Paying bills is annoying

[RoJoHen]

You know, I'm fine with the idea of paying bills. Things cost money, and I accept that. But paying lots and lots of individual bills is annoying, especially when they're all due at different times of the month.

I try to may all my bills at the same time regardless of their due date, but it's still annoying, especially when different places require different methods of payment. I pay them all online, but...

My rent is paid with a debit (banking) card.
If I want to pay my utilities with a debit card, I have to set up some random BillPay-type account. Otherwise, I have to set it up using my checking information.
If I want to pay my cable bill with a debit card, I have to set up another BillPay account, but it's not BillPay...it's some other company that does the exact same thing.
If I want to pay my student loans, I have to transfer funds from my checking to my loan account using my bank's website.

I just want to pay all my bills in one lump sum every month using the same method. Am I retarded in that I haven't figured this out, or is there really no good way to make this happen?

 

[Warp Coil]

I guess I'm still back on the stone age when it comes to this, because I still write an old fashioned check and put it in the mail. I tend to pay several bills at once, so I'm not pulling out the checkbook every week to pay something different.

 

[SeerSGB]

I guess I'm still back on the stone age when it comes to this, because I still write an old fashioned check and put it in the mail. I tend to pay several bills at once, so I'm not pulling out the checkbook every week to pay something different.

Some of my credit-accounts are starting to charge for paying by check (up to $5 for a mail order clothing store the wife uses). The utilities charge $2 for check payment-- in person or mail order. And one of my Citi cards just flat out refuses to take payment by anything but phone or online.

 

[RoJoHen]

I'm too lazy to pay by check, as that would require that I a) buy stamps and b) make regular trips to the post office. Not to mention the cost of eventually having to order more checks.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

All My Bills Paid By Direct Debit Same Date Every Month:

Rent
Council Tax
Car Insurance
TV Insurance
Water
Phone Line
Internet

All My Bills Paid By Cash At Post Office Every 3 Months:

Electric
Gas

All My Bills Paid By Online Banking Every Month:

Credit Card

 

[the Dagman]

I get free billpay from my bank which I use for all my bills. Rent, utilities, credit cards, even my doctor. I just go to the one website, enter how much I wish to pay and when I wish to pay it, and the bank makes sure the check arrives to them the day I specified. No fees, no writing checks, no stamps, no envelopes.

 

[RoJoHen]

I get free billpay from my bank which I use for all my bills. Rent, utilities, credit cards, even my doctor. I just go to the one website, enter how much I wish to pay and when I wish to pay it, and the bank makes sure the check arrives to them the day I specified. No fees, no writing checks, no stamps, no envelopes.

This is what I want. How did you discover such a service?

 

[the Dagman]

I get free billpay from my bank which I use for all my bills. Rent, utilities, credit cards, even my doctor. I just go to the one website, enter how much I wish to pay and when I wish to pay it, and the bank makes sure the check arrives to them the day I specified. No fees, no writing checks, no stamps, no envelopes.

This is what I want. How did you discover such a service?

I didn't really discover it more than it discovered me. My bank that I have used for many years began to offer the service a few years back. All my fees went away after I set up direct deposit of my paycheck. The only time I ever have to actually go to a branch office any more is to deposit the periodical check I get from doing my recycling.

BTW, it's Bank of America. Although I believe Wells Fargo also offers the same service.

 

[SeerSGB]

I get free billpay from my bank which I use for all my bills. Rent, utilities, credit cards, even my doctor. I just go to the one website, enter how much I wish to pay and when I wish to pay it, and the bank makes sure the check arrives to them the day I specified. No fees, no writing checks, no stamps, no envelopes.

This is what I want. How did you discover such a service?

I didn't really discover it more than it discovered me. My bank that I have used for many years began to offer the service a few years back. All my fees went away after I set up direct deposit of my paycheck. The only time I ever have to actually go to a branch office any more is to deposit the periodical check I get from doing my recycling.

BTW, it's Bank of America. Although I believe Wells Fargo also offers the same service.

I think most of the big chain banks offer "Bill Pay". I know Regions (our bank) does, as does Suntrust and United Community. They might not volunteer the information, so it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[Captain Ice]

Don't know about him, but my bank used to have information on this all over the branch, on the website, etc. Two of my credit cards offer the same kind of service.

Only thing that stops me from doing this is that (where possible) I like to pay the bill in person.

 

[RoJoHen]

BTW, it's Bank of America. Although I believe Wells Fargo also offers the same service.

Hmm...I have Wells Fargo. I may have to look into this.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

My bank also has a free BillPay service (it's not a national chain bank though). I only use it to pay its own accounts, like my VISA card and home loan.

Other bills, like cable/tv/net, water/gas, and power, I pay through automatic withdrawal by those utilities themselves. Mostly because the amounts of those bills are never exactly the same each month.

 

[Ruaidhri]

I tend to pay my bills twice a month, shortly after getting my pay direct deposited, and all but one of them is done using online banking. The only thing I pay by check is my rent, though I have the option of doing online banking with the landlord, too. I just haven't added it to my list yet.

 

[Small White Car]

We also use Bank of America.

If it's something that happens every month, it's programmed so that the BoA website pays it automatically.

Paying off credit cards is about the only bills we do manually. Everything else happens by itself. I LOVE living in the future!

 

[Garrovick]

The Bank pays all my bills. They even send checks to individual one time bills.

 

[Lindley]

Cox is going to start requiring me to use *their* provided email address to log in for online payment soon. I'm seriously considering switching to Verizon because of that asinine requirement....

 

[Mallory]

TV Insurance

What the heck is TV Insurance?

 

[RoJoHen]

^I second that question.

 

[Miss Chicken]

My rent is taken out of my pension before my pension is deposited into the bank.

I have arranged $25 to be taken out of my bank each fortnight to cover my phone bill, my internet fees, pay (cable)TV, video hire fees and a couple of other payments are taken out be direct debit monthly.

I pay my hydro (power bill) by Bpay - an Australia form of internet banking. I usually pay about $60 a fortnight.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

When i was working, i paid all of my bills online. My phone, car, car insurance, all got paid online.