Safest way to pay bills online?

[Anonymous]

I need to switch more of my bills to online payment. What is safest— direct withdrawal from bank account or automatic payment by credit card? Or is there a better option? Looking for the safest option. (Least chance of hacking or fraud)

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Credit card or PayPal. Definitely not direct deposit.

[Anonymous]

Automatic payment by credit card. If the billers system gets hacked, better for them to have your credit card info than your bank account info. It’s easier to dispute charges with a credit card company.

[Anonymous]

The only bill I pay straight from my checking account is our car insurance. Everything else goes on the credit card.
Those hacks you are afraid of are usually inside jobs.

[Anonymous]

Thank you— appreciate it!

[Anonymous]

Sometimes paying with a credit card comes with a service charge, while paying from a bank account does not.

[Anonymous]

Good point above, TY.

Also, what’s the best way to pay credit card bill—direct transfer from bank or should that one be mailed in, in your opinion?

[Anonymous]

We use Bank of America and have had good luck with setting up payments through their "bill pay". We still have to go in an adjust the amount (we do this for bills that vary a little each month like electric) and hit send.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good point above, TY.

Also, what’s the best way to pay credit card bill—direct transfer from bank or should that one be mailed in, in your opinion?

It's functionally the same thing. An ACH transfer provides the same information to the payee as a check. The difference is that the ACH transfer won't get lost in the mail or stolen from a mailbox.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We use Bank of America and have had good luck with setting up payments through their "bill pay". We still have to go in an adjust the amount (we do this for bills that vary a little each month like electric) and hit send.

nearly all of my bills I send through my bank's bill-pay. The bank either does an electronic transfer or cuts a check, but the check doesn't have my bank account info on it.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone, I need to check if my bank has a bill pay option.

In the meantime, I’ve been looking into paying certain bills online and in each case they require me to set up an online account. I’m talking about utilities, internet, etc. That seems ridiculous? I could end up with multiple accounts? But I don’t see anyway around it.

[Anonymous]

I also use my bank's bill-pay function. That way I don't let the billers/payees automatically withdraw anything I haven't reviewed and authorized, and I don't have to set up online accounts with each of them. The bank has their remittance information, sends me a notification when a bill is due, and I go to my bank's site to initiate payment. For small companies like my landscaping company, the bank mails them a check.

[Anonymous]

I use my credit union’s bill-pay system.

[Anonymous]

IT person here. Your bank's bill-pay system is the safest. Otherwise you have to go to each site and give them your CC or bank account info. That's many places that can be hacked. WIth bank bil pay, just make sure your login is really secure and the rest is taken care of.

[Anonymous]

I’ve had everything come out of my checking account for at least a decade. Never had a problem but if we were hacked the hacker would have a big problem getting much money out of our account because there’s not much in it! Maybe just get a checking account just for bills and only transfer enough to cover bills to it.