Online Bill Paying Saves Time and Eliminates Paper (2024)

FAQs

What is a great benefit of using online bill pay? ›

Online Bill Pay also puts you in control of your finances. You decide when your money leaves your account and you can set up recurring payments giving you the peace of mind that your bills will be paid on time. Payment amounts can be changed and payments can be cancelled before they are sent.

Online bill pay is much easier and cheaper than writing checks to pay your bills. The best way to get an accurate checking account balance is to call your bank or credit union directly. What should you do when you open a checking account?

Using a credit card is one of the safest ways to pay your bills. If problems arise, you can dispute the charge with your credit card company. Additionally, many credit cards offer fraud protection in case your card is stolen or used without permission.

Today, most banks and businesses offer online bill payments, which can be faster, more convenient and secure. To simplify payments even more, you may be able to set up automatic bill payments through your own bank account, making paying the bills an easy, one-stop process.

You can often view your payment history online, which can be helpful if you need to dispute a charge or track your spending. It can be more secure than paying bills with a check, as your information is typically encrypted when you enter it online.

Think Safety First

Opting for online payments is the safest method to prevent your checks from being stolen via the mail.

Benefits of Online Bill Pay

And since Bill Pay can do check writing and remittance on your behalf, you no longer need to manually write checks and mail payments out. It's Reliable. For many people, keeping track of bills is one of the more tedious parts of money management.

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.

Security: Online bill pay is more secure than paying bills with paper checks. Your financial information is encrypted when you send payments online, which makes it difficult for scammers to steal it.

Is it safer to pay bills online or by phone? ›

It's generally safer to use your bank's online bill pay because you have more control over the payment process. You set the amount and date of payment rather than allowing the service provider to take the money from your bank account on their terms.

Setting up online bill pay with your bank or credit union is usually a quick and easy process. Simply log on to your online banking portal and navigate to the "Bill Pay" tab. Next, you'll need to enter each payee's name and information. Your bank may already have your payee saved inside its system.

Your bank will take all of its daily transactions and submit them in a batch file to the automated clearing house (ACH) network. This processes large volumes of credit and debit transactions at once.

Automatic or direct debit

You provide the merchant or service provider (for example, your cell phone provider or utility company) with your checking account information and they take the funds from your account each time the bill is due (for example, every month). Convenient, saves time and free. automatic debit.

As with check payments, the payment amount you send through online bill pay will be deducted from your checking account. But with bill pay, you won't need to send a paper check to your credit card company or service provider to make payments–you can simply schedule your payments online through your banking dashboard.

Disadvantages of automatic bill payments include the difficulty in canceling them, the need to keep adequate funds in your checking account, and the potential of incurring a returned payment or late fee.

Thanks to encryption and secure Internet connections, online banking is a convenient and safe way to handle your money. Peer-to-peer payments are often safer than paying someone with a paper check. Paying bills online—particularly if you use autopay—can save both time and money.