2 Steps to Automate Your Bill Pay

Making time every week or monthly to go through all of your bills and pay them takes up precious time. If there is one thing we don’t have enough of these days it’s time. With our lives full of more obligations then time, this is an unnecessary waste of time in our day and age of online bill pay and automatic payment. We live in the high-tech world which provides us ways to pay our bills beyond the traditional methods take advantage of it. Setting your bill up to be paid automatically can also provide a failsafe to protect you from forgetting, procrastination, or even poor judgment, besides just freeing up time.  Automating your bills will allow you to set it and forget it, and the best part is automating your finances has never been simpler.

You are able to set up automatic payments either through your online banking account by using their bill pay feature, or in some cases with your creditors in your account log-in on their website. Most companies have websites which allow you to login and pay your bills. Some even have ways which you can automate your payments within their site. However, setting up your automatic payments through your creditors directly can be a little more complicated. This is because you may have to enroll in their automatic payment system and provide your debit card, checking account or routing number. However, most banks also have online banking, which offers automatic bill pay technology directly within their website and typically it is free. If your bank does not provide at this option, you may want to think about switching. This is because by using a banking institution compared to logging on to the creditors website, which has an automatic bill pay feature, all your bills and expenses can be tracked in one place and can be completed in 2 steps.

1. First, make a list of your monthly bills, expenses and creditors.  Gather all account information for all your creditors and bills including milling address, account number, due dates, and monthly payment, as well as your expected pay dates. Don’t forget to include yourself. Having money in savings is a key part of your financial stability. Even if you are climbing your way out of debt, you should still be putting money into savings and paying yourself first every paid period. With most banks you have the option of having your money transferred right out of your checking account into your savings account each payday.
2. Once you have found the bank and bill pay feature of your choice and have all of your account information ready it’s time to enroll and automate. Enter in all payment dates and requested information. While you are doing this, take time to explore the bill pay options along with its features.

It’s that simple and now your bills are on auto-pilot, and making time to sit down and pay your bills is one less thing you have to worry about.