With the advent of online banking, mobile phone applications and automatic deductions from your chequing account or credit card, the process of paying your bills at your branch, at the store or in the mail is no longer needed.
Since 2010, the number of households in the United States that use online banking stands at 72.5 million. Recent trends suggest that the number of consumers who pay their bills online continues to soar.
Most phone, cable, Internet and other companies give its customers the options to pay their bills online. As a matter of fact, some companies now even charge you a monthly fee to receive your bills in the mail.
If you’re still cautious about paying your bills online, here are some reasons that you should be excited about the possibility of paying all of your bills over the Internet as opposed to licking the envelope, waiting in long lines at your financial institution’s branch and wasting time.
Avoiding Fees
Some companies are now instituting a monthly fee to customers who still receive their bills in the mail. Although the fees maybe low (Koodo Mobile charges $2 per month), the money adds up over the years ($24 a year to pay a bill?).
Convenience
Once you start paying your bills through online banking, you can setup pre-authorized bill payments. Instead of forgetting to pay your phone bill and paying a late fee, you can immediately establish a date for your bank to take out the money from your account and pay the company.
Storage
Just think about it: a decade ago, you probably would have kept all of your bills over the years in a box. With email, storage on your computer and records on your online bank account, you will no longer have to keep piles of paper in a box.
Environment
It may sound clichéd, but you’re saving trees by not receiving paper bills. Previous studies show that online bill pay and its reduction of paper can save approximately 17 million trees. It also reduces paper waste filling landfills.
Savings
Similar to the fees of receiving your bills in the mail, you save money overall. By paying your bills through the mail, you spend money on postage. Also, as mentioned before, you save money from avoiding late fees. The savings all add up in the end.
Credit Score
Missing a bill payment can affect your overall credit score. As previously mentioned above, with online bill payment, you can establish a pre-payment method so you don’t forget to pay a bill and result in a credit score deduction.