Paying Bills Online - Your choices
Many individuals have stopped paying their bills using checks, envelopes and postage; instead, they like to make use of the net to produce payments. When paying bills online, you have a few options, such as bank-generated payments and vendor-generated payments. Pay My Bills
Bank Generated Payments
Many banks offer bill paying services at no cost. One enters the vendor's name, address as well as an amount on the bank's website and a check is disseminated on a specified date. Each month you need to sign in the financial institution site and alter the amount to become paid. It is relatively simple and straightforward. This setup is ideal for those who travel a lot and would like to have control over bill payments. Depending on your bank, you can subscribe to checks to be issued for many amounts each month, such as for mortgage or rent expenses. By using this system, payments go out without you being forced to sign in and authorize them individually. Be sure to schedule payments in advance of work deadlines, and beware that typically payments aren't received by vendors and therefore are returned to the bank. Test the machine by sending payments a number of days prior to being due, to ensure that should they don't proceed through, you don' t use the bank service. Usually, in the event the first bank payment experiences, chances for problems in the future are slim.
Vendor Generated Payments
This type of online payment has been in existence before the Internet became so popular. The thought is always to let the vendor to debit the payment out of your checking account at a certain date every month. Instead of the bank making payments, the vendor pays itself by using your account. It is possible to allow individual payments to become obtained from your bank, or you will visit "auto-pay," when payments are debited from your bank account each month. There's no need to be worried about payments -- when you have an equilibrium in your account, payments are performed behind the scenes to suit your needs. Many people use this option with credit card companies to obtain the minimum amount paid every month. Auto-pay can be a wise decision should you travel a lot, or you want avoid late charges. However, once you're on auto-pay and you also find an error in the bill, the payment may come out of your account, and it may make time to have the issue resolved.
One other issue with auto-pay is that you cannot stop your bank from accepting them. For instance, in the event you signed up for gym memberships or loan instalments using auto-pay, these companies can debit your bank account even after you cancel your membership or pay or loan completely. Your bank may give you credit, nevertheless the process could be a hassle. Often banks advise customers to close accounts to prevent auto-debits. Be alert for any non-authorized transactions. According to the U.S. Comptroller of Currency Office, "You must report any unauthorized electronic transaction that seems on your own account statement within 60 calendar times of the bank's transmission of the statement in order to avoid liability for any subsequent transfers. Therefore, you will need to review your account statement upon receipt." Pay My Bills
Business Considerations
If you are planning using online payments to your business, make sure to document the problem -- a bookkeeper may pay an invoice having a check, as the same bill is paid automatically with a vendor. Accounting staff must be aware of all Internet payment types to prevent double paying or paying late. Another concern is to ensure that internal controls exist to prevent misuse and errors in online payment processing. For instance, a cpa may create auto-pay in the bank to pay a fictitious firm and nobody know about this. You need to problem, be sure that someone outside accounting, such as the business proprietor or general manager logs on your bottom line website and review auto-payments and debits towards the account at least once monthly. Some banks provide the choice of emails be shipped to business owners or someone outside accounting to supply a kind of internal control to the process.
Many individuals have stopped paying their bills using checks, envelopes and postage; instead, they like to make use of the net to produce payments. When paying bills online, you have a few options, such as bank-generated payments and vendor-generated payments. Pay My Bills
Bank Generated Payments
Many banks offer bill paying services at no cost. One enters the vendor's name, address as well as an amount on the bank's website and a check is disseminated on a specified date. Each month you need to sign in the financial institution site and alter the amount to become paid. It is relatively simple and straightforward. This setup is ideal for those who travel a lot and would like to have control over bill payments. Depending on your bank, you can subscribe to checks to be issued for many amounts each month, such as for mortgage or rent expenses. By using this system, payments go out without you being forced to sign in and authorize them individually. Be sure to schedule payments in advance of work deadlines, and beware that typically payments aren't received by vendors and therefore are returned to the bank. Test the machine by sending payments a number of days prior to being due, to ensure that should they don't proceed through, you don' t use the bank service. Usually, in the event the first bank payment experiences, chances for problems in the future are slim.
Vendor Generated Payments
This type of online payment has been in existence before the Internet became so popular. The thought is always to let the vendor to debit the payment out of your checking account at a certain date every month. Instead of the bank making payments, the vendor pays itself by using your account. It is possible to allow individual payments to become obtained from your bank, or you will visit "auto-pay," when payments are debited from your bank account each month. There's no need to be worried about payments -- when you have an equilibrium in your account, payments are performed behind the scenes to suit your needs. Many people use this option with credit card companies to obtain the minimum amount paid every month. Auto-pay can be a wise decision should you travel a lot, or you want avoid late charges. However, once you're on auto-pay and you also find an error in the bill, the payment may come out of your account, and it may make time to have the issue resolved.
One other issue with auto-pay is that you cannot stop your bank from accepting them. For instance, in the event you signed up for gym memberships or loan instalments using auto-pay, these companies can debit your bank account even after you cancel your membership or pay or loan completely. Your bank may give you credit, nevertheless the process could be a hassle. Often banks advise customers to close accounts to prevent auto-debits. Be alert for any non-authorized transactions. According to the U.S. Comptroller of Currency Office, "You must report any unauthorized electronic transaction that seems on your own account statement within 60 calendar times of the bank's transmission of the statement in order to avoid liability for any subsequent transfers. Therefore, you will need to review your account statement upon receipt." Pay My Bills
Business Considerations
If you are planning using online payments to your business, make sure to document the problem -- a bookkeeper may pay an invoice having a check, as the same bill is paid automatically with a vendor. Accounting staff must be aware of all Internet payment types to prevent double paying or paying late. Another concern is to ensure that internal controls exist to prevent misuse and errors in online payment processing. For instance, a cpa may create auto-pay in the bank to pay a fictitious firm and nobody know about this. You need to problem, be sure that someone outside accounting, such as the business proprietor or general manager logs on your bottom line website and review auto-payments and debits towards the account at least once monthly. Some banks provide the choice of emails be shipped to business owners or someone outside accounting to supply a kind of internal control to the process.