PAY YOUR BILLS ONLINE AND SAVE
It is easier than ever to pay your bills online. These days, all of the major banks and most small banks and credit unions offer mobile banking so you can check your balance, transfer funds, deposit checks with your phone camera, and even pay bills through their apps. It’s all right there in one place! Need 1-hour approval for a mortgage? No problem. The aforementioned banks allow instant approval of small home improvement loans via their apps as well.
You can also use automatic bill pay to take the work out of that monthly chore. Automatic payments are credited on the date you choose (usually around the first or fifteenth of each month). This means that if you’re paid twice per month, every other paycheck gets automatically transformed into paying bills instead of just sitting in your bank account.
Right now it is usually free to set up automatic bill pay, but that can quickly change. “Free forever” was a common marketing slogan when online banking started becoming popular about a decade ago. But many banks have since changed their policies and now charge for basic checking accounts to make use of these features. It has become a selling point for banks trying to gain customers in the fiercely competitive world of consumer finance. For example, in 2012 Bank of America switched from offering free online bill pay with its basic checking accounts to charging $12/year for the service. This move sparked outrage from current customers who didn’t feel like they should have been forced into an upgrade if all they wanted was convenience at no cost. It didn’t make a lot of sense to stick with BofA, either. In order to avoid the fee, customers were required to opt-in by making sure certain emails from the bank arrived in their inbox instead of spam folder. Only those who checked their email every day would have been aware that they could keep this important service free.
Just a year before that change, Chase made a similar move regarding its “Priority” checking accounts – only existing customers were grandfathered into the old plan and new ones had to pay for online bill pay if they wanted it as part of their account . It was an especially annoying policy because there was no way for consumers to know during signup whether or not online bill pay would be offered as part of their account.
Since Chase has the most customer accounts of any bank in the US, this was a huge shift that many people noticed and complained about. It’s hard to find someone who hasn’t used online bill pay since it became available, so take advantage while you can get it for free! The extra $10-$30 per month you’re saving by not paying your bills at the post office or using snail mail could really add up if you time it right. You can use that cash to pay down debt faster or just treat yourself to something nice every month.
One thing to keep in mind as more and more banks offer these convenient services is that they may come with additional fees attached. If want to keep your checking account fee-free but still have the benefits of online banking, then opting for a smaller bank or credit union might be your best bet.
Many people choose to manage their money in different ways. For example, some people only use cash and don’t even open a checking account while others like to keep all of their funds in one easy location (i.e. with the same bank or credit union).
Another perk that isn’t advertised enough is that when you link your savings accounts up with online banking, it is much easier to optimize your savings and make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck on your investments . And who doesn’t want an excuse to do more research and watch their money grow?
One downside many consumers worry about when it comes to online banking is security. It’s important to remember that the money in your bank account isn’t actually kept in a shoebox under your bed (although you might be tempted to stash some spare cash there). Banks use something called “fractional reserve” accounting, which means that they keep very little of our money on hand at any given time. The rest of it is out in the world helping other people buy homes, go to school and start businesses. With this in mind, it makes sense that banks would want an extra layer of protection for our money so they can sleep soundly knowing nothing bad will happen overnight while the computers are off.