Tips to Help Pay Your Bills on Time

Mortgage payment. Utility bills. Credit cards. Student loans. Organizing monthly bills shouldn’t feel like a part time job. The right tools and processes can put monthly bill payments on autopilot, help you avoid late payments and keep life moving. If you could use a few suggestions to fine-tune your process, here are some tips on how to pay your bills on time.

6 ways to prevent late payments

Late payments happen to everyone at some point. Get ahead of them with these tips on how to pay bills on time. If you’re already late, get some info about late payments and credit and what happens when you miss a payment.

1. Make a list of all your bills
   Start by making a list of every single bill you have, labeling and grouping them by due date. Don’t forget any quarterly or non-monthly bills. Seeing all your bills in one place will help you organize them in your head before putting together a payment schedule. Think about your ideal monthly bill calendar. Would you prefer to pay them all at once on the first of the month? Or maybe bi-weekly to align with your paycheck schedule?

2. Request to change your due dates
   Look at the list of bills you created. If your due dates don’t align with how you get paid, you might have difficulty avoiding late payments. To organize monthly bills around your schedule, contact your lender to see if they will allow you to change your due date. Some lenders are more open than others, but it’s worth the call:

   • Make sure your account is up to date.
   • Determine the new payment date and make sure it doesn’t affect due dates for other bills.
   • Contact the customer service department of your lender or credit company to request the change.
   • If approved, get confirmation of when the due date change becomes effective.

3. Add your due dates to your calendar
   Do you keep a personal calendar for appointments and other commitments? If so, adding your bill’s due dates could help you plan out the financial obligations in your life as well. Or you can organize monthly bills in a completely separate calendar to further break down your schedules. Here’s some strategies for creating and maintaining a monthly bill calendar:

   • Mark the dates when each bill is due.
   • Mark the day you plan to pay your bill if that date is before the due date.
   • Check your calendar at the beginning of each week to keep upcoming bills in mind.
   • If you plan to mail in a payment, mark the date that it needs to be mailed to arrive on time.
   • After each bill is paid, make note of what day it was paid and cross it out.

4. Set up automatic payments
   When considering how to manage bills, automating monthly bill payments is about as foolproof as it gets. The amount you owe will be automatically deducted from your checking or savings account each month. Some lenders might allow you to choose a payment date and amount that works with your calendar. Common ways to sign up for automated payments include:

   • Visit your service provider or lender’s website and complete an enrollment form.
   • Sign in to your online user profile and complete an enrollment form.
   • Call the customer service number of your service provider or lender.

5. Create a monthly budget
   Paying your bills on time starts with budgeting for them. If the idea of automatic payments scares you, consider creating a monthly budget to ease your mind. If you’re confident you have the money to cover your bills when they’re due, getting them paid is not only easier, but less stressful. Budgeting itself might also be less scary than you think. Just plug some numbers into our budget calculator and you will be on your way to paying your bills on time, every time.

6. Try an app or website
   If creating your own monthly bill calendar doesn’t sound like something you would do or stick to, luckily there’s an app or website for everything. Try Prism, PayTrust, PocketGuard or a handful of others when figuring out how to manage bills online. Some benefits of this type of technology could include:

   • Seeing all of your bills and finances in one glance.
   • Getting reminders for approaching due dates.
   • Submitting payments directly through the app or website.
   • Accessing a detailed record of all payments submitted.
   • General financial planning assistance like budget analyzers and retirement planning help.

Want to reduce your monthly expenses? Trim helps you manage monthly bills and cut costs where you can. It’s free from OneMain with an online account.

Make on-time payments a priority

If you’re having difficulty paying your bills on time, you may want to consider trying a new routine. Start with these tips and a few small changes at first to see what works best for you. Over time, your new habit of paying bills on time could become second nature, so you can move onto bigger goals.