Do you pay your monthly bills online?
By dorisday1971
@dorisday1971 (5657)
Philippines
March 9, 2009 6:32pm CST
I find it time consuming waiting endlessly for hours just to pay my electric bill. I don't understand why our electric company don't go online. With thousands of people paying, I sometimes end up waiting for more than three hours before my number is called. I hate it. My other bills are just paid through the internet and it is hassle free.
How do you pay your electric, water, telephone, insurance, credit cards or other monthly bills? Do you still pay them over the counter or through the internet?
7 people like this
31 responses
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
16 Mar 09
Yeah, it's a lot easier to pay online. You save so much time, effort and money too when bills are paid online.
have a nice day. Take care.
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
10 Mar 09
I do but only through my bank. I do not go to separate sites to do so. It is alot easier than paying by mail or going to each site to pay.
1 person likes this
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
10 Mar 09
That's what I wish I can do. Just go open my bank account and pay everything online. with that, I can monitor all my payments as well as the daily balance of my bank account. It's a lot easier and time saving.
1 person likes this
@marciascott (25529)
• United States
10 Mar 09
I use to do it all the time but I stopped I would rather mail the bill or pay in person.
@marciascott (25529)
• United States
13 Mar 09
ther are a lot of Hackers on the Computer. I just don't trust it.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
12 Mar 09
I am just wondering why you have stopped paying your bills online. Have you encountered problems paying your bills through the net? I really want to avoid hassles in paying my bills, so I prefer to do it through the net.
1 person likes this
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
15 Mar 09
You have a very valid reason to stop paying online. I understand that. I also have apprehensions about this but I am jsut being careful. have a good day.
1 person likes this
@dpk262006 (58676)
• Delhi, India
10 Mar 09
I find it easier to pay my electricity and credit bills etc. through on-line mode. It looks the most convenient mode to me, as it save my lot of time and efforts. I hate to wait endlessly in queues.
@dpk262006 (58676)
• Delhi, India
11 Mar 09
Yes, those who do not use on-line methods, use also adopt the same to save time and efforts.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
16 Mar 09
That's exactly my point. . Take care and have a nice day.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
10 Mar 09
yeah, that's absolutely right. it is so much easier to pay online than go through the heck of waiting in line for many hours. Since all households use electricity, it is expected that many will fall in line too.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
10 Mar 09
We do a little of both. Some things we can't pay online. We live in a small town, so our water bill isn't available online. Both truck payments and our insurance payments as well as our monthly apartment rental comes out autodraft.
We do pay the cable bill, the electric bill and our student loans on line though! :)
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
10 Mar 09
That's good. it 's paying the electric bill that really makes me sick waiting for hours. How I wish they will go online so I can save more time and do some more important jobs. Thanks for responding.
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
10 Mar 09
I remember before electronic bill pay was available. We would have to go down to the electric company, find a parking place, wait in line, hand them the bill and they would take our check, and stamp the bill as paid and give us the other half has a reciept.
Our water company still has this antiquated system. They don't even have the bills on the computer, still mark the paper bill as paid in full.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
15 Mar 09
That's exactly what i do every month. Everything is a waste. The electric company's office has very limited parking space and I will have to park somewhere far from the office and will walk to get to their office.
1 person likes this
@emilie2300 (1882)
• United States
10 Mar 09
I mail my bills I will not use the internet to pay bills. I know alot of people that do but thats what there comfortable with. I dont feel comfortable doing it
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
13 Mar 09
Mailing of payments is not the usual practice here. It's more of paying over the counter that is most used here. But as I have said, it takes forever before you get queued.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
16 Mar 09
Getting a parking space alone consume most of the time and gas. I hope to pay all my bills online so I wouldn't be wasting so much time going to the counters and waiting in line for hours.
Take care and have nice day.
@emilie2300 (1882)
• United States
15 Mar 09
I actually used to do that was go to the store and pay my bills at the counter. Gas prices started increasing so I just decided to try and get them in the mail in a timely matter so there not late.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
10 Mar 09
I haven't heard about that GIRO. Maybe you can tell me how it works. Is it like paying through the bank or is it just a card? Thanks for responding.
@skyblue (1299)
• India
10 Mar 09
Hi..dorisday1971
I dont pay my electric bill and phone bill through online.I used ecs system through bank.I think ecs system is very easy.I dont need to spent times for bill paying.The bank automatically pay my electric bill and debited the amount from my account.I am suggesting you that, you can also use ecs facility through bank.
Thank you..
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
16 Mar 09
What is esc system? Is that the same with the auto debit system which the bank has? There is no such kind of system here. If there is one, I will surely adapt that.
@lexus54 (3572)
• Singapore
10 Mar 09
I've just counted that between my wife and myself, we have to pay about a dozen bills a month. These are the utility (water, electricity and gas) bills, homephone/ISP bill, cellphone bill, property tax, government levy for maid, a number of credit card bills and several insurance premiums. Almost all of these are paid online, either through automatic bank-to-bank transfers or internet banking. There are only two credit card bills that we pay through check, and that is because we didn't open any savings or current accounts with these banks. We never have to queue at the post office or bank to pay for any of our bills. That will just take too much time and hassle. On-line payment means are the way to go these days because they are so convenient.
