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http://live.pirillo.com/ – JC wrote in to talk about online bill paying. He prefers to pay his bills this way, as it is much more convenient. However, he’s wondering if there are any simple ways to consolidate his efforts into one site.

The upside to paying your bills online is, of course, the convenience of it. The downside could be when you move or change service providers. This can be a complete PITA if you haven’t made a record of what sites you access for the bills, the paswords, etc. They can be very easy to lose track of if you aren’t conscientious.

I have my friend wirelesspacket on the line with me, and he does all his bill paying online like I do. One of his biggest tips is to always use a different password for each site, in the case one should become comprimised. Also, try to keep your passwords fresh… either by rotating them, or changing them. A great tool to keep track of your passwords that is free and cross-platform is KeePass.

Unfortunately, we haven’t found any website that will let you view all your bills in one place. However, there are many ways you can pay everything in one place with ease. Many banks have services that allow you to set up your monthly recurring bills. You then log in as needed and click some buttons to tell the bank which bills to pay. Setting this service up may take some time as you enter the different companies, account numbers, and information. However, in the long run you’ll save quite a lot of time.

There are also banks who make use of virtual checks. Wirelesspacket uses this service at his bank. He has all of his bills set up, as we already discussed. When a bill comes due he logs in, types out a virtual check, and the bank prints it and mails it. The bank then sends him an email with a .pdf of the check that was made for him, which he can then print and file, or back up onto a storage media for safe keeping.

What other ways do you save time when paying bills? Do you know of other services or companies that help you consolidate everything together? Let me know what you use, and what you wish were available!

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Paying Your Bills Online