Ask Jean Tuesday: A How-To for Going Paperless
I saw your TV spot about going paperless. Can you please provide more details about the best way to go about doing this? — Laura
Dear Laura,
Many of you have heard my advice about going paperless. I’ve said it a lot – on the Today Show, in one of my posts on AOL’s WalletPop – and I have done it myself. And with an admittedly busy schedule, I can promise that I wouldn’t have done it if it were a) overly complicated or b) entirely worthwhile.
Banking online saves you time – the time you’d spend going to your local bank branch to transfer funds, the time you spend dropping payments at the post office, and the time you also spend looking for the bills you need to pay in the piles around your kitchen. It also saves you money – the money you’d spend on stamps, the money you spend on late fees if you miss a payment, and the money you spend going to and from the bank and the post office each month. Recent research conducted by NACHA and Javelin Strategies also shows that, along with some of the obvious benefits – less clutter, more flexibility, and the environmental benefits – people who pay their bills online are happier.
So how do you get started? First, decide your method. There are a few ways to bank online – using the utility or lender’s website itself, using a third party provider, or my preferred method, which is paying your bills directly from your bank’s website. You can set it up so that any bills that are fixed each month (like your mortgage or car payment) can be paid a week or so before the due date. With variable bills, as soon as you receive them you can log in and enter the amount you owe for that month and the system will handle the rest. The most time consuming part of the process is entering the information for your billers.
“It takes time to get used to doing things online,” says George Dimopoulos, author of Paperless Joy (and a man recognized for his nearly 100% paperless life), “so don’t do it all in one day.” Try taking it step by step – paying all of your credit cards online this month, and then add in your utilities the following month, followed by your mortgage and car payments. Getting used to the system at your own pace will make the transition much smoother. “You also don’t need to go 100% paperless,” says Dimopoulos. If you prefer to receive your bank statements in print so you can file them or for tax purposes, that’s fine. “No matter how paperless you choose to go,” he says, “you should always be comfortable.”
And the security concerns? Remember – banks take extra precautions to protect your identity online, by adding extra password protection, and often blocking your full account numbers from being viewed. But you have to be smart about it, too – which means only banking online in secure locations, preferably in your own home from a wired Internet connection. “Just like you’d shred your credit card bills to protect your identity, you should only log on where you know it’s secure,” says Dimopoulos. And make sure the passwords are 10 characters long and include letters and numbers. Shy away from choosing obvious passwords like your maiden name or the name of your dog – those kinds of things are usually all over your social networking pages, and if someone is out to steal your identity, that’s probably the first place they’ll look for clues.
-Jean
