angelman

A few comments here:
It is amazing how backward it is here.. I couldnt believe the whole cheque thing either. Even more ridiculous I get paid by a publicly listed company every week with a paper cheque that I have to deposit at the bank! They only do direct deposit to their two chosen banks.
I was thinking how although backward there is usually a reason for why things are as they are. One big difference between the US and the UK is the number of banks. Here they used to have a bank in practically every town. I am sure there are still small towns with little banks that probably barely have a computer in sight. Trying to network them altogether and managing the clearing with tens of thousands of different institutions of different sizes would be incredibly difficult and complex. In the UK we have far fewer banks and building societies and so its not so hard to get them all to talk to each other. Also the lack of government oversight and the direct debit gurantee is a huge factor here I think. In the UK we just dont realise just how important that direct debit gurantee is I think.
I just use the bank's bill pay system as others have suggested. I would suggest staying away from bank of america as they are just a bunch of money scavenging crooks adding fees upon fees. Find a decent bank of better still credit union that has a half decent website will bill pay.
It's incredible that the bank will allow me to go online set up an 'electronic bill pay' which in turn prints out a cheque at the bank which is deposited in an envelope and shipped out to the recipient who then drives to their bank to deposit the cheque and then that bank uses some new fangled technology called a fax machine (this is a new exciting innovation) to "electronically" transfer an image of that cheque to my bank for clearing (or something along those lines). And yet they charge me $25 to do an electronic wire transfer...
My wife uses chequefree, I dont know why since we have free bill pay online but she seems to like it. Can't imagine why you would ever pay for a service to pay your bills..

Tracym

I pay for it because I like the way it works better than my banks bill paying.

Also, because I tended to spend the summer away - and having to forward the mail in order to receive the bills on time was a big hassle.

Since I don't have to mail any payments, I save on postage. Also, I just hate making out envelopes etc. So I have been very happy with the service.

Oh yes another thing - Paytrust can access multiple bank accouts at multiple banks.

augigi

Tracy, I for one think it sounds perfectly logical to pay for a service which you find works well and keeps you happy and your bills paid on time.

Tracym

Thanks. It is especially helpful while traveling I think.

Not for everyone I'm sure, but works for me.