I’m kind of astounded by how many companies these days give you the ability to view your account online. It’s not just banks and financial institutions that have online presences. I’ve even got an online account with my electric company and they allow me to input my exact usage on the months that they do an average of usage. My amount due is there and I can even pay my bill online.
I highly recommend that if pay a bill to a company, look to see if you can check out your account online. My student loans are a great example as well. It allows me to make an extra payment and choose to have it all go to Principle. I may not make that extra payment if I’ve got to cut a check for it and then *hope* it gets credited to the principle balance.