As you probably already realize, you’re going to run into significant problems if you’re unable to get your bills paid in full. Late payments will cause your bills to double, if not quadruple. Simultaneously, there is a good chance that your credit score is going to take a major hit. With this in mind, it’s important to make sure that your bills are paid on time and in full every month. Here are several tips for making that possible:
Save Money for the Necessities
If you’re wasting all of your money on electronics and video games, then you’re going to run into major problems; there’s a good chance that you’ll be unable to get your bills paid. Instead of wasting money on unimportant items, you should be saving money to ensure that you’re able to pay your bills.
Set Reminders
Utilizing technology to pay bills can be very beneficial. By utilizing certain apps and programs, you’ll be able to set reminders to ensure that you do not forget your monthly payments. Mobile apps on your phone are a great option, since you probably carry your phone with you everywhere you go, but they’re not essential; for example, less tech-savvy people successfully utilize post-it notes or something similar.
Always Request Paper Bills
Getting a paper bill might seem like a hassle and a waste of money, but it can be enormously beneficial. For many consumers, there is something special about receiving a bill in the mail; it also acts as a visible reminder to help ensure that your payment is made within a reasonable period of time. With email bills, there is a possibility that they’ll never reach your inbox; others simply ignore them.
Debt Consolidation
If you want to learn how to boost your credit score, you’ll want to learn how to remove paid collections and debt consolidation. A debt consolidation will not completely remove the debt, but it will shrink it. Instead of facing multiple bills, you’ll have one. This helps ensure that you’ll be able to get the debt paid in full each and every month.
Make Early Payments
If you have extra cash lying around it never hurts to go ahead and make an early payment. Not only will this get you ahead of schedule, but it will also ensure that you don’t waste your money on something you don’t really need. Paying early is beneficially when making credit card, mortgage, and car payments because they reduce interest payments.
Opt For Automatic Withdrawals
Some creditors might only be willing to remove late payments from your history if you agree to automatic payments. This is certainly beneficial for the creditor, but it can be bad for you. Of course, you don’t have to worry about forgetting payments, because the money will already be withdrawn, but you lose financial flexibility when unexpected expenses arise.
Choose Specific Due Dates
If you work a full- or part-time job you probably get paid every two weeks. Since you’ll get paid twice a week, you should choose your due date around the day you typically get paid. This way you will be reminded to make the payment on the same day you receive your paycheck.
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Just use a credit card and set it up to automatically pay the balance in full every billing cycle.
Disagree……awful easy to fall into never looking at the monthly statement that way, and letting unauthorized charges (somebody got your card info) slide.
We pay ours off monthly, never a dime paid in interests, but also 2 times in the last three years, we’ve had to close a card and open a new one because the info was compromised. Often it will start with a tiny purchase of a buck or two to see if the number really works, then they are off to the races.
Yes, your liability is limited to $50 by law,even if you discovered fraud a year later…(zero liability if reported in a ‘timely’ manner)….but it’s a WHOLE lot easier to stay on top of purchases in the next statement than months down the road.
One feature I do like on our card: statement comes mid month, payment date is the 2nd of the following month. I go over the statement for accuracy, then set up the payment for the last business day before the 2nd and can forget it from there.
“awful easy to fall into never looking at the monthly statement that way, and letting unauthorized charges ” – Andy
lots of things in life are easy – AND WRONG.
I agree that automatic payments are key. A good idea would be to set them to happen right when you get paid, so the bills get paid in full and there’s no temptation to spend the money elsewhere.
I also suggest having a designated checking account specifically to pay bills from. That way you can know exactly how much comes out (the monthly total of your bills), therefore you can know exactly how much to deposit.