Why You Need to Get into VDP

Do you bank online? I resisted for a long time but finally gave in. My first concern was security. After all, there are tens of dollars in my account and some Serbian computer hackers could fill an entire CD with iTunes songs if they ever got their hands on my money. But those fears were calmed once I saw the padlock icon in the bottom left-hand corner of the bank’s Website. Gosh, that made me feel SO much better.

Having overcome that issue, I began my online banking experience. Now, the benefit of managing your money this way is primarily the ease of paying bills. No more stamps and check writing and addressing envelopes.

Nope. An invoice comes in, gets entered and a pay date is set. That’s it. Voila! I don’t have to think about it again.

But that’s on the other end of this process. In order to get there, I had to endure a lot of data entry. Data. Ugh! Sure, I do business with Sprint and Verizon Wireless, but where did I keep the copy of that last bill? I need it because it has the address and the all-important account number. I have only about 30 vendors, but the experience of entering all of that friggin’ data can be summed up in three words.

What

A

Pain.

Off and on, it must have taken me two hours to enter all of my information. OK, my Dyslexia didn’t help, and why do companies insist on using “O” and “0” in the account number? That’s just cruel.

But after a week or so of preparation, I was ready to send my first check. Cool! Verizon Wireless. $133.85. Due October 20, 2010. Enter. Done!

OMG! I love this! I won’t ever go back to traditional bill payment. Despite the awkward and annoying setup process, I can honestly say that my bank has me locked up. Man, I don’t ever want to go through that again! For now, there are no fees but even if they added them, I’d still hang on. Yup, they own me because they own my data.