I like most Americans who are “online” use bill pay. I use my bank, Citibank, bill payment service, but I predominantly use the online bill payment options provided directly by the vendors. Hence, most months I end up visiting at least 5 different site to pay my bills.  Many people suggest consolidateingBill Payment via one provider, most likely your bank. I have often thought of doing this, but I actually like paying my bills at the individual websites.

Payments from your Bank take at least one day to credit if not 2-3 days to credit. Bill payments made at the individual website are usually credited same day even when it takes one day to actually pull the funds from the account. Also for my bills that are not credit cards, I prefer to pay via credit card which I can only do via the website. Because of those factors, as much as I’d like to consolidate all my bill payments onto one platform, I know I won’t.

However, one drawback to this system is that sometimes I’ll forget to pay a bill, usually a cable or electric bill. I’ve never forgotten to pay my credit card bills, but I worry someday I might. So I’ve decided to actually start paying my credit card bills via my bank on the next cycle. I don’t plan on making the full payment but rather setup repeating automatic payments for a nominal amount like $100 that should almost always above the minimum payment. I will continue paying the balance of the payment at the individual credit card sites, but this way I will know even if I forget, I will not suffer a late payment.  If I were still playing the balance transfer game, having automatic payments  would be imperative. Miss a payment, and promotional rates jump to the standard rates that are easily over 15%.

While setting up automatic payments will be a slight improvement to my current system, I’m continuing to explore ways to both simplify and make bill payment stress free. I know many people prefer automatic deduction of bills, and while I have done so in the past, I’m generally not a fan of the “pull” system. It’s not that I don’t trust my utility or any other vendor, but I also know the nature of bureaucracy.  Let me say, never ever ever get your Gym membership attached to any account. As is, the vendors who do offer automatic deduction do not do so in way that is transparent. Until I have full control over that system online, I remain skeptical. The only thing I have billed directly is Fastlane (the MA version of EZ-PASS), and personally I don’t trust it. I don’t even get a itemized statement.