@lexus54 (3572)
• Singapore
13 Mar 09
Actually for me here, things are very convenient. Even if I have to go to the nearest ATM, post office or bank to pay a bill, that will be like just a few miles away. Still, I opt to pay most bills the online way because that saves me a lot of time.
If you live in a big country, where ATM and bank services are only available in the nearest town or city many miles away, then traveling may be inconvenient, especially if you need to pay bills in a hurry. So all the more you should try and go online if you can, like using internet banking means, make payment or making standing arrangements with government agencies via your bank to pay for regular bills like utilities, taxes, etc.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
13 Mar 09
I could see the number of bills you are paying every month. I also pay around 10 bills each month and it is very frustrating to spend two days just paying all those bills especially that that the payment centers of each company are far from each other.
@cndn420 (2062)
• Canada
12 Mar 09
i always pay my pills through online banking. i hate waiting in those long lines at the bank most of the time and online banking is so much easier and faster! definitely saves me time and i can do it when it is convenient for me .. even if it means late at night
@suzzy3 (8341)
•
10 Mar 09
I pay all my monthly bills by direct debit through the bank my husbands money goes in and the bill are paid automatically.easy.x
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
16 Mar 09
That's 100% hassle free. All you have to do is check your bank statement and keep your records. I wish that the system would be the same here.
Take care and have a nice day.
@uniquestar (793)
• India
10 Mar 09
yeah...paying bills manually is a tedious process.
here we can pay all our bills through computerized systems except one...and that is also expected to change.....it was not so a few years ago.
its convenient paying this way...and we had never had any problems.
have a nice day.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
12 Mar 09
It is really very convenient to pay online. You can pay all your bills anytime of the day without going through the process of falling in line and without wasting time too. i would prefer that payment mode.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
13 Mar 09
Being stuck in the traffic is another factor which makes paying the bills over the counter hassle plus getting a parking area is more difficult. Oh, how I wish all will go online to avoid these inconveniences. Have a nice day.
1 person likes this
@sinokirin (900)
• China
16 Mar 09
Hi,doris.
I can't pay monthly bills online because we must use the IC, buying the electric in the bank, and inserting it to get the power.
so do the water, there are all IC, and i DONT understand why they so like it.
It is not convenient.
@apples99 (6556)
• United States
10 Mar 09
Sometimes I pay my bills by credit card, but I rarely pay bills online, because I dont really feel that comfortable paying personal bills online, because of all the safty issues when it comes to online activity, and I much prefer paying my bills by paper statement and just mailing them in, also because some of those billing company's charge more when you pay through credit or debit card just for the convince of being able to pay that way, in fact I just recently paid one of my bills by phone using a debit credit card, and the company charged me an additional fee of $4.00 dollars just to process payment. so for me I prefer the old fashioned method of paying bills.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
13 Mar 09
I didn't know that there is an additional charge for paying online or paying using one's debit card. That's bad. $4 is much for a processing fee. If that's the case, I would really pay over the counter.
@keypadph (40)
• Philippines
10 Mar 09
i would prefer paying my bills online, here in south korea bills are automatically deducted from you bank account if you register you passbook like when you buy a new handyphone.your monthly bills will automatically deducted.. its a hassle free...
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
13 Mar 09
That's good. You don't waste so much time waiting in queue. . . By the way, when we buy handyphones here, we usually pay it in cash or through credit card. Seldom do our bank accounts are used to pay purchases. Thnanks for responding.
@scififan43 (2434)
• United States
10 Mar 09
I pay only three of my criedt cards thur the internet. I have an on-line accont set up so I make a electric payment to the differnt accounts. eveerthing ealse I pay in person such as my car insurence or I send off in the mail.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
16 Mar 09
I also pay my credit card online and that's the only bill which I can pay through the net. I am glad that my credit card is issued by the same bank where I deposit my money. I don't have to go through different sites just to pay my credit card bills.
@hemantpatil (48)
• India
10 Mar 09
hi... i pay almost all my bills online. it saves plenty of time....
waiting in quese is really nerve breaking
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
11 Mar 09
it is really nerve breaking and frustrating to wait for hours before you get to pay your bill over the counter. I wish I could pay all my bills online.
@callahanb78 (529)
• United States
10 Mar 09
I pay whatever I can online most of the time. If I am not around a computer or happen to have left my laptop at home and I think about what I am supposed to pay I do it over the phone. Most of the time the bills are early anyway so I can get online and do it whenever. I dont have anything saved on my online accounts though so those rare times when the baby gets ahold of my wallet and it disappers to under the couch or in one of his ride on toys I or my husband pay at the counter.
@dorisday1971 (5657)
• Philippines
11 Mar 09
The problem with our electric company here is that we are just given three - five days from reciept of the bill to pay. In other words, the bills are late and they are quick to cut off the electric line when you don't pay on time.