Free Bill Pay

I have several different checking and savings accounts, but my main account has always been with Wells Fargo. After years of falling for their amateur financial trip-wires and getting plastered with fees, I wised up and started using their services to my advantage. They have a great Bill Pay service--the interface is easy to use and I've found it very helpful, but I'm paying $6.95/month, or $83.40/year for the service. I've said before that this is one of the few services I don't mind paying for, and that's still true. Despite the cost, it's been worth it--I got my bills in order using their Bill Pay, and I was (rightly) able to justify the cost because I was saving money by not having to buy postage or order checks (not to mention the not-infrequent late fees for unpaid bills, because I'm horrible about mailing payments).

However, while I don't mind paying $6.95/month, I also don't mind NOT paying $6.95/month.

I had a conversation with my company's credit union (we have a branch on-premises), and soon discovered all the wonderful advantages they offer. I've always had a savings account with the credit union--they're the only ATM in the building, and I avoid fees by having an account--but I found out they have free Bill Pay with their checking accounts, and their checking account has a 4% APY.

I'm pretty certain that beats any online savings account.

The requirements are minimal. I just needed to set up direct deposit and put $500 in my account every month, but seeing as I pay over $500 in bills, that's a given.

I spent about 45 minutes over lunch transferring all my account information from my Wells Fargo Bill Pay to my credit union's Bill Pay. The new interface? It's very good. The only flaw (for me) is that Wells Fargo always deducted mailed checks from my account immediately, and my new service does not. They wait for checks to be cashed. That will force me to keep a closer eye on what's going in and what's going out, but in all, I'm pretty happy with the service.

It will take me about a month to complete the changeover as I wait for accounts to realign, but it looks like I've just saved myself a few more bucks every month, and that, as we know, adds up!

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Happy New Year!

I'm sitting at my desk at work. I'm the only one in the building, and I'm only here to do some personal tasks. It's a new year! 2008 was pretty good to me, but I'm not sad to see it go.

Since I've started this blog, my life has, very simply, gotten better. I don't know if it's the blog itself or just a period of "growing up" but I've started to look at life a little more realistically. I'm halfway through a Masters (all A's, so far!). I've paid off my car/credit cards (over $12,000!). I have about $2,500 invested in the stock market right now (I bought $1,500 worth of stock in a couple of stable companies when they hit one of those really bad dips, so I'm up $1,000). I finished writing a 500 page book, and have started the arduous task of revising.

I have a few goals for this year.

- I want to have $10,000 of my own money in the stock market by the end of 2009. I have $8,500 to go.

- I want to get all my assignments in on time for my remaining classes in my Masters.

- I start Thesis I in the Fall of 2009--I want to have all substantial revisions complete in my novel by the end of Thesis I, so that the novel is ready for minor revisions by the start of Thesis II in the Spring of 2010.

- I want to send out 200 submissions for short-story publications. This hooks into a 2-year goal:

-- There are a few grants that I want to apply for in 2010. In order to qualify for these grants, I have to have 5 short stories published. Every quarter of this year, I want to send out 50 short-story submissions so that I can reach that goal of five publications.

- I just had my cholesterol checked and was roundly scolded by my doctor. If I don't lower my cholesterol myself in 6 months, I'm supposed to go on Lipitor. This leads me to a few very important goals (doctor's orders):

-- I need to exercise four days a week. I'm going to keep a calendar.
-- I have to stop eating out. My goal: only one "fast food" meal a month.

That's it. I'm also going to change the format of this blog. It's always been a little soft on the helpful financial information, and I'm fully embracing that lack. I'm going to use this as a sketchbook for ideas and how my life is going in general.

For the ten or twenty people who glance at this when I occasionally post, thanks for reading! It's good to know that a few people are glancing over my life--it keeps me on track.

Happy 2009 to all. I am, as always, Indebted2You.

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