How do you pay your bills?
 

I still pay by check, I like being able to look at each bill before paying it and it helps me keep abreast of which bills are rising, usually utilities, and I feel "in charge" of our finances.

Recently we had to pay for our health and prescription insurances and will be reimbursed by DH's former employers so we had to begin paying the monthly charges by direct withdrawal from our checking account and will recieve the reimbursements by direct deposit. This morning I heard the Post Office wants to raise first class postage stamps to 50 cents. I think that will be the biggest incentive for me to begin paying all my bills online. What about you? May in Jersey

On line paying is similar to an avalanche. You don't want to be caught by the oncoming rush of snow but when it happens you have to go along. I resisted going online for bill paying inorder to support our postal service, but I know it is going to close for lack of support so now I pay on line. However, our bank bills us for the privilege of doing that, so I don't save money on the cost of the stamps.
I do find it convenient and time saving, so over all I like it.

When the US Post Office goes defunct and all its services are taken over by private companies a person would expect that the govn't would stop losing money on this dept. However, I have faith in this administration that even for years after we no longer have the US mail, the gov't will be losing money in it and it will still be a budget line item.

We pay by check, kid with them at the post office when we go by stamps that we are trying to keep their jobs for them. Everytime we ship, they thank us for keeping them employed. Yes, we love our postal workers. Can toss the jokes right back at me with ease.

I've been paying my bills via on-line for 2-3 years. I like it; it takes me about 15 minutes, and I know that all the bills are paid. I haven't lost the envelopes on the way to the post office; the bills aren't lost in the mail, etc.

I make sure to get a 'receipt'. I keep an eye out on my account so I know when they are cleared through the bank.

Nothing against the US Post Office. I still send packages out through them as they have the cheaper rates.

i pay as many bills as i can online. i get very little mail because of this. when i have to send a package, i go online and print out the shipping label and pay the postage with a credit card. my postman takes the package with him when he delivers the other mail. so convenient. not only is the postage getting expensive, but the gas to drive to the post office is also getting more expensive. in our area, postage stamps are sold at many places, the grocery store and walmart, for example.

Postal services are declining and many post offices are closing, I know the one in my town is scheduled to close soon. I hardly use it as it has the worst parking lot and is always crowded. Since I mail quite a few packages trips to near by post office is always on the way when I'm doing food shopping and other errands as I've learned to save gas, time and also my own energy which is declining even faster than everything around us that is increasing in price. I order stamps with the no postage due mail inorder form and envelope, my mail carrier picks it up from my mail box and I receive the ordered stamps in my next day's mail.

I get all my statements online, pay all my bills online, payments get sent by my bank (for free) to whomever I want. I do it on the same day every month, schedule all the payments for when they are needed. They will even mail out a paper check (free) to anyone I want. I don't know why I even keep a checkbook anymore.

The post office will have to sink or swim without me. It feels good not to have all my financial info going through the mail anymore being intercepted by I don't know who. And don't even allow me to commence on trying to get a paper check to a credit card company on time, then they sit on it at their end, and suddenly you have a $35 late payment fee. NO MORE!!!

I do use the USPS almost exclusively for all my package services.

i pay by post and online. i made myself a list of bills and write down when i pay each one. it shows when each one is due and the amount and it totals the amounts owed too. some show balances owed too.
Still, with all that, i missed paying one last month. don't know how i missed it. I had too much going on I guess and didn't get a bill for it in the mail either. my water bill!

We do most of our bill paying online. However, we do most of our shipping through USPS.

I pay 95% of my bills online. The ones I pay by postal are bills due annually. The ones automatically withdrawn each month, I keep track of it on back of check register so I won't forget to enter them into registry. Can't beat it! Its more convienent.

Check, I will fight the good fight forever......

We have paid our bills on lne for well over 10 years. It is the only way!

ss

We pay bills on line and have some that go directly from the checking account. I write very few checks. Sometimes when I get a bill from the dr. for what is my share I call and give them the credit card number. Its no surprise that the USPS is having trouble when we are using email more and more, stopping catalogs to preserve the environment, and paying bills on line.

I pay online. It's just sooo much easier and faster. It's free through my credit union, I can easily see my previous payments. The credit union also allows us to download a list of transactions into the bookkeeping software of our choice, so I no longer haul around a transaction register. Takes me about 42 seconds to balance the "checkbook" every month, and I can see with the click of a mouse how much we've spent on gas, groceries, or medical expenses, etc.

