Even I have had a missed payment scare. Lucky for me, I was still in my grace period and was able to get the payment in on time. However, there are a lot of great tools that will take the guess work out and ensure you get things in on time.
Credit Card Bills
The easiest way to ensure your credit card is paid on time is using auto-pay. With auto-pay, the credit card company automatically pays the bill with an automated withdrawal from your account each month.
If you get nervous about that, like me, you can also use your bank’s bill pay. Each payday, I go into my bank’s bill pay and pay my bill in full. However, if I didn’t, I would get an email reminder from my bank to go in and pay my outstanding bills before the due date.
As another line of defense, you can use a site like Empower to get reminders before your bills are due.
Utilities
Most utilities allow you to setup auto-pay or use a bank bill pay just like your credit card company. However, I don’t like that route because I don’t get any rewards points from paying out of my bank account.
Instead, I sign up for auto-pay from my credit card. I get an email reminder each month before the bill hits my account. I have a high credit card limit, so I don’t ever have to worry about missing a payment or going over my limit.
Other Bills
Whether you have to pay for a doctor’s visit or a car repair, each biller has different rules about how you have to pay. Some make you pay online, others require a check. To deal with these, I setup a calendar reminder in Google Calendar to send me an email before it is due.
If I can pay by check, I just add it to my bank’s bill pay to automatically send on the right day. If I have to pay online, I make sure to take care of it with plenty of time before the due date just to be safe.
The fear of missing a bill payment can ht you like a ton of bricks. I remember one time I almost missed the deadline to pay my credit card. I started to sweat, but I still had one more day. I stopped whatever I was doing and paid it instantly.
When I realized I missed a payment once, I almost went into shock. I was glad to find I was still in the grace period.
After having a bill get lost in the mail (and missing the payment) many years ago – I created an Excel spreadsheet wherein I keep track of all of income and expenses coming up. I update the spreadsheet when I’ve paid a bill, and I can easily see what’s coming up and when (the spreadsheet covers six months). Now, if a bill ever gets lost in the mail, I will quickly see that it’s scheduled to be paid. I can also foresee all of our expenses (and make sure that we always have enough money in the bank to cover them)
Do you still mail any bills Julie? Why not switch over to bill pay or electronic payments? It saves time, money, and will keep things from getting lost in the mail.