Paying Bills Online.. (name, people, buying, check)

[*Holly*]

Online bill paying is so much easier then running to 10 different locations ... waiting in lines... and wasting my time & gas. I get online.... and I pay all my bills within 10 mins. That includes my car notes, mortgage and all the wonderful bills inbetween. The only bill I have that does not give you the option to pay online is my car insurance. (So I call & pay over the phone, instead of wasting money on stamps & checks... & again gas & time). The time I save from running around town I can spend on other things. Bill payers are usually irritated and are lacking "spare time" @ the bill paying centers. I like to avoid that all together.

I have never had a problem with identify theft or stolen accounts...(knocking on some fake wood around my desk). If the sites were not safe the companies would not have online bill paying options... after all they WANT your money! I wouldn't recommend it for everyone... but for me, it's a choice I'm happy I made.

[vpcats]

Originally Posted by *Holly*

Online bill paying is so much easier then running to 10 different locations ... waiting in lines... and wasting my time & gas. I get online.... and I pay all my bills within 10 mins. That includes my car notes, mortgage and all the wonderful bills inbetween. The only bill I have that does not give you the option to pay online is my car insurance. (So I call & pay over the phone, instead of wasting money on stamps & checks... & again gas & time). The time I save from running around town I can spend on other things. Bill payers are usually irritated and are lacking "spare time" @ the bill paying centers. I like to avoid that all together.

I have never had a problem with identify theft or stolen accounts...(knocking on some fake wood around my desk). If the sites were not safe the companies would not have online bill paying options... after all they WANT your money! I wouldn't recommend it for everyone... but for me, it's a choice I'm happy I made.

I know where I spend the time I save!

[Magnum Mike]

Originally Posted by AksarbeN

I don’t even keep a list of names or address on the pc, much less other important personal information. If a hacker gets into this pc they would laugh at how little there is in personal data stored. I do keep personal info on another pc that never gets to visit the internet, now that protects me somewhat ~ until a home breakin and they take both pc’s. ......
..

All Windows operating systems starting with Windows 2000 and newer, do have built in functionality to protect your PC against hackers, but even if you're using Windows '98, all internet service providers also have firewalls and very strict user authentication to protect their network and their customers against hackers. So if you decide to pay your bills online, there's no chance of a hacker getting your personal information.

Also, your home computer(s) should be password protected so that if they were to be stolen, they wouldn't be able to get past the login/password screen and they would have to reformat the hard drive in order to make the computer usable, which will involve erasing everying that's currently on the hard drive.

[*Holly*]

Originally Posted by vpcats

I know where I spend the time I save!

lmaooooo..... so do I but... that's a whole other topic!

[MB2]

Originally Posted by Magnum Mike

How many of your bills do you pay online?

Me - I pay all but one bill online, and the one bill I mail in is only because they don't have provisions for paying online, which I hope will change soon because I hate buying stamps!

I've been doing online banking for about 1 1/2 years now, and do it at the bank's secured website. (Their internet security provisions are so much better then mine would ever be...lol)
And, thank god I am doing it, because it came in handy.
When we just recently moved, our keys to the mailbox were supposed to be waiting for us at the new place.
Coming to find out, landlord send the keys in the mail, it's been almost 3 weeks now, and STILL hasn't arrived..yet.
So, we were just given a replacement key....YESTERDAY!
Since I am doing online banking, I was able to pay bills, which were sitting in our locked mailbox...huh.

[humboldtrat]

I agree with Aksarben. I don't give out any personal information on this d*** machine. Why take chances. I have heard horror stories of people having their identity stolen when buying stuff on-line. I don't get people buying and selling stock on E-trade or Ameritrade. That's really asking for it.

[Cecilia_Rose]

I was concerned at first too. Then it dawned on me. The info is still there even if I dont use it. So now I do all my bills on line. Even the yearly ones.

I save even more by having as many as possible be auto on my credit cards. I dont use my cards much. This keeps them active and I get cash back and bonus points. I dont pay interest cause I know how much and I prepay my cards.

I pay my car insurance monthly by visa.

[floridadreamer]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

All my bills are paid by Direct Debit ( do you have that in the States ? Where you set up a facility for your household bills to be directly debited from your bank account). Easy, simple and you never forget to pay them.

I think it's usually arrange through the banks website here in US. We used to do the same as you when we lived in Manchester.

[floridadreamer]

Originally Posted by humboldtrat

I agree with Aksarben. I don't give out any personal information on this d*** machine. Why take chances. I have heard horror stories of people having their identity stolen when buying stuff on-line. I don't get people buying and selling stock on E-trade or Ameritrade. That's really asking for it.

I don't think they'd want our identity right now.

[KimoJimo]

I never thought too much about it until the other day when I received a letter from the Disney Corp saying that a supplier of theirs sold all the info about me to an FBI sting operation. I had at one time joined Disney's DVD club and when I had fulfilled my obligation on DVD's I had (fortunately) cancelled my membership. About all anyone could have used was the credit card number which had been cancelled, and my address. It did kinda shake me up, though!

It had really never occurred to me that Disney would have given the info to a third party. I'm so naive, I guess.

Now I wonder if there is an FBI agent running around buying "BAMBI", "SNOW WHITE", etc! More power to him!