What service is there that takes care of bill paying?

DDD

Well-Known Member
I'm sure there are services that write/mail checks etc. for people who are too busy or just don't want to do it. I am not looking for services for the disabled....just regular people that don't want to be bothered because they are frequently traveling or whatever.

This is premature but in 2013 I want difficult child#1 to be in charge of his monthly income. on the other hand with his memory problems I fear he might forget to pay insurance or taxes etc. Seems like a good time to look at options.

I don't know what type of service easy child#1 uses but if she sends money the check is cut and mailed by some provider that she and her husband use. It is not generated and printed from their computer I'm sure as I do that for our business. She's an angel but very private about financial matters so I don't want to ask. LOL, DDD
 

DaisyFace

Love me...Love me not
Seems to me that a lot of companies (gas, electric, cable, internet, cc, etc) will let you sign up for automatic billing - where the money can come directly out of your checking acct or be billed to a cc that you pay off at the end of the month.

Is that the sort of thing you mean?
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
I use my bank's online bill pay... For the ones I know are the same, I set them up to go out automatically... For the ones that change, as soon as I get the bill I go in, set it up & forget about it...
 

muttmeister

Well-Known Member
Agree with both of the above. My utilities and car payment are set up to be automatically deducted from my bank account. I still get a bill so I know what amount is deducted and on what date, but the bill says, "Do not send a check; this amount is being automatically deducted from your account." For others, that are due quarterly or twice a year or some other schedule, or if they don't offer automatic deductions, I can set up my bill pay through the bank to send them for me on certain dates. For random things, I can use the bill pay through the bank to just fill out online what I want paid and they either send an electronic payment or else cut a check and send if for me. I think they charge something like $5 per month for the service but some banks will do it for free.
 

Nancy

Well-Known Member
I pay as many bills as I can from my online banking. I can ever schedule a recurring payment if the payment is the same every month, like for a car or house payment. If the company i snot enrolled in their online banking program you can still add it manually and the bank will sned them a check from your account. The only bills I write checks for a doctor bills or miscellaneous type things.

Nancy
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
You can also set your online banking to download bills that may be different from month to month, and to be paid automatically. They send a reminder email several days beforehand on auto-payments so that you will be sure to be aware of how much money is in the bank and what it's committed to do.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
I'm concerned that IF I manage to get him into a home of his own, and IF I am not well or eventually gone on to the great beyond, he won't remember to pay the real estate taxes (variable year to year) or home insurance and could lose his house. I do know he can recurring expenses deducted but it's the annual or semi annual that I think he is most likely to "skip" or forget.

Thanks to your responses I now know that things like utilities that vary month to month can be auto withdrawal but annual or semi annual variable??? DDD
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
DDD if he's making house payments, he can have insurance and taxes paid for the property that way.........you do like a 6mo escrow down payment so you're always 6 months ahead. (they are added into my actual house payment) That is how mine is handled. It *might* be that if he would not have an actual house payment, you could set up something with country & state whatever to bill him that way so it won't be forgotten.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I'm concerned that IF I manage to get him into a home of his own, and IF I am not well or eventually gone on to the great beyond, he won't remember to pay the real estate taxes (variable year to year) or home insurance and could lose his house. I do know he can recurring expenses deducted but it's the annual or semi annual that I think he is most likely to "skip" or forget.

Thanks to your responses I now know that things like utilities that vary month to month can be auto withdrawal but annual or semi annual variable??? DDD

If he is diagnosed as disabled he can get a payee appointed to him and he/she would pay all his necessities. My son has me as payee for now, but after I can't do it anymore or am gone, he will have a payee appointed to him. With your son's Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), you'd think he could get labeled disabled???? My son is also going to live in an apartment where many of his work friends live. It is his own place, but the rent is based on his income, and somebody comes in once a day to check up on him. I know this makes some parents uncomfortable because most of us want our grown kids to be 100% on their own, but some of them can't, and this is best for them. My son really likes the idea. The apartments he is on the waiting list for are extremely nice!!! But the payee...that's what you are interested in :)

At any rate, I just tossed this out there.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
If he has a mortgage the taxes and homeowners should be included but if he doesnt then you do have an issue. I have that problem. I have forgotten to pay my property taxes on my place several times. I dont have homeowners insurance now. I keep meaning to go get it. Since I never had a mortgage I never had to have it. Im at the point that I have to keep things on my calendar to remember when bills are due now. Heaven knows I cant rely on Tony to know. I have sent the due dates and normal amounts to both our phones and he still asks me when bills are due! I much prefer having everything that needs to be paid to come out as soon as that monthly check is deposited on the first of the month. That way I know Im free and clear with what is left over.
 

