Financial Education: Paying Bills Without a Bank Account

Everyone has to pay bills, but not everyone has a bank account. Thankfully, there’s still plenty of options to make those payments without a bank account. We’ll talk about some of the easiest ways to do this so you can pick the one that works best for you.

Ah, bills. The one thing we can’t escape as adults.

Whether it’s for your electric, your rent, your credit card bill, or something else, it can feel like you’re getting a new bill in the mail every day. And to keep from losing service or getting socked with late fees, you’ll need to keep paying those bills on time.

But how do you do that if you don’t have a bank account? Well, you have some options. As part of our Financial Education blog series, we’re going to tell you all about them!

Pay Bills Directly at Your Biller

You can sometimes pay your bills in person directly at the business that is billing you. Utility companies, in particular, usually offer this at a local branch. Not all businesses have a billing department on location though, so always call ahead before wasting a trip.

The type of payments each place accepts might differ too, so be sure to check on that ahead of time as well. Some places will accept cash or a debit card, but others will only accept a check or money order as a form of payment, which brings us to our next two methods:

Pay Bills with a Money Order

Money orders can almost always be used in place of a personal check, and because of this, they’re great for people without bank accounts. The funds on a money order are guaranteed. They never expire, and you can even put a stop payment on them if you need to.

For a small fee, you essentially trade your cash for a money order in the exact amount of your bill. You fill out the money order and then either mail it or bring it to the business billing you. Just like when paying with cash, check with the business billing you first to make sure they accept money orders for payment.

Pay Bills with a Prepaid Debit Card

Prepaid debit cards are a great alternative to bank accounts in general, not just for paying bills. You safely and securely load your cash on the card instead of carrying around the cash. The money you put on the card is the most you can spend, so you never have to worry about spending more than you have or paying interest like you do with a credit card.

And for a lot of bills, you can make payments over the phone with a prepaid debit card! This would be ideal because you don’t have to drive around wasting gas or time on in-person payments.

Pay Bills with Electronic Bill Pay

If you don’t have a bank account and you don’t like the idea of paying in-person at multiple locations every month, you can pay your bills with electronic bill pay at your nearest Community Currency Exchange location. We’re an authorized payment center for tons of different companies, so you can quickly and easily pay bills from gas and electric to your cell phone and mortgage (and loads more)!

This is the most hassle-free method of paying your bills without a bank account. We do all the work for you and in most cases, your bills will be credited with your payment immediately. All we need from you is to bring in your money for the bill payment and a small processing fee, along with your bill stub or account number.

Most of our locations are open weekends, holidays, and after-hours, so that you can take care of your bills on your time. And instead of visiting business after business to pay all your bills in person, you just make one stop to cover them all at once!

Call or stop by your nearest location to see if we cover your provider. Our Currency Exchange member locations also offer prepaid debit cards and money orders for your convenience. Both are universally accepted at thousands of locations!