Has anyone gone paperless for banking and bills?

[Claire]

I have been reluctant to do it, but maybe I should considering all the paper I am dealing with on a daily basis. Between opening envelope, throwing away paper, and filing paper -- I've just about had it! Does paperless really work?

[Sue in TX]

I can deposit checks, write checks, balance checkbook, and transfer funds on line. I have been doing it for a couple of years and never had a problem. The deposit at home feature is new at my bank in the past year, I think. It all works great for me, but I have a wonderful bank and some may not be that dedicated to the customers, KWIM?

Sue

[Gigi]

We are paperless when it comes to bank statements, mortgage & all utilities. (though a copy is online that we can save on our harddrive)

I only have two more accounts that I need to go over to paperless. So far there has been no problems. I never opened them anyway since I pay all bills online either through automatic withdrawal or bill payer. The one thing I might do at the end of the year is print out a history of payments on the accounts just so I have some record.

HTH,
Gigi

[tess in the burbs]

We went paperless once...with bad repercussions. Our phone bill doubled and the bank paid it automatically and I never saw the statement and so.....it took forever to fix the charges b/c once they are paid they don't have to help reverse them!!!

I hate the filing myself. But the few accounts that are paperless drive me crazy when I do need the statement and I have to get online(remember passwords) to get it.

so most of our accounts are back to paper. I want to see it before I am paying it. the potential for problems is too great IMHO!

[chai]

It works and it is wonderful. I pay everything on line. I only get paper for those things that I want a record of for tax purposes. It is so freeing to get rid of it.

[KristineIN]

I am almost paperless (with those that will allow me to) and I love it. I am able to access online bills at all of the places, so if I ever needed to print out a bill, I could. If not, I would want to get a paper bill. I wish our stupid cable company would get with it and quit sending me a bill every month. I've even told them that it would be easier if they went this route.

Kristine

[midwestbelle]

we are paperless where ever possible. I get a bill via email and then use the banks "bill pay" to pay the bills.

The down side is that I never seem to have a stamp when I want to mail a letter! I used to keep them all the time for bill mailing.

[Annie G]

I love it. I use my Palm Pilot and use Quicken. I 'pay' bills once a month... takes ten minutes, then they are actually taken out of our accounts as they come due. I have found that it's easier for me to do it this way. Dh has a couple of things that are his responsibility...his own credit card, his cardiac rehab bill, and the registration on his Corvette. I am NEVER late on a bill and he's frequently looking for a bill so he can pay it. I was like that before I went paperless.

[Tracey in TX]

We went paperless about 12 years ago and never looked back. Our bank is in another city, so all transactions are via internet. It's a lifesaver in a crazy household.

[Sunny]

Going paperless is easy, especially if you have those same accounts online access. You can ALWAYS go back and see past bills.
If you use BILLPAY through your bank, you can have THEM get the bills, you can see them when you go to pay the bills, they archive them, (and your actual bank or utility also archive them for you).
We've gone paperless for all banks and investmenst, all utilities that have that option, and other misc. things that I can do online and prevent stmts. from coming. It makes for a bare mailbox, but then again, I really don't like all the mess to file so it makes up for it.

[Audrey]

I was reluctant at first, too, but I'm so happy with it. Our bank makes it very easy, plus they waive the monthly fee on accounts that you set as paperless.

With bills, I get all except the phone that way. For some reason that company has refused to offer it. But, I can pay ALL my bills online, which is pretty awesome. Once a month I enter a few numbers, make a few mouse clicks and voilà! I'm done. :)

[nancypants]

Yup. We do all banking online and pay all bills online (actually almost all by automatic withdrawal). It's wonderfully freeing and green! :D

[Amy in Orlando]

I don't do automatic withdrawal, we had HUGE problems with that once. But, we pay everything but one bill online. It's so easy and painless.

[Liz CA]

Progressing to paperless wherever possible. It helps when you have a bank with great online features and solid security!

[Txmom]

we can print it off the computer if we feel we need to.
BA sends me an online statement I print out.

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

I do online banking- but I contacted my bank to quit sending me statements and they said it was against their policies-
Sad:mad:

[cin]

We pay all our bills online, that give us that option. We do not do automatic withdrawal for any. We've been trying to do direct deposit with MIL's SS check. 6 mos later, we're still getting it in the mail. It's not a HUGE hassle to deposit it, but it would be nice if we didn't have to. Remembering to deposit is more of a problem than actually doing it :rolleyes:.

[Mom2GirlsTX]

We are about 90% paperless, we are paperless on every item that allows us to be. I pay all our bill via Bill Pay, but I do not set anything up for automatic deduction. Every two weeks I pay the bills ... I love bill pay, quick and you can check back over the past 18 months for each item. I really love the simplicity...plus you can always check almost all your accounts online now (electric, gas, water).

[GreenKitty]

I have been reluctant to do it, but maybe I should considering all the paper I am dealing with on a daily basis. Between opening envelope, throwing away paper, and filing paper -- I've just about had it! Does paperless really work?

Yes, it's easy and the best part is some of them you can set up that they do it automatically. Others you just go in at the time it's due and click a button. I think some of them would let you go back to paper if decided you didn't like it.

[Ellie]

I pay my bills on-line through my bank, but I get paper bills from the payees. I haven't quite brought myself to get "e-bills" yet. Maybe this year :-)

But I've been using on-line bill-pay for about 5 years with no problems.

[Deidre in GA]

i pay all my bills online. bills that are the same every month like utilities and mortgage, are set up for the bank to pay automagically (i love that new word!). i am gradually switching to paperless billing for utilities; i still want paper credit card bills. besides cutting down on paper clutter at home, going paperless as much as possible reduces one's carbon footprint.

[ncmomo3]

We haven't used paper in years-- I only have to write one check a month and that is for music lessons. It has been about 5 yrs. since I stepped foot in a bank. I love doing everything online--neat and tidy.

[Tammyla]

However, we are moving little by little. I love hearing it can be done.