Freshly Squeezed by Ed Stein for October 12, 2024

I’ve been forced to go online to pay many of my bills as they are now charging for pay by mail or have no mail option that is convenient. I use a special account for online payments to keep track of them.

He could also go to online banking and set up the account details for each bill he has to pay. Then he’d only have one login to keep track of, and when the bills are due, he could sign in and pay them from the bank’s website (he could also set up autopay, if that’s his choice). Not to mention that he could use his brains and actually keep track of his logins and passwords in a notebook or on a spreadsheet. Many options available in our brave new world.

I haven’t written a check in several years. I use my credit card to pay those creditors who accept them without a fee [and get cash back] and my bank’s bill pay service for those who don’t. I find it hard to believe that anyone would choose to go through all the trouble and expense of writing and mailing checks to pay their bills when it can be done with a few mouse clicks, And don’t get me started about people writing checks at retail stores who don’t get their checkbooks out until their order is rung up.

Send checks rather than setting up automatic withdrawals. You don’t want those vendors to have your bank account numbers!! ;-)

If you pay by check you are giving someone: bank account #, address, signature. Then if you pay in person and they ask for an ID-your drivers Lic # and DOB. Up until 9/11 it was common for states to us SS# for DL# and student IDs.

Until the business sends the bill late or USPS losses it and you have to pay late charges, penalty charges and get hit with an increased interest rate.