# Paying Utility Bill Online With Checking Account **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [March 23, 2024, 9:01am UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753 "2024-03-23T09:01:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Perpatriddle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Perpatriddle](https://community.clark.com/u/Perpatriddle)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 9:01am UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/1 "2024-03-23T09:01:43Z")
Just paid my first utility bill (electric) at my new residence. Went to website and established registration, same company as before but they retired payments through “my check free”. I paid with a CC because I was a bit leery about giving them my checking acct. number info. The only fly in the ointment was a 1.75 convenience fee, the bill was 76.11, I used a 2% cash back card so it really only cost me pennies. My question is, is it safe to give them my checking info ? I do have a second checking acct. at another bank that I don’t keep much in, the problem is that it’s a pain making a deposit there. The utility is an old established company, in fact my grandfather started there in the 1920’s pushing a tool cart for 15.00 a week, he worked his way up to an executive before retiring in 1969. So they’re not going anywhere. I predict my bill will be between 50.00 and 200.00 a month depending on the time of year. What would you do ? ---
**Author:** ![glasspilot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@glasspilot](https://community.clark.com/u/glasspilot)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 10:05am UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/2 "2024-03-23T10:05:08Z")
I pay most of my bills at my banks “Bill Pay” web site. None of the companies get your bank info. Instead of going to each company web site separately you pay all (most) of your bills in one place. ---
**Author:** ![H200h](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e79b87/32.png) [@H200h](https://community.clark.com/u/H200h)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/3 "2024-03-23T15:51:06Z")
Use your CU’s bill pay service. And when you are choosing which CU to use, select the one that does not include your personal account info on the paper checks or EFTs they send to your creditors. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Black\_Sr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.clark.com/joe_black_sr/32/1524_2.png) [@Joe\_Black\_Sr](https://community.clark.com/u/Joe_Black_Sr)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2024, 7:05pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/4 "2024-03-26T19:05:09Z")
You are concerned to give them your CC info, but you will give them your Banking info? That’s kinda backwards. I have quit doing Automatic Bank pay. I use credit cards or have a check issued from the bank. I don’t use personal checks anymore. CC issues are way easier to handle and the unauthorized use of a CC is protected. Nothing is protected when using a Debit card, a Fake Visa as it were. ---
**Author:** ![jcgc50](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.clark.com/jcgc50/32/2731_2.png) [@jcgc50](https://community.clark.com/u/jcgc50)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/5 "2024-03-28T17:10:09Z")
Clark recommends not giving your checking information out to any company. A lot of damage can be caused with access to your checking account vs a credit card. However, in my case my corporate landlord slaps a 4% fee on CC use and doesn’t want to accept personal checks. They just don’t want to handle personal checks. They push you to giving your checking account so they can debit your account. My solution was to create a second checking account and transfer only the funds needed from the main account to that one prior to the bill coming due and not setting up any overdraft fees. So, even if they make a mistake and attempt to withdraw too much they can’t. Additionally, even if that information was released there would be little damage they could do. I would prefer to use a CC but this was my solution. ---
**Author:** ![robertpri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@robertpri](https://community.clark.com/u/robertpri)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/6 "2024-03-28T20:55:00Z")
> [@jcgc50](#): > > My solution was to create a second checking account I did the same thing, with no overdraft protection. One caution: my bank [B/A] tries to charge a monthly $12 “management fee” for accounts less than XYZ$$$ daily monthly balance. ---
**Author:** ![jcgc50](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.clark.com/jcgc50/32/2731_2.png) [@jcgc50](https://community.clark.com/u/jcgc50)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 9:09pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/7 "2024-03-28T21:09:27Z")
My last brick and mortar bank was BOA. After the 08-09 crash I did my best to avoid all of those folks given the much better deals to be had through online only banks. That or credit unions. ---
**Author:** ![robertpri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@robertpri](https://community.clark.com/u/robertpri)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/8 "2024-03-28T21:18:53Z")
> [@jcgc50](#): > > avoid all of those folks given the much better deals Fully agree…! B/A is horrible with their “fees” but I’ve been with them for 65 years, since 1959. I’ve bought houses, cars, planes, and boats with them and have earned extremely high credit ratings. No big reason to change banks. ---
**Author:** ![SonoranSilkies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@SonoranSilkies](https://community.clark.com/u/SonoranSilkies)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 4:17am UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/9 "2024-03-31T04:17:22Z")
> [@Joe\_Black\_Sr](#): > > You are concerned to give them your CC info, but you will give them your Banking info? That’s kinda backwards. I have quit doing Automatic Bank pay. I use credit cards or have a check issued from the bank. I don’t use personal checks anymore. CC issues are way easier to handle and the unauthorized use of a CC is protected. Nothing is protected when using a Debit card, a Fake Visa as it were. Billpay from your account does not (necessarily) give your banking information, and more importantly, does not give permission to access your accounts. Allowing a pull from your accounts does. As does paying by credit card. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Black\_Sr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.clark.com/joe_black_sr/32/1524_2.png) [@Joe\_Black\_Sr](https://community.clark.com/u/Joe_Black_Sr)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 1:33pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/10 "2024-03-31T13:33:02Z")
Bill Pay, or having your bank issue a check is different than allowing a bank draft. I was referring to bank drafts and debit cards which do have direct access to your bank accounts. And bank drafts open a two-way access. I have used the banks bill pay before when I couldn’t use a CC. I quit writing checks long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![c200ns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@c200ns](https://community.clark.com/u/c200ns)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2024, 2:22pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/11 "2024-03-31T14:22:26Z")
The convenience fee is less than your 2% cash back card so just use your credit card and you are still coming out ahead and safe. ---
**Author:** ![ByronNottingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@ByronNottingham](https://community.clark.com/u/ByronNottingham)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 3:29pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/12 "2024-12-20T15:29:24Z")
Not really. The example was paying a $76.11 bill with an additional $1.75 fee. A 2% cash back card, assuming the fee was also applied toward cash back, would pay back 2% of $77.83 which is $1.56. So using a card would cost an extra 19 cents. As the OP mentioned, out some extra pennies. A bill which is about $10 higher would be in the break-even zone, and only more than that would be “coming out ahead”. ---
**Author:** ![c200ns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/fbc32d/32.png) [@c200ns](https://community.clark.com/u/c200ns)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 4:05pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/13 "2024-12-20T16:05:53Z")
Well, I screwed that one up, good catch. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![H200h](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e79b87/32.png) [@H200h](https://community.clark.com/u/H200h)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/14 "2024-12-20T16:19:00Z")
> [@ByronNottingham](#): > > Not really. The example was paying a $76.11 bill with an additional $1.75 fee. A 2% cash back card, assuming the fee was also applied toward cash back, would pay back 2% of $77.83 which is $1.56. So using a card would cost an extra 19 cents. As the OP mentioned, out some extra pennies. A bill which is about $10 higher would be in the break-even zone, and only more than that would be “coming out ahead”. If you want to use a cash rewards credit for things like utility bills just pay an excess amount so that the CC service charge is equal to or less than the cash-back amount. A few years back I paid all my utilities with a 2.5% cash-back card and often ended up pre-paying as much as 3 months ahead. Since the CC company cut the cash-back rate to 1.5% I’ve switched to billpay. ---
**Author:** ![ByronNottingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@ByronNottingham](https://community.clark.com/u/ByronNottingham)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 4:36pm UTC](https://community.clark.com/t/paying-utility-bill-online-with-checking-account/4753/15 "2025-01-11T16:36:43Z")
That is a clever idea which hadn’t occurred to me.