Comments on: Risks of Paperless Personal Finance

By: jim

jim — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:27:11 +0000

You can trust big business to always be watching out for themselves.

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:15:31 +0000

I clearly recall the banks and CC companies stating that going paperless will save them money, which will save you money. Fees and costs have only gone up, not down. So they have pushed the cost and time to print the stuff onto me without passing along any savings.

I don’t mind so much because I don’t print my statements, etc., but it just stinks that they lied. I feel hurt and abused Eh, can’t trust a big business, can you?

By: MoneyNing

MoneyNing — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 05:30:10 +0000

I’m an extreme paperless person. I try not to print any paper at all and try to file everything on my computer. It makes everything easy but I don’t do enough backup so there is a huge risk because my computer can die any day.

By: Lord

Lord — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:58:07 +0000

Don’t forget about when your computer goes kaput.

Incoming is paper and outgoing is online but I may eventually go entirely online. Small bills like utilities I used to pay quarterly in advance so I would have fewer checks to write and mail but online there is little need.

By: Randall

Randall — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:57:23 +0000

All the CCs I have do e-bills now, and are automatically paid by my bank. I also have my utilities on level pay (where possible) so they only change once a year and are also auto paid. Other variable bills are paid through Amex (for the points) which is THEN paid automatically by the bank. The only thing I really need to do is put money in the account each month (direct deposit), and it goes where it’s supposed to automatically. I haven’t missed a payment (accidentally) in over 5 years.

I don’t like automatic withdrawals though, since I don’t have any control over them ultimately. None of my billers can do automatic draws from my account. Car Ins. does automatic pulls from Amex, but that’s as close as it gets.

I’ve written about 4 checks in the last 3 years (pizza) and only use paper money about twice a year.

To each their own though. Whatever makes you comfortable.

By: Blaine Moore

Blaine Moore — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:34:35 +0000

I prefer paperless, but only if I can download a PDF to my local machine (which is then copied in my regularly scheduled backups)…saves the bother of needing the website to access my statements, and also keeps me from having to request old statements from outside their window of availability.

By: Patty

Patty — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 20:26:43 +0000

Lazy Man.
You said “I need the same thing from credit cards, but we know this will never happen, since they want you to pay late.” you might want to check your credit cards. My chase rewards card does have the the capacity to set up automatic payments to itself. I can choose minimum payment, payment in full or other amount. I can’t find this feature on my citi card.
Going to go check my Wachovia now, almost missed an on time payment on them as I never use it and( there has a 0 balance for ages) but a much delayed charge of less than $5 from an European trip showed up coupled with the fact they changed my due date significantly could have cost me a late fee.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:33:32 +0000

I’m a paper-person, however if it’s a consistent cost bill (same every month), I’m fine to set up a schedule once and forget about it. So I would pay my condo fees, my rent, my cable, my phone (Vonage). I even pay my cell phone over the phone since Sprint allows you to do that for free.

If it’s not a consistent cost bill, I have a harder time with online payments. It means that I can’t just set it and forget it. That means that for heat and electric, I need the company to give me a better option. I’d even give them permission to do an automated withdrawal. I need the same thing from credit cards, but we know this will never happen, since they want you to pay late.