TEXT BY GREGORY KARP
G O G R E E N
PAPERLESS BILL-PAYING
Save time, money, and the environment by paying
bills online. Here are your options for electronically
authorizing money transfers to a merchant.
B A N K -B A S E D
This requires logging into your bank’s
Web site and directing the bank to make an electronic
payment to a vendor, such as your power company.
You will have to repeat this each month for each
vendor, although often you can set up repeating
payments for fixed-amount bills. Many banks offer
online bill-paying as a free service, although some
charge a monthly service fee.
V E N D O R -B A S E D
You can also log directly into a
trusted vendor’s Web site to pay a bill. You would
type in a bank account or credit card number. You
would have to do this each month and visit a variety
of different vendor Web sites. It’s less convenient
than a one-stop bill-paying service, but it also allows
you to check account history at the same time.
T H IR D P A R T Y
Many third-party Web sites (such as
paytrust.com
or
quicken.com)
let you enter your
bank account and bill information into their database
and set up automatic payments. You can’t beat the
convenience— once you set it up, you can either
authorize payments monthly or set up recurring
payment rules to dictate how bills are paid each
month. Summaries typically are sent to your e-mail
and are also available online for your review. Most of
these services charge a small fee.
IS IT S A F E ?
Yes— information is encrypted as it’s
transferred electronically. When a page is secure, the
URL address should start with “https” and have a
padlock icon next to it. As with any online activity,
make sure you have good protection software,
such as a firewall and anti-virus and anti-spyware
programs. And never click on a link in an e-mail, even
if you think it’s from a vendor you use. Instead, open a
browser and type in the Web site address to log in.
This avoids falling victim to “phishing,” where a thief
tricks you by e-mail into providing personal
information and account details. ®
| B H G T I P |
Ask your bank and
vendors to send
statements via
e-mail. And be sure
to sign up for
e-mail reminders
for when bills are
due, a service
offered by most
merchants.
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