Reduce Late Fees With Better Payment Practices

Late fees and penalty and interest charges for overdue bills are a waste of money: they give nothing in return and they can add up substantially over time, disrupting cash flow, throwing off budgets, and creating the risk of an overdrawn checking account. When the bill-paying and bookkeeping fall into occasional neglect or oversight resulting in late fees and other unnecessary service fees required for instant delivery of payments, consider some tips to get back on track and keep more money in your own pocket.

Set aside a time

Small business owners who do most—or all—of the work by themselves know that there is not always enough time in the day or week to get everything done efficiently. However, financial management is not one of those tasks that can be put off indefinitely or done erratically. Discipline and time management are important for attending to important financial matters. Setting aside a specific day and time to devote to managing payments and financial records is advisable to those who have trouble getting it all done on time. Choosing a time that is practical for your schedule, and one that makes sense according to your bill cycles and due dates, makes it more likely that you’ll actually stick to it and reduce the opportunities for issuing late payments.

Adopt online check printing for efficient payments

Checkeeper gives a modern refresh to check payments, adding extra features without extra fees. Checkeeper offers customizable checks that can be printed on demand from any checking account you use. When you need a fast payment, input the data into your check layout and print your check right from your home or office. If you’re away from both of those, or simply don’t have the time to issue a lot of imminently-due payments, order all your payment checks printed and mailed directly by Checkeeper. Choose the priority delivery speed that suits the urgency of the payment, and checks can be out for delivery by the end of the typical business day so that they are not late. Checkeeper records and stores payment data for users, saving hours every year in updating and reconciling records. Any check payment is trackable in the searchable online registry in only a few clicks.

Use priority delivery options

Having a few delivery options available helps reduce the time payments require to travel to their destinations. Online payment methods are available for issuing a fast payment, but many incur service and convenience fees, which add up over time. When a check is the preferred or necessary payment method, Checkeeper offers complete check printing and mailing services that can get a needed check delivered at the speed that suits its urgency. Checkeeper offers four priority delivery methods, three with tracking options, so that users can select and adjust delivery speeds for each order of checks needed. Check orders placed before 4pm EST can be out for delivery by the end of the same business day according to the delivery method chosen.

Convert bills into checks

To save time and reduce manual data entry and paperwork, many users take advantage of Checkeeper’s bill-to-check conversion feature, which is made accessible by linking the Checkeeper account to an Odoo or Xero account. Import unpaid invoices directly from those accounts into Checkeeper to get a payment check automatically generated. Payments due to the same vendor are consolidated into a single payment with an attached invoice table that breaks down the total. This saves time and makes processing and bookkeeping more efficient and accurate so that bills can be paid and recorded promptly. Instructional videos for utilizing this feature are available here for new users; in-account walkthroughs are available, too, for guiding new and experienced users through many Checkeeper features that save time, enhance efficiency, and reduce extraneous fees.