Ways to Automate Your Bill Paying

Gone are the days sitting down with your monthly bills, checkbook, stamps, and envelopes to pay the bills. With our ever growing technological world, paying bills with a check through the mail is outdated and not preferred. There are several ways to automate your bill paying and make your monthly budgeting much easier.

Advantages of Automated Bill Pay:

• Don’t have to pay for stamps, envelopes and checks.

• Don’t have to worry about bill being late while going through the mail.

• Can avoid late fees on bills.

• Less time spent paying bills.

• Can sometimes receive discounts for setting up automatic payment.

• Less paper clutter to have in your house.

Set Up Recurring Bill Pay With Your Financial Institution

Most financial institutions offer free online bill pay programs with checking accounts. Log into your bill pay and set up the payee information for your various bills. You will also likely find the option to set up a recurring payment. This option works best for payments that are exactly the same each month, such as your mortgage payment or an insurance premium.

Have Your Bill Provider Automatically Deduct From Your Account

Another option is to have your bill providers to automatically withdraw the amount due each month from your account. Many providers have this option available online. You will need to provide your routing and account numbers and provide consent for their terms and conditions. Setting up automatic payments directly from the billing company works well with payments that may fluctuate each month.

Great Bills to Set Up For Automated Payments:

• Your mortgage payment.

• Installment loan payments such as car payments or student loan payments.

• Recurring monthly payments that stay the same such as your cell phone bill or cable bill.

• Your insurance payments such as car insurance, homeowner’s insurance, renter’s insurance or even medical insurance if you are paying it directly.

Don’t Forget to Pay Yourself

After paying for all of your expenses it can be easy to forget to save money. Make yourself a priority and think of your savings account as another bill you need to pay. Set up an automatic transfer into your savings each month or on the days you get paid to assure that you are paying yourself first.

Set Up a Calendar

If you have multiple payments automatically coming out of your checking account, consider setting up a calendar to keep track of them. It can be easy to lose track of what bills are coming out of your account. You don’t want to carelessly swipe your debit card and not have enough money in your checking account for your pending bills.

Automating your bills is a convenient way to streamline your finances. It can help to keep you from forgetting to pay bills and save time and money. Email Carolina Money Minders today to see how we can help you look thoroughly at your financial picture.