Image
Top
Navigation
March 31, 2011

Manilla – Centralize Your Bill Paying Process

Paying bills online is supposed to be easy. But with dozens of different corporate websites requiring dozens of different logins and passwords, it can take just as long to pay online as it does to sit down at the kitchen table with a checkbook and a stack of bills each month. The solution? It could be Manilla.

Manilla is a new web-app that aims to simplify the process of paying bills online. Rather than signing into individual company websites when paying bills – or trying to pay certain bills through a complicated online banking system – Manilla has partnered up with hundreds of national and regional companies, who’ve agreed to let their customers pay online through the Manilla service. Sign up by entering your email address and choosing a password, and then get started linking up your accounts. Click on a company you use – such as Verizon or AT&T, for example – and enter your online login to give Manilla access. Manilla has partnered with companies in the household, finance, travel, and media industries, which means you can pay your electric bill, your credit card bill, and renew your magazine subscriptions all in one place. Once you’ve linked your accounts, you’ll start receiving email notices when Manilla says your bills are due. Click onto the Manilla site, click “Pay Bill,” and you’re done. Manilla remembers your preferred payment options and let you pay bills in as little as one click.

When you log into the Manilla site after paying your bills, you’ll see a list of your accounts with the amount you owe – which should be $0, since your bills were just paid. Manilla even helps keep people organized by automatically filing away statement, bills, and occasional offers from companies that can be downloaded onto the desktop at any time.

Practical Uses:

  • Spend less time paying bills each month
  • Store all of your previous statements and bills in one place
  • See an overview of how much you owe on all your bills on a single screen
  • Find one when a bill is due via email notices from Manilla

Insider Tips:

  • Users can request that Manilla add specific companies to their list of supported providers
  • Some businesses that are supported by Manilla still require that people visit their own websites to pay bills
  • Manilla offers unlimited bill and statement storage for all members
  • Users who quit Manilla have 30 days to download their past statements and bills

What we liked:

  • Users only have to remember one login and password to pay all their bills
  • Companies save money when their customers use Manilla by not having to send paper statements each month
  • Online bills are paid instantly, which means you’ll never have to pay a late fee
  • The Manilla interface is clean looking and easy to use

What we didn’t like:

  • Manilla occasionally sends notifications for bills that have already been paid
  • Many regional companies are not yet supported on Manilla, which means users still have to log into multiple websites to pay their bills

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: March 2011 (Beta)
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: New York, New York
  • Founded by: Hearst
  • Web site: http://www.manilla.com

Costs:

  • Free

Submit a Comment

Posted By

Categories

Get Organized