bill paying

Barack Obama may have said, "There are no red states or blue states, just the United States," but when it comes to our online shopping and bill-paying patterns, there are some notable divides in our habits.

It's summer, a season of warm days and scary air-conditioning bills. Want to pay your bills with plastic so you can get reward points? Well, the credit-card fees utilities charge could change your mind. SmartCharge offers some customers a way to avoid those fees.

It's not a service for everyone, but I can see where some people would get a lot out of a bill paying service.While working on a magazine article I recently learned about FreyerMartin, a bill paying service that pays and manages consumers' bills. My initial thought was, "This could make an...