Bills are part and parcel of our lives. Every month we pay for products and services that make our lifestyles possible: water, electricity, municipal services, home security, gym memberships and internet services, to name just a few.

If you’re the sort of person who always looks for a bright side, you could say that the one benefit of regular bills is the fact that they’re regular. You expect them every month and you know when they are due, so you can ensure they’re paid on time, every time.

Paying your bills on time is an important habit to get into. It avoids unnecessary costs and keeps your credit score healthy, which improves your chances of getting credit when next you need it. With Nedbank’s new digital feature, you can even earn rewards just for paying your bills on time.

A new way to be sure your bills are paid on time

For many years you’ve been able to pay monthly bills automatically via a direct debit, which gives a vendor or service provider approval to take payments from your bank account electronically. A direct debit is a handy way to avoid ever missing a payment, and it saves you the effort of having to draw money and pay bills over the counter – carrying around wads of cash is risky.

But many South Africans are still reluctant to set up direct debit orders. They’re worried about errors or double debits if they automate these payments. This is why we’ve introduced an even easier way to pay your monthly bills. Our Bill Payments feature on the Nedbank Money app or Online Banking allows you to set up automated regular payments.

With a few taps on your mobile device, you can set up a payment specifying a beneficiary, the account they should be paid from, the date they should be paid on, how often they should be paid, and how much to pay. You can even set a range of payment amounts for accounts that vary every month, like your electricity bill – and choose whether payments must be made automatically or that you be notified instead, to approve each amount on the due date.

This new feature even turns paying your bills into a rewarding experience. Every time you pay your accounts using the Bill Payments feature, you’ll be rewarded with Greenbacks, SAA Voyager Miles or American Express Membership Rewards (provided your payments are from accounts linked to these programmes).

How to use the Bill Payments feature

Log in to the Money app or Online Banking and access the Bill Payments feature by selecting Pay > Bill Payments and then following the set-up steps.

You can then load beneficiaries for all your regular bills and set the payment rules outlined above for each one. You remain in total control of payments made from your accounts. You can, for example, set minimum or maximum payment amounts per beneficiary and edit or stop scheduled payments if you want to.

What could be simpler? You never have to worry about missing a payment and damaging your credit record or having a service suspended. When you consider that you can also earn rewards on every transaction, paying your bills has never been more gratifying.