EmailBest Reviewed
Online Bill Paying
- Best way to pay bills online Online bill payment through your bank *Est. $0
- Best specialized online bill-paying service Paytrust.com *Est. $5
- Free bill-paying service MyCheckFree.com *Est. $0
- Software-based bill paying Quicken 2008 Deluxe *Est. $60
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Best way to pay bills online
- Usually free to account holders
- Sends electronic payments or paper checks for you
- Automatic payments available
- Usually includes some extra financial tools
- Services that use your credit card may be safer
- Services like Paytrust eliminate paper bills
Reviews say there are advantages to using your bank's website for paying bills online. Most banks offer free online bill payment and will send paper checks to companies that don't accept electronic payments. Banks also usually offer free online transaction records and account transfers. In an attempt to get business, some of the largest banks give you access to personal finance tools and let you track multiple accounts, get alerts with a mobile device and monitor your accounts for suspicious activity. Citibank and Bank of America get the highest customer-service marks for their online banking websites, according to Keynote Competitive Research. If you are interested in a bill-payment service that receives all your snail-mail bills and scans them in for you, reviews recommend Paytrust.com (*est. $5 per month plus 50¢ per transaction or $13 per month for 30 transactions; 50¢ each thereafter).
No source ranks individual banks according to their online bill-paying functions. We found the best general information about online payments at Consumer Reports and The Wall Street Journal, plus some cautionary tales from The New York Times. BankRate.com, MSN Money, MarketWatch.com and About.com also weigh in.
Our Sources
1. ConsumerReports.orgDetails/Subscribe
Consumer Reports gives some general tips for paying bills online safely. They suggest using your bank rather than a third-party service because it reduces the number of institutions that can lose your financial information.
Review: Paying Bills Online -- Safely, Editors of Consumer Reports, July 2007
2. Wall Street JournalDetails/Subscribe
This article says that banks are harnessing new tools that let clients transfer funds between institutions, pay bills faster and analyze spending. Banks mentioned include Citibank, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, but they aren't ranked.
Review: Online Banking Gets More Sophisticated, Jane J. Kim, June 27, 2006
After readers let him have it over a previous article, Ron Lieber concedes that automated bill payments of any kind can be problematic, although there aren't criticisms of specific services. (Note that ConsumerSearch is part of The New York Times Co. but is independent editorially.)
Review: Automated Bill Payments Are a Cinch (Not So Fast), Ron Lieber, Aug. 29, 2008
4. Bankrate.com
Contributing Editor Jenny C. McCune discusses the three major choices for online bill payments: a bank or a third-party service, arrange payments with each account holder or establish automatic payments via a credit card. McCune discusses the pros and cons of each, but ultimately says no one method is best for everyone.
Review: Your online bill payment options, Jenny C. McCune, Apr. 2005
5. MSN Money
Liz Pulliam Weston mentions companies offering free services, such as banks (Citibank, Chase and Bank of America) and American Express (as part of a package), but services are not rated.
Review: Ditch all Fees for Online Banking Services, Liz Pulliam Weston
MarketWatch advises consumers to save time and postage by banking online. The services are more secure, says Jennifer Openshaw, and you can time your payments and get real-time alerts.
Review: Online banking turns the corner, Jennifer Openshaw, May 9, 2007
7. Bankrate.com
Automating your bills can set off unintended consequences like the difficulty of disputing billing mistakes, says Dana Dratch, a freelance author writing for Bankrate.com. Instead, automate payments that are the same every month, because they're less likely to have errors.
Review: Be careful shifting into automatic bill pay, Dana Dratch, Nov. 1, 2006
8. About.com
Justin Pritchard, About.com's Guide to Banking/Loans, discusses online bill payment through your bank and through individual vendors, but does not include separate bill-pay services and makes no recommendations. (Note that ConsumerSearch and About.com are owned by the same company but are independent editorially.)
Review: How Do I Set Up Online Bill Pay?, Justin Pritchard
