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"Steve" wrote:
I have been playing around with electronic bill payment systems for about
4-5 years. Trying different methods while I'm still at or near my home base.
About the only bills I can't set up for automatic payment are the utility
and cell phone bill.. I suspect if I needed to, I could have them
automatically charged to my credit card but I don't want them to have my
account number..
I have electronic bill pay through my bank. I can set up recurring
payments of the same amount for a specified number of times. For
instance the car insurance is semi-annual and 4 even payments each
time. The actual checks are sent from the bill pay service to the
person whose bill is being paid via USPS - the electronic part is just
my telling them to pay the bill and how much via the internet. I can
even send my grandchildren checks for Xmas if I want to by just
setting them up as an account.
I have a credit card with that bank and automatic deposit of our
retirement and SS to the bank. The credit card is automatically paid
from the bank account (separately from the electronic payment system).
I don't use any other card except in an extreme emergency (like when
Bob was in the ICU with a heart attack)..
The boat payments are automatically deducted from the bank account.
The house is at the end of a 30 year mortage and will be paid off next
month. Otherwise it has been an automatic electronic payment. We
don't have any car payments.
The electricity I have set on level payment - the same payment each
month regardless of the meter reading. Then I set the electronic bill
pay to automatically pay that amount. The electric company (a co-op
BTW) reassesses the amount in Feb and changes it if it is way to much
or way to little. Then in June the overage is credited or the
underage is paid off.
The oil company does the same thing with the heating oil. They figure
how much we used last year and divide that by 10 and we have the same
payment each month. Set up for automatic electronic payment.
The water bill is every quarter and it is the same amount each quarter
because we don't have a water meter so it is a flat rate. So that's
an automatic electronic payment every quarter.
The cell phones are charged to the credit card (above) as is my ISP.
The house phone is put on automatic pay once we leave at whatever the
cheapest rate is (paying for all outgoing calls) since we aren't there
to make any calls it should be always the same. There should be no
long distance bills because we aren't here to make calls. The cell
phone is no roaming and no long distance and as long as we stay within
a specified number of minutes is a flat rate.
Car insurance I set up for electronic payment also. Prescriptions are
charged to the credit card.
So the only things which I need to worry about are the safe deposit
box bill which comes in January, magazine subscriptions, some
organization dues, and paying off the last deliveries of the daily and
Sunday paper.
Otherwise I use eBill Pay through the USPS. Has worked very well for me for
that past 4 years. I can log into the site from anywhere that I have
Internet access and adjust any payment schedule.. I have found the USPS
service is better than most banks and credit unions because the money isn't
deducted from my bank account until the draft or electronic payment is
executed. Most banks want to deduct the money 10 days before the scheduled
payment due date. If there is a vendor/service that can't recieve elex
payments, then the USPS sends them a draft/money order instrument. I don't
remember the exact amount it cost per payment, but I think I am on a fixed
fee of about $5-6 a month for a half dozen payments.
My bank account isn't debited until the checks are cashed. The fee
for the service (which covers postage) is $4.95/month for about 20
checks a month. I've never gone over that number.
I have never had any problem with this system and plan to use it while
cruising.
grandma Rosalie
S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id2.html