Image: “Personal Finance” by investmentzen is licensed under CC BY 2.0
With the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, we understand that this presents everyone with a horrible fear and stress about finances. Research has shown that 67% of Americans live from paycheck to paycheck and only 50% of Americans can cover their bills and expenses in a month. This means keeping a close eye on all bills and paying them on time to avoid late fees and penalties is both challenging and critical.
Many student loan, insurance and utility providers have offered some relief to their customers during this time.
Insurance providers have recognized that many of their insurers are driving less and have enacted refunds, discounts, dividends and credits.
Student Loan providers have offered support to their lenders by offering suspension of payments for 3-6 months.
A number of other providers such as utility providers have offered relief programs to households struggling to pay their bills during this time, by not shutting off services if bills are not paid on time. The halt to shutoffs applies to electric, water and sewer services.
Although providers across the U.S. are coming together to help customers during these unprecedented times, bill management still continues to be a stress point for many Americans as we continue to fight through a Pandemic.
Now more than ever, the usage of bill management applications and online resources are integral for staying on top of personal finances.
Bill Management applications and services that bring all of your bills to one place, and allow you to pay and keep track of Due Dates and cash flow can help with avoiding late fees and quite simply, can ease the stress of managing and paying bills in many different locations.
Late and missed payments, especially on credit card and various loan accounts can incur late fees to people and households that simply cannot afford them at this time. Signing up for a free bill management application can help avoid late payments that incur fees and a decrease in credit scores.
In addition to Finovera which allows consumers to link and pay all of their bills from within one application and also monitors bills for unusual spikes in Amount Dues, our favorite services that help consumers stay on top of their finances are Truebill, Billshark and Experian Boost.
You can learn more about these services below, many of which in addition to bill management offer subscription management, bill negations, and the ability to raise your credit score by paying your utility bills on time.
https://www.experian.com/consumer-products/score-boost.html
Taking care of finances during these unprecedented times enables all of us to stay financially fit, and reduce overall stress. As we practice social distancing and spend more time at home, now is the time to actively seek out online tools and resources to help stay on top of our finances.