I really don't see that keeping the post office up and running is my responsibility, just as it wasn't my grandparents' responsibility to keep wagon wheel manufacturers and buggy whip factories in business. How come no one is complaining about Kodak? Times change, technologies advance. If I need to ship a package, UPS and FedEx seem competent.

I always kid our CPA at the bank that only he and I know where my money is and where it goes. I pay NOTHING online and NOTHING comes directly out of my account or credit card. Our SSA check comes in the 4th Weds of the month and ALL the bills are paid by check on the 1st because of our electric bill. Even my internet is paid by check once every three months. I have 4 bills that are local and I take them where they have to go and the rest go in the post office. I have a cousin who works for the post office and he says because of the lack of stamp sales the only thing that keeps them afloat is the sales papers and ads. That's sad. Though they say it is perfectly safe to do business over the internet I know, personally, too many that have been duped because someone has gotten their info and tapped into their accounts. I think safty is better then conveinence anytime.

IF your bank charges you to do this, fight back and join a Credit Union! I belong to 2 of them, guess I'm hedging my bet for when my bank decides to do this. I already moved my car payment to the Credit Union b/c the finance people gave me a ration about taking my deceased- for- three- years husband's name off the account..."it's not our policy, ma'am to remove the deceased's name from the account until it's paid for..." I asked them if they were prepared to bill HIM for the account? Shortly thereafter, the Credit Union got the account and the funny part is, they didn't need his name at all! If you want the finance name, PM me and I'll gladly put it out there!
My advice is to fight back...it DOES work...and you're right about the USPS...I can see them working this for the next 50-60 years! (And yep, I can talk about them, I used to work there!) The first thing they need to do to bring them back inline is stop paying the ones who find it amusing to call in (not) sick, show up when they want to, not work when they're there, and on ad nauseum! When I worked there, the supervisors knew who would work and believe me, they worked them to death. They didn't bother the others...and I know for a fact that still is continuing!

Pay bills online, but i host swaps here on the QB - my swaps get send out USPS- Flat rate envelopes..

I pay online because that way I know when everything is scheduled to be paid & don't have to worry about late fees because something was lost or delayed in the mail. I do still get paper statements though. I keep them for a couple of years for easy reference, then they get shredded & recycled. We don't get charged for online payments because we belong to a credit union and don't use a bank.

I pay online BC it is so much easier the stuff with the PO will happen anyway they have more packages being mailed than ever before I buy and sell online and am at the PO all the time to wait in line for 5 to 10 minutes in my tiny town when i was in St. Louis & SE MO I have waited in line for 30 minutes or more. the Gov will find a way to loose money no matter what .... that is their job isn't it ????

I pay bills on line where possible. I also have auto deposits and withdrawls for things like my mortgage payment, utilities. Boy, I can get busy and forget one!! Used to never do that. I still keep a manual ledger with the payee and due date so hopefully, I won't forget one that I can't pay online.

My sister works for the post office and has for 20 plus years so I definitely can say from her experience that the USPS in our area is manager/supervisor heavy and workers lite. There are supervisors standing around without much to do and now the USPS is contracting out their work to non-postal employees. Of course, as with most of our bureaucratic entities, there are those employees who are slackers but protected by supervisors who "befriend" them. I hear about it all the time! LOL Then there is the outstanding compensation package that most of our private companies can't offer. Oh well, my sister tells me to "write a letter" and keep the USPS in business!!

I stash away enough every month in a separate account the house insurance, car insurance and property taxes, so when those dates come around I have the money right there and ready to pay. I pay by check for everything. I want to know what I spend the money on and who I made the check out to. I do NOT pay online, I do NOT have the money electronically taken out of our checking account and the bill paid. I want my hands on the money. I want to know that I paid the bill and I want my checking account monthly statement in my hands to see that the check has been cancelled.

I want to be able to handle the money the way I want to - NO debit cards - just cash in my wallet that holds my checks! Have been doing it like this since my husband retired back in '93 and have had no problems and yes, I do get chided for it but this is what works for me and my husband and he doesn't complain. If it "ain't" broke, don't fix it!!!
And it works for us!!!!!! Edie

I have most of my retular monthly charges like electric, mortgage, car insurrance etc. automatically deducted from my checking account. My charge card I go on line to pay. I pay very little by check. It's easy to keep track of everything on the computer. I go online and look at my account information very frequently. I also have my bank notify me by e-mail when my balance is at a certain level. This way I am able to be busy and not worry that I have forgotten to pay a bill on time.

