How to Never Miss a Bill Payment

Missing a bill payment will not only cause you extra stress, but it will also likely cost you extra money.  In addition, depending on how long it takes you to realize you’ve missed the payment, late bills can result in a negative impact on your credit.  The key to never missing a bill payment is getting both your time and your money organized. Here are few ideas to help you get started.

Keeping Track

The best way to make sure you never miss any of your bill payments is to send off the checks or money orders as soon as the bill comes in the mail.  To make this easier, set up a bill paying station close to wherever you put your mail that includes envelopes, stamps, checks, and return-address labels.  If you don’t have the time to send off bills as soon as they arrive, consider purchasing a calendar for your kitchen or home office specifically for keeping track of payment due dates, or use an existing calendar and mark due dates in bold, colorful ink. Also, you can set aside one or two days a month to pay your bills; look at your due dates and determine which days are best.  If credit card payments are very spread out or several large bills are due close together, consider contacting the creditor and requesting changes to payment dates to make things easier. Keep in mind, some credit card billing works on a 28-day cycle, so due dates may change from month to month.  Another option is to create a template on your computer that you can print out each month, then check off or cross out bills as you pay them.

Automatic Payments

Many companies have websites where you can set up automatic payments, so forgetting to pay a bill won’t be a problem.  Some payment amounts change from month to month, so make sure you budget for that.  Also, many banks offer automatic payments through their online banking services, making it possible to pay even smaller bills to companies that don’t have an online presence.