One thing I love about my credit union – their online banking. It really helps keep me organized. Without it, I could easily miss billing due dates.
For the bigger items like our insurance and rent payment, I go ahead and set them to be paid automatically. All I have to do is enter the amount in my check register (or just import it into Quicken, which is what I’ve been doing). It’s so easy to set bills to go out for a specific time. I don’t have to remember to write a check and mail it, leaving enough time for the payment to go through the mail. And many of the payments are sent electronically, so I don’t have to worry about lost mail either.
For other bills that aren’t a regular amount – electric, phone, cell phone, cable – I just have them set up as payees. That way, I only have to enter the payment amount and due date each month. As soon as I get the bill, I schedule the payment. Otherwise, I’d put the bill aside and forget to set up the payment.
It has saved us a lot of postage and late fees.
Fortunately, with a minimum number of transactions there’s no monthly fee for using automatic bill pay. It really has been a huge help to me, especially since I prefer to have my bank send out payments, rather than letting companies debit my bank account.
Do you use online banking? Do you monitor your checking balance online? Why or why not?
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