken check register. Fortunately, she only writes a couple a month and not for much money.

Microsoft used to make something called Money that did pretty much the same things. They quit making it this year, so it's not an option anymore. You can also use online sites for doing a lot of this. I haven't tried any of them yet, so I can't comment on them.