Chapter 3: Getting Started with Accounts, Bills, and Paychecks

Paying bills

Money Essentials lets you pay anyone — from your babysitter to your electric company — electronically. Paying bills online is not only faster than writing a check and mailing it — it keeps a record of your payments, reduces the chance of data entry errors, and helps ensure that the information in your account is always current.

Online bill pay with your bank

To pay a bill online, you must have at least one account that allows online transactions. Contact your bank to find out if it offers both online statements and bill payment through Money Essentials. If it does, sign up with the bank for the new service, and then set up your account to use online bill payment and online statements.

If your financial institution does not offer online bill payment, you can still sign up for online bill payment through another provider, such as MSNŽ Bill Pay.

To set up MSN Bill Pay for online bill payment:

1. On the Money Home page, click Set up a new account.
2. Select Bill payment service provider and click Next.
3. Select MSN Bill Pay and click Next.
4. Follow the steps of the wizard to enroll for MSN Bill Pay.

Pay a bill online with Money Essentials

Now you are ready to set up your first online bill payment.

1. Click Bills.
2. In the left pane, under Common tasks, click Make an electronic payment. (see Figure 3-3)
3. Enter the payment information, and then click Schedule Payment.

If you are connected to the Internet, you can schedule the payment to be made immediately, without the hassle of writing checks, maintaining a supply of stamps, and manually entering data in several places.

Figure 3-3: Paying Bills Online

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