Another winner from Yahoo!
Written: Jan 05 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy bill paying, email reminders
Cons: Missing some high-end features of other similar systems
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| ejmuller's Full Review: Yahoo%21 Bill Pay |
I have already stated in another review that I am quite fond of Yahoo! Their email service, calendar, reminders, etc. have all made my life easier. Now they have done it again with Yahoo! Bill Pay. I have been a fan of electronic bill paying for a long time now. I was one of the charter members with Citibank's Direct Access service and have never had a late mortgage payment in my life.
However, what do you do when you have an account with a bank that is still in the 19th Century? Because of illness, I have to take care of my parents' finances, including bill paying. It is always a mess and I have often sighed over it and wished I could send out the bills electronically. However, their account is with a bank that still uses an abacus to make interest payments. Along comes a notice for Yahoo! Bill Pay in my email. Hmmm.... could it be possible?
A few clicks later and I am on my way!
Here's how it works: you sign up with Yahoo! (but you already are, aren't you?) and click on the Yahoo! Bill Pay icon. You are prompted to enter some basic information about yourself and the bank account you wish to use. Not too invasive, but enough so they know you have legitimate access to this account. You cannot send payments immediately - Yahoo has to send you a verification code in the mail. It comes in a day or so. You can add payees right away (see below), but you can't send payments until you get the verification code.
So, here's how to add payees. Have all your bills in a stack when you do this - makes life much easier. You enter the name of the company, address, account number, etc. for each place you wish to send payments to.
Once you get your verification code and can begin making payments, you can set up recurring payments for those items that are the same amount each month - mortgage, cable or satellite bill, etc. You enter in the amount for each payment and when you want it mailed. Make sure you allow enough time for the payment to be delivered in a timely fashion. I always send mine out about 8 days before it is due, just to be on the safe side.
For payments that vary from month to month - phone bill, AMEX, etc. - you can sit down once every couple of weeks when the bills come in and take care of them all at once. Just click on the bill payment hyperlink and select each payee in turn. You've already entered all the information - just put in how much you want paid.
Yahoo! will even send you email reminders about bills due. How convenient is that??
Yahoo! Bill Pay is not quite as full featured as Citibank's service, but it is free, you can use it with virtually any bank account and I am sure they will continue to add features as time goes by.
So, no more worrying about late payments, no stamps, or missing the post office. What could be bad?
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ejmuller
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Member: Erika Muller
Location: Levittown, NY
Reviews written: 38
Trusted by: 7 members
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