The Pros and Cons of Online Bill Paying

What are the Pros for paying your bills online? One of the pros is convenience. Online bill paying is appealing to many people. Paying bills online saves time and money. It saves money on stamps, envelopes, and trips to the Post Office. You can sign up for online banking with your bank. To sign up all you need is a checking account. All you need to do is set up a user name and a password. You must read the terms of your bank's website, and agree with them to set up an online account.

You can set up "Automatic Payments" for monthly bills that are about the same every month, which helps to prevent missed payments or late payments, so that you can avoid late fees and other charges. Another good thing about online bill paying is that it saves trees. Less paper is used and you can have your bills emailed to you, instead of having them sent to you in the mail. After paying your bills online, you have the option of printing your receipts to keep for your own records.

Banks and Financial Institutions are secure with financial information and the risks are very low. Every month the transactions must be reviewed to be careful. Bank statements should be gone over carefully to make sure that there are no unusual charges. Credit card statements should be gone over carefully, as well, to make sure that there are no unusual charges.

Another advantage of online bill paying, is that you can do it in the convenience of your own home. All you need is a computer, a printer, and the Internet.

There are disadvantages to online bill paying, as well, as advantages. There are many thieves who will use the Internet to steal banking information and personal information. The thieves are very aware that online banking is appealing. They try to steal people's identity, banking account information, and then try to open up additional accounts. Computer security is very important. Thieves on the Internet are always trying to steal credit card numbers. Thieves Use spy-ware, and fake websites that look like the real thing. They will even send emails trying to get personal information and banking account numbers, to get into other people's accounts.

When paying bills online,make sure that your computer is working correctly. Don't pay bills online if your computer is running slower or is making odd noises. Being a victim of banking information theft or identity theft isn't funny, and can be very frustrating, If thieves take money out of bank accounts, it may be very difficult or impossible to get the money back.

Not every company that you may pay bills to, has the https in front of their web address on their website. Instead they may have http, which is not a secure website. A website that doesn't have the https, isn't a secure website, which could put your financial information at risk. If a website is down for maintenance a lot, that may be another sign hat you should not pay your bill online to them. Be very careful when paying bills online, and make sure that the website that you're paying the bill to is legitimate. Check out the website by calling the main corporate office, and never use the phone number on the website. Use a telephone book or another website for a telephone number to call.

To pay bills online, you need a checking account and routing numbers, and account numbers from the statements of the bills you want to pay online. You need to enroll or create an account with the companies you want to pay bills to online. Avoid passwords that are easy to guess. Avoid passwords like: "1234", your birth-date, and "password." Make sure that the websites that you're going to pay bills to are "encrypted", to be sure that the site is secure, before entering your information.

Having two checking accounts is a good way to minimize losing money. Have one checking account for your online bills, the other for your regular transactions. You can write checks to your checking account for your online bills from your regular checking account, so that you can deposit money into it for your online bills. Some companies may use a third party company to handle their transactions, so those companies usually charge a fee.

Make sure to have money in your checking account for Automatic payments to avoid over-draft fees. Do research on the Internet to find the best ways to protect your financial information, and to protect yourself from thieves and identity theft. Paying bills online in a convenience and has a lot of advantages, but it also has its disadvantages, as well. Being careful and being aware will help to protect your financial information and to protect you from having your identity stolen from you.

Just a few days ago, some company called: "My Money Leaf" which is online, charged my bank account: $ 29.95. The charge for for a payday loan application that was dated: September 18, of this year 2012. I never filled out an application on that date. I have never had any payday loans that were online. I have been to some physical stores where I live. I was really shocked to see that this My Money Leaf had taken the money out of my account. I was never expecting it and didn't know anything about it. I talked to my bank, but I didn't get anywhere. I sent the company, My Money Leaf an email, to try to find out if one of the local payday loan stores charged the fee. I was never informed that My Money Leaf was charging the $ 29.95. I lost almost thirty dollars out of my account and I probably won't be able to get the money back or find out anything about it. I looked at my checking account online, and that is when I saw that My Money Leaf had taken the money.