How to Pay Bills Online, on Time and withouty Late Payment Fees

It used to be that utility bills were due every month, or in some places, bi-monthly. Other bills used to give 30 to 60 day grace periods. For most companies such liberal policies started to fade away even before the recession hit, so now if you don’t pay promptly, you may find you’re already hefty bills are laden with additional overdue charges. Here are some tips on how to pay bills online, on time and without those late payment fees.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Set up an account for automatic bill payment. Almost all companies offer this service. And if for some reason you cannot pay online or set up a payment account, establish an inflexible schedule of bill payments. Once – or even twice – a month may not be often enough to make sure bills are paid on time. You may have to plan on paying weekly. An example might be to review your payments each Monday.

2. Immediately put all your bills in the same place when they come in so none of them gets accidentally misplaced. Remember to check that your online accounts are being credited regularly even if you are signed up for automatic payments. A skipped payment will conjure up a late payment fee even if you are not at fault.

3. If you want to set up an automatic payment system always enter directly through the main site. Make sure you are dealing with safe sites and only enter directly through the front pages, never through an email link which might be a phishing scam. The fear of late penalty fees will be eradicated by automatic bill pay, but should you close your bank or credit card account for any reason, make sure you have notified any bill payments attached to that account. Follow these basics and you won’t ever have to worry about paying a bill on time without late penalty fees once you sign up for automatic bill payments.

4. Some companies will send out online reminders. You might find it useful to subscribe to a service like this to assure you don’t accidentally forget to pay a bill. Again, most online services will notify you of payments as they come up. Make sure you check on a regular basis.

5. These are just some ways you can be sure to pay your bills online, on time, and without late penalty fees. With so many people in economic trouble these days, companies are not being either patient or understanding about late bill payment. So, to avoid having to pay those additional penalty fees, make sure your bills are paid on time.

[trvlarrngr]

on 7/16/2009 Great tips. thanks

[teachermom]

on 7/10/2009 All great tips for paying bills.

[goodselfme]

on 7/8/2009 good bill paying tips.

[georgelarson]

on 7/8/2009 This is good information about paying your bills on time.