I've lost three checks since February (all bills).

[no_hypocrisy]

I'm in Passaic County in NJ. And I love the P.O. I won't pay online.

But three checks haven't been received by three creditors. (Bad News)

But the three checks haven't been cashed. (Good News)

So I had to cancel these checks at my bank as each were over the cancellation fee ($27 each) (Bad News)

I had a meaningful discussion with a supervisor about this experience and he advised me that the mailboxes around the county have been broken into with the contents stolen. One of those mailboxes was where I mailed my bills.

I'm not going to drive to another region to mail my bills. But I can still take it inside the P.O. during business hours and put it into the slots.

[mahina]

1. Your bank may have a bill payment function, or the creditors may.

I pay all my bills through my credit union or directly on their sites now.

No need stamps, nothing gets lost in the mail, and I have a record of every payment amount and date. The one downside is it sometimes takes 2 weeks for the checks to post at the creditor's.

Good luck with all.

[MontanaMama]

3. I use the bill pay funtion through my bank's website.

The creditor gets paid within a day or two if they accept electronic payment or my bank cuts them a check if they don't. It has worked really well for me personally and I do it for our business as well. Saves time and money. Just a suggestion.

[pwb]

4. I have never had a letter or bill lost.

The U S postal service letter carriers national food drive is in a couple weeks. They are great. Can't say enough good about them.

[lapfog_1]

5. I set up a seperate checking account just for paying bills online

It is not linked to any other account and is not at my main bank.

I get bills and deposit just that amount (usually in cash) into that account.

Costs me like $12 a month because I won't keep the "minimum free account amount" in the account, but that's a small price to pay for never a late fee and not much exposure to hacking.

[Blue_true]

12. Interesting. I have thought about such a system.

Depositing cash into the pay account does break the hack connection back to your bank. Do you use the pay account for incidental cash withdrawals? Here in Florida, a scanner was found on a bank ATM, at a bank branch. A pay account for bills and incidental money and airline tickets puts a maximum on how much can be lost if someone steals the card information.

[Sherman A1]

6. I always take my mail

Into the post office and put it in the slot in the wall. I never use the outdoor boxes as one just never knows.

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. Me, too.

But I pay most if my bills via phone. Or I have automatic deductions. I almost never write cks for bills.

[Blue_true]

13. Most people don't have free time to do that, or

they get up too late and simply don't have time. I pay everything online now, by using a bank pay app or a company pay app for bills.

[Sherman A1]

15. While I agree that time is often a challenge

and do the online bill pay through the bank as well. I also feel that I can arrange my travels to take the things that I limited things that I do mail which usually involve finances of some sort or birthday cards with gifts into the post office building. It is not a perfect solution certainly, but yet I believe that it is taking a step to help protect my identity and provide a modicum of security to my dealings.

The world has changed and continues to do so, we all must make adjustments just as you have done with moving to electronic payments.

[Blue_true]

16. I used to do what you do.

Important things were handed to a postal clerk, face to face so that I saw the person recieve the mail. One problem with the modern world is that it seems to have sped up, while postal branches closed. I am a technologist, so maybe I helped create the monster that is slowly consuming us by making life seem faster and more activity packed, but like a junkie on a fix, I am hooked and can't stop, the consequence is that simple, soul satisfying and effective things like dropping stuff off at the nearest postal branch, or stopping a few minutes to eat a roadside ice cream cone have flown out the window. People like you are not the problem.

[GreenEyedLefty]

8. I love the post office near my home.

The one near my office is terrible.

I constantly deal with mis-delivered mail addressed to other suites in my building, and have twice received envelopes with addresses on them that are in no way related to our business.

My office is in Michigan - one of the envelopes that landed in my mailbox was to an address in Arizona, the return address was in Wisconsin. I tucked it into one of our envelopes with a note, re-mailed it (at my company's expense), and hoped it got to its destination.

I am a huge advocate, defender and user of the US Postal System. There is nothing else like it in the world - but this shit is hard to defend.

[Egnever]

9. Been paying bills online now for almost 20 years

I know a lot of people are skittish about it but in 20 years of online payments I have never had an issue. In the same time period I have had multiple checks or other mail articles lost to never be seen or heard from again.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. You NEVER pay by mail anymore. Banks can sit on checks for upwards of 2 weeks before processing.

.

This is not only banks, but credit card processing centers, keeping a delayed queue of payments. Now, most will average less than a week, but you never know if, when and how they will handle payments from month to month. It's up to you to prove they've received it, and some usage terms will state received, others will state processed.

They sit on checks, in the hope that you mail them later in the billing cycle. You then are late and your credit is fucked as that bank raises it's APR on you and hits you with a late charge. Then, other institutions will see you've made a late payment and some of them will place you into their default rate, which could approach 29%.

Paying online is so much safer than paying by mail.

1) You get instant confirmation that the payment was received.
2) You do not risk your checks falling into the hands of someone who can forge future check numbers.
3) You don't pay stop payment charges.

But, the funniest thing is that most payment centers use the same web portal that you use to make a payment. Your bank and credit accounts generally aren't any safer than if you do manage your own payments. Just make sure your computer is up to date and use a strong password with upper and lowercase letters, a at least one number and special character.

.



.

[Demovictory9]

11. pay online of you have that option

[nini]

14. It's been bad around here

They're putting different doors on the mailbox that won't allow anything much thicker than an envelope. One of the tricks is to put a sticky thing on the end of an old hanger and put it in the box and pull out envelopes. The new door will now allow them to be pulled back out. You are right to just bring it in the drop inside.

Also your checks may not be cashed but they have your acct info, signature etc.. to get you later when you think you're ok. Good luck. It sucks to have to worry about this stuff.

[Blue_true]

17. It used to be that police cars regularly drove around public places

often enough to give thieves second thoughts. Now, I seldom see police cars on patrol, but I also live in a "nice" part of town also, but even on streets when I am driving, I just see cop cars moving along with regular traffic, never seeming to break off and check things out.