Automating Bills and Payments


If youre looking for a super-simple way to "go green" and help our environment recover from an overabundance of pollution, there is a way you can do it without pain. The answer is automation. Technology today enables you to stop the paper from coming to your snail mailbox and, instead, receive bills digitally while making payments electronically. Doing so eliminated the need for paper, ink, and fuel, and can help impact the environment in surprising ways.

Digital billing instead of paper billing can:

* Reduce deforestation  Just stopping the mailing of bills alone can save over 18.5 million trees a year.
* Reduce solid waste  Right now bills account for more than 800,000 tons of solid waste a year going into the landfill. 
* Reduce greenhouse gases  If everyone switched to paperless billing, we could save over 2.1 million tons (Javelin Strategy and Research).

On a personal level, digital billing and electronic payments can save you time and money right away. Even if you dont notice the environmental impact, youll see the savings. Plus, its easy to set up. You can do it one of two ways.

1. Let the Bill Deduct Payments Automatically

This is how a lot of people do it. They simply set up an online account on their debts website and let them take the money out of the account when your bill is due. This is not really the very best way, but if your bank doesnt have online bill pay, then it might be the way to do it. 

The drawback to this is that you will have to check each account individually instead of just your bank account to ensure everything is going as planned. Plus, read the fine print. Some of the bills (like Bank of America, for example) add a note that the auto payments are only set up for 18 months instead of forever if you dont check it right.

2. Set Up Bill Payments with Your Online Banking

The best way to set up your online payments is through e-billing via your online banking system. Most of these are called "Bill Pay," and it is usually free to set up with your bank account. Pretty much all banks have this ability now. If youre not sure, you can set up an appointment with your bank to show you how to do it.

The reason this is the best way is that you essentially create a dashboard that you can go to for your bills via your bank. Its all in one spot, and for most bills today you can even set up whats called an e-bill so you can look at your statements via your bank accounts online dashboard. You can then easily double check your account to ensure everything is going as planned.

Setting up automated bills and payments is a great way to save time, money, and as a bonus, the environment. Plus, despite rumors to the contrary, online banking is a lot safer than mailing a check through the mail as your identity and numbers are more secure in the cloud than going through the mail or sitting in your unlocked file cabinet. 

