|
|
Electronic Bill Payment-Saved Me From Paying InterestJul 06 '00 Write an essay on this topic.Initially I was very nervous about paying bills electronically. But my bank offered a free 90 day trial and I was already using Quicken so I figured I'd give it a try. The electronic banking was very easy to set up. I use SunTrust PC Banking and the Quicken software walked me through the whole process without a hitch. The cost is $9.95/month and SunTrust just eliminated the limitations on the number of monthly transactions allowed. They used to charge 75 cents for each payment after the 20 that were included in the $9.95. Now there are unlimited payments allowed for the monthly fee. Within the first two months I had caught Mobil Oil and one other credit company charging me interest and late payment fees for a late payment when in fact the electronic payments HAD gotten to Mobil and the other bank on time. In fact, this month was the THIRD time that Mobil Oil has charged me a finance charge days AFTER they got credited with my payment! I'm not sure how many times in the past I had paid late payment charges before using electronic payments. I had always assumed that perhaps the check had gotten delayed in the mail and got to the bank after the due date. To date the ONLY problems I have had with electronic banking is with the way that Quicken works. Quicken has a feature which memorizes transactions and then auto-fills in your payee information the next time you make a payment. Let's say that you make two different payments to First Union bank every month...one for your mortgage and one for a car loan. If you're not careful, Quicken can the cross the payment instructions. I had that problem the first three months! I have several credit cards with the same banks...one card for myself and one for my wife. I also have several payments to one bank for mortgage, car, and credit card. So several times, I had two payments go to one account while the second account was overdue. The banks had no problem in helping fix the mix up without charging me any late payment fees...but it was a hassle. I changed the payee names slightly so I KNOW which one is for which...such as "First Union-car payment" "Mortgage-First Union." I believe Electronic Banking is the way to go. Other than problems which were my fault or the credit card companies not crediting my account on time, no payments during the 12 months I have used this have EVER been late or incorrect because of a bank error. I highly recommend this method of paying bills! What would be nice with the electronic banking (at least with SunTrust) would be the ability to go online and see your checking account and the dates the transactions cleared. You can, at any time, log into the bank and download the transactions that have cleared the bank. This makes it easy to reconcile your bank account on a day-to-day basis if you like. Quicken will show you the transactions that have cleared and Quicken will then show you which transactions are matches to what you have already entered in your checkbook and which payments/deposits you haven't added. It gives you the opportunity to add those in without you having to type them. The process is very user friendly!  |
| Write the first comment on this review! |
|
Ads by Google
|
