Online Financial World

[plowjockey]

What do you do?

I'm sitting here sorting through the piles of paid bill recipts, used check stub packs, etc. looking for yet another file folder to stuff them into and store somewhere, for who know how long (even after the 7 yr IRS thing). This is mostly personal finance stuff, not business related.

I enjoy the convenience of paying bills and banking on line, but had continued to ask for mailed paper statements, so this I could keep "organized" on when to pay them, which even then, they sometines get mis-placed and may get paid late.

Since companies want to save money (and paper), they are all pushing "e-statements", with no mailed statements at all. I'm changing over to them, which is working out all right, I just meed to make sure their due dates get entered into my electronic calendar. All of our check images are available on-line.

Anyway, even though all of the account history information, is stored and available for printing at the web site, should I even bother, printing it out, and storing it?

Print and store annual account summaries? Download and save them as files? Would I just be giving up one form of paperwork and replacing it with another?

What works for you?

Have you ever had to retrieve your historical account information, from another company, that was no longer available online?

[DaleK]

No but I've had companies apply payments I made on my account to somebody else's account, and if I didn't have the transaction number and information recorded for myself that money would have been lost to me.

I'm not sure what the IRS requires?

[geo in mi]

Good question, plowjockey. I just started the online payment process through my bank. They still send me a printed statement monthly, but I'm noticing they have the same version online, with each check reference linked for copy. But the debit card transactions are only on the listing. But just how long they will keep it online, or archived, I don't know. I spreadsheet my own bank balance, with escrows for taxes, savings, emergencies, etc, so I like to get the bank's paper copy to keep it in balance monthly. I have a tendency to forget a debit transaction or two.

Maybe there's a yearly version which one can download to their own storage file, flashdrive, printer, etc? Maybe it wouldn't be too obsolete in seven years......

I do know one thing. I don't make any online payments unless it's through my own bank. No automatic withdrawals or other online payments that don't go directly out unless I control them. And none to my credit card.... Helps the recordkeeping and keeps me in control. And I still make everyone send me monthly billings........

geo

[nebula5]

I get only online bank statements; in return my credit union gives me free bill-pay.
Just ventured into paying my mortgage online through the mortgage company, we'll see how that goes.
I do pay my bills online through my bank, and my credit card online through the CC company. I always print out the confirmation page- just in case. I've never had a problem though.

[TNHermit]

I use Evernote. (Evernote.com) You can copy anything right off th screen. Its on your machine and in the cloud. Cost 5.00 a month Syncs across computers. No paper unless you want to print it. i take a lot of stuff off here and put it in a folder.
I also keep a separate folder in my email for receipts. then Archive it occasionally

Your banks statement should have all your pmts on it too. Just scan it and save it to a file

[Ramblin Wreck]

The on-line "stuff" has worked well for me. I check my bank balances everyday, primarily to identify any unauthorized charges. The quicker you find problems, the easier it is for you and your bank/credit union. So far, I have not used on-line bill pay, but for many of my routine bills (electric/phone/mortgage), I let the vendor directly debit my account. Our local electric co-op even deducts $2.50 from the monthly bill if you let them deduct automatically.

[mightybooboo]

I pay inline,only one bill I cant.

I pay 6 months up front,really saves a lot of time.Dec and June.

Only dish sends an electronic bill.

[danielsumner]

We pay everything online or put on it on the Amex. Card. Things like the cable, cellphones and anything that will allow I autopay on my credit card. All others I pay directly on the companys website. I don't use a bill pay service. I put a Folder on my PC destop with a link to all the companys that we need to pay. We keep a index card by the PC with the dates of when everything is due. Love that we don't have to mail anything. Have online statments for everything we can, no paper bills. For things I need to keep a record of (insurance policies ect.) I just quickly scan to a PDF file from my printer/scanner and save to pc. Shred the paper. Works for us. I don't like the auto pay from my checking, I want the control, so only auto pay is to the credit card which I pay each month online.