Anyone use MyCheckFree (or other online bill payment services)?

In My Humble Opinion
1

One of the companies I pay monthly (ADT, if it matters) suggested that I might want to use MyCheckFree.com to pay bills online.

I checked them out, and it looks like I could pay six or seven different monthly bills through their web site, saving a little time, a couple bucks postage, and a bunch of paper each month.

However, a few things worry me about inserting another company between me and the people I’m paying. (Granted, right now, I’m inserting the USPS between me and the people I’m paying, but I’ve experienced the USPS, and I understand how far I can trust them.) How reliable is MyCheckFree.com? What if a payment gets misrouted? What if their website is unavailable? And the big one: If I’m unhappy, how do I stop using them (since, apparently, my utilities don’t send me paper bills any more)?

Can anyone with experience help a Luddite out here?

2

I use MyCheckFree to pay my electric bill (El Paso Electric) every month. I’ve yet to have a problem, but I don’t know myself how I would stop using it and go back to getting paper statements.

3

Does your bank not offer free online bill pay? I thought all of them did by now.

4

I use CheckFree to pay my Macys Bill. I didn’t sign up for it willingly; it appears to be the only way Maycs will accept online payments. So it was either sign up or haul my ass to the post office and figure out how this whole stamp/envelope/paper bill thing works.

5

Good question, and I just checked. Online bill payment they do offer, but the “free” part they don’t. Six bucks a month, which is more than it’s worth to me.

Stupid question, maybe: do you have things set up to automatically pay the bills on a certain date (whether or not you review the bill for that month), or do you log in and press a button to actually make the transaction? I get nervous about misplaced decimal points and so on.

6

I use mycheckfree for my gas bill. They send me a “bill” every month. I log in and pay it. I don’t know if there is an option for having it paid automatically since I can’t risk having a giant gas bill come out of my checking account without me actually pushing the button.

I’ve never had a problem with the service. I’ve been using it for over a year.

7

I use MyCheckFree to pay my gas bill, electric bill and telephone bill. I’ve been using them for about a year, and never have a problem.

When a new bill comes in from any of the companies I pay through them, I get an email saying I have a new bill from MCI or wherever. I log on, tell the website when I want the bill paid, and with a couple of mouseclicks, it’s done. I wish I could make our car payment, insurance payment, and cable bill payment through them, too.

8

I log in, review the bill, print it for my records, then manually click the pay button and set a date for the transaction (it defaults to the due date.) You do not have to actually pay it online. If I wanted to, I could drive to one of the electric company’s offices here in Las Cruces and make a physical payment there. Similarly, you could pay the bill online directly through whatever company the bill is for.

The reason I started using it for my electric bill is because El Paso Electric had no other way to pay online. I think they’ve finally gotten into the Internet age, but it works for me. I have not tried adding any of the other accounts I have that MyCheckFree can handle (such as Chevron, Qwest, or Dish Network) as I’m a little afraid myself of something getting screwed up in the works.

9

I use the service offered online by my credit union. I log in, choose who to pay and how much, then choose a date. Decimal points? Only used one once, and no trouble. Most of the amounts are in whole dollars and you don’t have to type “.00” afterwards.

10

My bank has it free and I use it. I can enter any payee I want and they see if they can pay it electronically or not. If not, they will send a paper check throught the regualr mail system for me at no cost. Anytime I have what I consider might be a re-occuring bill, I set it up for electronic banking ‘bill pay’.

My account shows which is which, how much and when it is paid, I can set up a schedualed payment, I have only 2 of those, and I get email reminders form them and/or from the place ( ATT, Cingular, etc.). I enter all in ‘Quicken’ and record on the paper bill if I have it. Weekly back-ups of “Quicken” go on storage medium.

Having lost all records in a tornado in 74, I know what I HAVE TO HAVE to get along…

I check my stuff almost daily and so anything out of whack gets caught quick.

I do not ever authorise anyone or anyplace to be able to draw funds from my accounts.

There is a bank person who has access to the bill pay place and can fix/change anything that is messed up. So far, nothing has gone wrong in 3 years. ( knocks on wood. )

11

I use it for my power bill, my JC Penney charge (when I have a balance, like now), and my cell phone bill. Never had a problem at all.

I can pay my power bill in person at the grocery store, but they charge me $1.00. :rolleyes:

12

Call them and tell them you want free bill-pay, and you will most likely get it. We have been using bill-pay from Wells Fargo since they first started offering it many years ago. Back then, it was considered a “premium” service, worth the $6.95 a month. We didn’t really think about it until a few months ago, when it suddenly occurred that we were paying them $84 a year for what we could get elsewhere for nothing. One quick phone call got the charge dropped and three months’ charges reversed.

So just call your bank and mention that you can get free online bill pay at their competitor, and ask them what they are willing do to keep your business. I’ll bet you are worth about six bucks a month to them.