Avoiding Late Fees

Looking for some tips on avoiding late fees?  Do you find yourself having to pay late fees because you forget about or misplace a bill?  Here are some tips for keeping track of your bills.

• Pay each bill as soon as it comes in.  Literally, bring it in from the mailbox, write the check, seal, stamp and put it in the mailbox the next day!
• Since all bills are generally due on or  around the same day each month (example, our house payment is always due the 15th of each month, the car payment is always due on the 12th, etc.) set up a calender/list/dry erase board posted prominently on the wall with each billed filled in on the day it’s due.
• More tech-savvy?  Then program those dates into your smartphone, Google calender or whatever digital organizer you use, with a reminder set to alert you a week prior to the date (a week to allow you enough time to get it in the mail with time to get there.  Best to mail them 5 days before the due date)
• Sign up for autopay, bank draft or other programs that the billing company offers where they take the payment out for you automatically.
• Sign up for e-statements/email reminders from the company.  Some will allow you to get email reminders without getting e-statements.  Others only send email reminders if you get e-statements (which means no more paper statements in the mail)
• Set up a bill binder or bill organizing station at your house.  I have a system where I file my bills by due date and my station sits on top of a small table in my office.  So at a glance, I can tell if something is due soon and I need to take care of it because my bills stay in plain site.  Check the office organizing section of Walmart or Target for desktop sized filers (a small rack where you can sort your bills).  I sort them by “due 1-5, due 6-15, due 16-25, due 25-end of month” but you can organize it to best suit you depending on when your bills are due.  (I also write the due date on the outside of the envelope too). If you don’t have tabletop space you can do this in a binder with folders.  Just make sure you open the binder on a regular basis to check!  ALSO keep stamps and envelopes at your station too to save time!

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