Chapter 5. Bank and Pay Bills Online

5. Bank and Pay Bills Online

The major portion of dealing with your finances is keeping your checkbook up to date and paying your bills. These tasks are probably not your idea of fun; they certainly aren't mine. So I'm ready to sign up for anything that makes these chores easier. Online banking and bill payment through Quicken doesn't make the job funheck, it's not a miracle curebut it will make dealing with the bulk of your finances easier. You can save a lot of time and a bit of money.

Banking online saves you time because you don't need to record your checks, ATM withdrawals, or credit card transactions by hand. Instead, you download them from your bank, review the transactions to catch any possible errors and make sure they are properly categorized, then add them to your account registers with the click of a button. You can balance your checkbook in minutes every time you download your statement. Best of all, there's never any waiting in line when you're online.

Online bill payment lets you transfer money from your checking account directly to your creditors. You don't have to write or print checks, stuff envelopes, find stamps, or go to the post office. You simply enter a payment instruction in an account register and have Quicken send it over the Internet to your bank, which then transfers the money to your payees.

In this chapter, you'll learn how to enable your accounts for online banking and bill payment, download and compare transactions to your account registers, and pay bills and transfer money online using Quicken.