Tip of the Month

• What you need to know about Online Bill Pay

  06 Jul 2011 by David / No Comments

  Paper bills may cost you

  Did you know some companies actually charge to send you a paper bill? Phone company, MCI, charges $.99 a month for paper bills, and Internet service provider EarthLink charges $1. To avoid the fee, customers must sign up for “e-bills” at the companies Website or pay automatically through their bank.

  Your best bet is a bank

  Paying online at individual merchant Websites is a hassle you have to remember a slew of URL’s, user names and passwords. But if you use your banks bill pay service, you can pay all your bills at one site with one user name and one password. Go directly to the merchant’s site only to pay last minute bills you might have overlooked.

  If the service isn’t free, you could be paying too much

  With most third-party bill payers, you spend about as much as you would if you mailed checks. For example, Yahoo Bill Pay is free for 3 months, after which you pay $4.95 a month for 12 payments and $.40 for each additional payment. Many banks, however, have lowered or done away with fees because they want to wean customers off paper checks.

  Use Quicken or Money? You’ll pay to upgrade

  The big software companies discontinue technical support and online services for their products after about three years. To keep abreast of your financial details, you may need to buy the latest version at a cost of at least $29.99 (You may not need the software anymore. Financial institutions are starting to add simplified money management tools, such as spending reports, to their sites.) Plus some banks charge customers to download account information through money management software. For example, Wachovia instituted a $5.95 monthly fee in the past for some accounts. You can avoid the fee if you go to the site, download your statement, then import it into your program.

  Your money keeps earning interest

  In the early days of online bill paying your account was often debited days before the money reached the merchant. Now, for bills paid electronically and that’s some 80% of transactions, says Cheryl Roehl of Check Free, which powers most online bill payments your account is debited the same day your payment is credited. When an online bill-pay service has to send a paper check, your account is usually debited after the merchant deposits the check. ING’s Electronic Orange account takes online bill paying to the next level: Enter the recipient’s information and the details of the payment, and an email is sent. The recipient clicks on the link within the email to enter the account information and the money is transferred. Meanwhile, you earn 4% interest until the money is gone.

  It’s safer than snail mail

  Most financial fraud occurs when checks, credit cards, and account statements are stolen from mailboxes. Online financial transactions are encrypted to help reduce the possibility of identity theft. Plus, if you use your bank as your go to bill payer, you avoid sharing your account information with multiple billers, which helps to secure your data against hackers.

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