Chantillylace

New Member
I used to work at a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) center. The best thing you could probably do for him is set up an excel spread sheet with all of the bills. Have a way for him to check off when and what he pays. You can help him set reminders on his smart phone (I hope he has one - it's perfect for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) adults and older kids) to remind him to pay bills each month or week.
 

Marcie Mac

Just Plain Ole Tired
I would have the mortgage holder include his taxes and insurance in his payment so he doesn't worry about having a big chunk at one time. I keep saying every year I am going to have to have the bank change it for me and do an escrow account. Taxes here are due in November and February, and my house insurance is due in October. Thats a very large chunk of change to come up with at one time in a short period of time.

Everything else is paid with on line bill pay. I try and avoid the bank issuing "checks" because it takes at least 5 days for them to do it. There is one of my bills, electric, where you can set up a third party person for a reminder if it isn't paid, plus you have the option of them figuring out your last year of bills, then averaging out every month.

Marcie
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
We pay our taxes and homeowners insurance through our mortgage. It's automatically calculated in there.

For the household bills I pay, I have them all set up as payees on my on line banking service. I go in twice a month, click on the ones I need paid and hit send. I could set them up for automatic payments, but I'm that trusting just yet!

Best of luck.
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
I agree with the others that online bill payments might work well.

Property taxes are rolled into the mortgage payment and deducted automatically. Home insurance is separate, but also deducted automatically. Same for the car payment. All other bills, I pay online.
husband and I both have access to the online accounts, so that if one of us forgets or is too busy, the other can fill in. Is there another trustworthy family member that can also log into difficult child#1's account and help him?
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
We're trying to buy the house outright or with a private first mortgage so PITI isn't an option. He is Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) disabled and I am his Representative Payee. Once he is in his home and has no more bulk funds then I want him to be in charge of his expenses on his own. Although I am feeling ok now I want him trained to take care of his own finances. With all due respect I don't want him to live on the edge like Janet as I know memory is an issue at her house too.

Chantilly I hadn't thought about Excel. He is good at computers. He has a "fancy" phone (I don't know "smart" when I see it, lol) BUT if that's set up and he let's me oversee it for six months or so then he can petition to be in charge. That might work. DDD THanks.

PS: I was shocked to find that he can't get a mtg under fifty grand as I had thought a PITI set up with a fifteen or twenty thousand mtg would solve the problem. Sigh
 

busywend

Well-Known Member
I would caution against the auto pay (meaning the company comes to get the money on the due date) option at first. It is very hard to remember what dates all these transactions are going to happen and to make sure you have money in there on that date. If there is no savings account to transfer from....this can get very expensive in fees from the banks.

I have created an Excel calendar for difficult child. Each month has its own tab. It shows each payday and the date each bill is due. It is an actual calendar, with blocks for each day. It helps her to see what is due before she gets paid next. I had fun with it and put in colors and !!! points for pay day and make some bills bigger in font size than others (rent)! I also made some notes like (you must pay rent out of this check) for worrisome situations. ex: May 25th was pay day for her, rent was due on June 1st, and she would not get paid again until June 8th. So, in the May calendar...I made it clear she had to pay rent out of that May 25th check, even though it was not June yet. It takes time.

She has 1 auto pay she can not stop...the gym for $20 per month. It is on the 19th each month, but she gets paid every other Friday, so some months it is the day before a payday and once she did not even have $20 in her account. It cost her $37 in bank fees! YIKES!
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
SOME kinds of auto-pay can be done against a credit card, rather than a bank account. This allows for floating dates (e.g. paycheques that don't line up with payments). It also provides a buffer against the payee taking too much in error (I've seen withdrawals out by one or two orders of magnitude due to program errors... so $20 becomes $200 or $2000...).

Most "annual" or "semi-annual" payments CAN be set up as monthly, but you may pay a bit more. Does prevent the "snake-lump" months, though.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
DDD....I am going to make one suggestion. GO to your tax office, real estate taxes, and see if he can get a deduction on his house because he is disabled. You have to take in the disability paperwork. You probably know something about this because normally the elderly (dont hit me!) also get a deduction but you might not have known that a disabled young adult could also get it. Also check with all the utility companies. Some of them have programs. My electric company has a program.

I am not sure which type of disability he will be getting..SSI or SSDI but one comes on the first. IF he gets the one that comes on the first, you could have it set up so all his bills are paid immediately on the first as soon as that check comes and then have that be it. What is left over is what he has to live on. Actually Im pretty sure he is getting the SSDI one because isnt his mother on disability herself?
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
Thanks Janet. I never would have thought to check that out....great ideas! We do get an extra discount because we are in our 70's. I'll follow up. DDD
 
Top