BILL MANAGEMENT
While Jim Clark's latest venture, myCFO, provides the well-heeled with Web-based accounting, several new online services make it possible for more modest earners to outsource their personal financial headaches. Three crafty ebusinesses, PayMyBills, Paytrust, and the curiously named StatusFactory.com, have started with simple stuff – like getting your bills paid on time – and have each developed a system that lets you go paperless with all your regular bills. For $8 to $10 a month, you never have to cut checks and lick envelopes again.
The services work like so: At the site, you arrange for all your monthly bills to be mailed to their service center instead of your home. The bills are scanned into your password-protected Web account, which notifies you of their arrival by email. You read the bills through your browser and then authorize payment however you wish. The service electronically transfers the dough from your checking account, or cuts and mails a check where e-payments aren't yet possible. All records are stored online, accessible whenever you need them. Each service requires access to your bank account, making security a primary concern; PayMyBills insures you for up to $100,000, and its rivals are following suit.
Some may want to wait for the reassuring presence of more established brands. E-payment leader CheckFree already offers similar services in some markets, as do a few banks. And, naturally, Yahoo! is looking to get into the game. Still, for those who can't wait, PayMyBills, Paytrust, and StatusFactory.com are ready to take your click.
| Monthly Service| Site| Bottom Line
| www.paymybills.com| $8.95 for 25 bills; 50 cents per bill thereafter. | Sharpest interface of the three bill butlers.
| www.paytrust.com| $7.95 for 25 bills; 50 cents per bill thereafter. | Best deal for big spenders.
| www.statusfactory.com| $8.95 for 15 payees; $3.95 lite plan covers 5 payees. | Can make multiple payments to payees.
| www.checkfree.com| $12.95 (after its gratis period ends on January 1, 2000) for 35 bills to CheckFree partners. | Not a total solution: Many billers aren't CheckFree partners yet.
| NEW MONEY
| Average Joe’s myCFO
