Electronic payment systems allow you to receive, schedule, pay, and file all of your bills on the Internet.
Electronic payment systems are also referred to as online bill pay, electronic bill payment, and other similar terms.
They work by sending “money” (authorization for the money to be removed from your account, just like a paper check) instantaneously to the person or company that you owe.
Online bill pay is just one feature in the wonderful world of online banking – the process of taking care of all of your funds on the Internet.
Using electronic payment systems greatly reduces your risk of incurring late fees due to forgetting payments, losing the bill, etc. In addition to paying all your bills on time (and possibly raising your credit score), other benefits of using an online bill payment system are seeing your monthly balance before you pay, obtaining possibly up-to-the-minute information, paying all your bills in minutes, getting alerts regarding upcoming bills, and more.
Almost all banks offer online electronic bill payment as an option with accounts. You can also use online bill pay with most credit card services.
Options in an electronic payment system usually include receiving your bills online, scheduling reminders to pay certain bills on certain dates, requesting that the bills simply be paid automatically at the appropriate time, searching your payment history, keeping all electronic files, and more.
Most people who have switched to electronic payment systems spent only 15 minutes every month paying bills rather than about 4 hours that they used to devote to the task.