When we moved, we opened a new bank account with a large national bank. As a whole, it is fine. But I hate their bill pay.
I have no idea why, but the lead time needed for paying bills varies from 1 to 5 days depending on the bill. Additionally, our utility bills arrive about 10-14 days before they are due. This is screwing me up based on when we get paid.
So, in the name of simplification, I am taking $500 from our third paycheck of the month and prepaying our utilities, using the last bill amount as the amount prepaid. This way, I can pay all the bills on the first of the month with the rent. This isn't a perfect system, but I needed to build in a credit with each company to avoid late charges. As I get a better handle on the bills, I can adjust as needed.
Now, I will take $250 per paycycle and put it aside for the bills, and pay everything at once. Eventually I want to build this system to include the credit cards and student loan, but I will be happy to start with just the household bills.
And for those who have an eye for this stuff...this doesn't impact the extra money we will be putting toward paying off G-man's car. While both come from the third paycheck of the month, they are direct deposited into separate accounts, so we see them as separate piles of money.
Almost all of our online banking is one day but our loan to the bank that is right in the same area is five days. I don't understand that at all. I constantly watch when the dates of the pay day is because last year the second pay period came on the last day of February and the bills were due that same day. Had to pay everyone from the first pay of the month. Cheryl
ReplyDeleteI am constantly watching the pay dates as well. But eventually, I am trying to get EVERYTHING to be paid on the first of the month, just so I can just pay the bills once a month and not worry about the actual dates. The third paycheck thing always throws things off....since our first paycheck of the next month is actually in the middle of month.
DeleteThis is one of the reasons I don't trust bill pay. I think you have a smart idea there.
ReplyDeleteWe have a similar process ...our budget lays out which payday the bill comes from, but I just "hold" the funds in my checking account (whatever the average bill is) ...that way I can adjust the real amount when the bill arrives. For instance if my electric bill averages $145 I have a line that depletes my checking by $145 from the payday before that bill. If the bill comes and it's only $140 I just reflect a deposit of $145 and a payment of $140 and my checking my account balance goes up $5. If it's a lot lower I push the extra into our connected savings...if it's higher I have a couple hundred dollars as buffer sitting in the checking account to cover any "overdraft" that would be created. By the time all the bills come in and get paid it usually is pretty close. That way I'm not paying a guesstimate or too early, but the money still seems "gone" in checking so I don't use it for other things. Sounds more complicated than it really is, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI use BofA, all go through next day and free..
ReplyDeleteMine is free, and it allows us to do person-to-person transfers. But every bill seems to have a different amount of time to complete the transaction....and I will never remember which bill is 3 days, which is 5 days....
DeleteWith that said, most bills go through the next day, at least the money is taken out which I like BUT if you pay a person or small company that does not have a payee ID it does take longer, 3 to 5 days.. I think they mail a check
DeleteI do something similar. I get paid biweekly. I pay the rent out of one check and other bills out of the second. Tomorrow I pay April's rent. With my other household bills, I run a credit and eventually I will be able to skip a payment. It's a less flexible form of savings, but works for me.
ReplyDeleteI use Bill Pay for 99% of my check writing, my only complaint is when I send it to a Doctors office and they don’t cash the check for 3 weeks. I use PNC bank, it’s normally one day turn around paying a bill
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