We still pay by checks in the mail. I am still computer illiterate when it comes to doing a lot of things via computer. LOL

No one gets access to our checking account except for our direct deposit pension checks and we do no online banking. We won't even have debit cards. You only have to know one person who has been hacked, and what they have to go thru to get it 'fixed.' Took over a year, even had to hire a lawyer. They are still having repercussions. It's happening more now, too.

I have set as many accounts up as possible for automatic payment - my husband and I are both ridiculously irresponsible about getting a check in the mail on time. It has saved us plenty in unnecessary late fees and headaches. Online is the most economical solution for us and we monitor our bank account regularly and get e-statements so we can stay abreast of costs and check for billing errors.

The cause of the problems of the post office lies with the previous administration and congress.

Last!!!!! Lol

i pay all my bills online,have for several years,Most banks have a section on thier online website set up for bill pay,you put in the name of the co. and acct number,it is very easy to do,Go to all the websites for your bills that you pay and switch to paperless billing,they will automatically send you an email when the bill is due and you can click on the link and see the whole statement just as if it was mailed to you.its awesome.less paper going to the landfills, less money for stamps.

I have most of mine on Equal Pay & charged to my credit card.
Any others are paid automatically by Credit Card or drafted frm my Checking Act.
So I only pay the Credit Card at the end of the month.

Makes it easy for me.

J J

I've been paying online for 10 years and like not having all those checks to save for the CPA.

That's fine if you want to do it that way but you better get informed about other methods of payment as many places will start charging if you don't do things electronically. Our neighber has a bank that will charge $10 monthly if she doesn't receive her bank statement electronically. She wouldn't mind getting it that way but at the present time, she doesn't have a computer. She has one of the free email accounts and I told her to have it sent there and access it through the library's computers(or mine). I resisted using debit cards as I was afraid of forgetting to keep track of the transactions. Now when I do a debit transaction I put the debit card and receipt in where I keep my dollar bills and that reminds me to enter the transaction into my checkbook registration. Works for me. I use debit cards all the time now.
The only bill payments I mail anymore are the water bills. There very few that are automatically withdrawn from my account as I like to do it myself. A little more work for me but I like having the control of when I pay. I don't miss all the work involved with mailing payments. I even receive most of my bills electronically now.

Our bank has a bill-pay payment center. You enter the company name & address & each month you enter amount to be paid, then click pay bill. If the bill can be paid on line, they pay electronically; if it needs to be mailed our bank mails it. This is a free service, so that's how I pay all my bills :o

I always love these little windows into how other people do things!

Anybody who lives in a rural area will appreciate how important the local post office is to the community - as a gathering place, information center, and the source of a huge volume of items coming into the community. Our little post office is so busy I know I'm not the only person shopping on-line.

In Canada, the post office also provides e-post which is how I receive as many bills as possible. This allows me to pay them on-line and keeps the clutter down. While I love on-line payments, I'm still old-fashioned enough to not want anything to happen automatically so haven't set up the auto-withdrawals. It's so seldom that I write a cheque it always surprises me when the money comes out of my bank account and I have to view it to remember what the heck I paid by cheque. I've moved, changed my name, and my phone number since buying cheques so they're always scribbled up with changes and look a mess but I'm too cheap to buy new ones for the 2-per-year used.

I still pay most everything by check (we have some insurance payments that are direct withdrawals and we have had them for over 20 years). Our retirement payments are automatically deposited. I only use a debit card for Costco gas. I get a bank statement via mail, but I usually balance my checkbook twice a month online. I am really careful -- I only have one credit card we use online and it was hacked last week so I am very cautious (this is the third time this card has been hacked).

My utilities are set up for automatic payment, any other bills I pay on line thru my bank. It is so much easier and quicker, it also saves postage. I use one credit card for almost everything and pay that on line every month.

Hubby has been paying all our bills on line using "Quicken". Seldom has one not been delivered on time. You can
put it in ahead of time and it will be "mailed" on the correct day.

I pay almost all of our bills online - a couple of them are not able to accept on-line payments. I love it. Still use the p.o. for pkgs but I prefer printing out the postage and mailing from the house as often as possible. Cheaper and easier too.

I still write checks and mail them out. I do a lot of purchasing online, but do not feel comfortable paying the bills. Not sure why though. LOL