I’ve been a huge proponent of online bill pay. I can’t recall the last time I mailed a check off to pay a bill. It’s likely been years. I pay our mortgage, utilities, HOA, credit cards, property taxes, everything online with Bank of America.
Well last month for the first time a check did not arrive. Fortunately it was to the HOA and I keep all my confirmation numbers for payments, but it was painful calling the bank up, cancelling the “check” and redoing the payment. For the HOA it was an actual check and not an electronic payment.
I sat there wondering, if I shouldn’t go back to pay my 42 cents and paying certain regular bills with a check? I know my mortgage and credit cards are paid electronically. But my property taxes, utility bills, HOA, and checks to individual payees or business are printed by the bank and mailed off. It saves me 42 cents, and I can immediately debit it out of account.
So from a convience standpoint it’s a better idea. But apparently these checks can get lost in the mail. The check turned up at the end of August, though it should have been been there 8/1/08. I tried it again for September and the check arrived smoothly.
So what do most people do? 100% online bill pay? Or do you still mail and cut checks?
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Jill // Sep 13, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I don’t quite understand your point - aren’t checks you write and send also very occasionally lost? How would this be averted by writing checks yourself?
2 Meg // Sep 13, 2008 at 2:31 pm
As Jill points out, checks that YOU send can get lost in the mail too. It wouldn’t really lower your odds of this happening if you took back over mailing your own checks.
Plus it’s important to distinguish between different types of online bill paying. You can have the bank send money to your creditors, or you can have your creditors pull money directly from your bank account or credit card. I go route #2 with no exceptions.
3 Patience // Sep 13, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I still haven’t gotten around to setting up online bill pay with my credit union, so I do 100% paper checks and depend on the post office, which isn’t totally reliable, although in ten years, only one of my checks has gone astray. Unfortunately, it was a payment to our credit card company and we got slapped with a late fee and interest. Ouch.
I think paying bills online would probably save you a lot of time compared to writing checks by hand, and saving time is also saving money.
4 Livingalmostlarge // Sep 13, 2008 at 7:38 pm
I gotta wonder if they properly address the envelope when they mail out the checks?
When you have an address and then an apartment number it could be improperly addressed. Problem with condos, apartments, etc.
But when you do it, you know it’s correctly addressed I guess. One more variable controlled for, or negated.
5 No Debt Plan // Sep 13, 2008 at 10:57 pm
We try and pay as much as we can with our credit card. What little can’t be paid with a CC goes in the mail.
6 laughing808 // Sep 14, 2008 at 12:00 am
Currently I only pay one bill via my bank bill pay. I usually go to the website for my household bills and pay those online.
7 Pooja Sood // Sep 14, 2008 at 7:50 am
I prefer online payment, just for the sake of convenience.
8 Chris // Sep 14, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I’ve been using my banks online bill pay for about 4 years exclusively. I bet I’ve only written a dozen checks checks in that time.
I’ve never had a problem with payment. I will say that I’ve got to pay closer attention when paying the bill if the bank is sending a paper check as remit to addresses seem to change frequently. It hasn’t been an issue where the funds are electronically transferred.
But the address I’ve entered into the system is the address that the check goes to.
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