Very little has changed since our review of the Paytrust service in 2004. Paytrust eliminates paper bills and saves you time and money. Wish Intuit could integrate it better with TurboTax and Quickbooks software.

This article could have easily been entitled "Paytrust Revisited," since we wrote about the service in a 2004 review of the Paytrust Bill Payment Service. That review focused on Paytrust's new web design which many users did not like.

Today there are several things that have changed, but for the most part the service and the website are pretty much the same. However, Intuit Corp. now owns Paytrust. Intuit are the same folks who produce money management software such as Quicken, Quickbooks, and TurboTax.

What's different on Paytrust?
The most significant change in Paytrust is the added security panels that Intuit has put in place. Bank of America online users will be familiar with these. Paytrust now provides you assurance that you are on their website by asking you to specify a picture key and several password answers. If enter your ID, your picture key will appear and you will have to answer some questions if you are on a public computer to continue. After you provide the correct answers, the system prompts you for your password.

This is additional security is a good idea, since many people do pay bills from computers at work or public computers. A user can turn off these additional requirements and will then only have to enter a user ID and password.

We tested the security system by typing in the wrong answers to the security questions. After two or three tries we were locked out and told to contact Customer Service. They verified who I was and I was able to get back into the system.

What else is new with Paytrust?
The short answer is not very much. I'll have to admit that I was disappointed in former owner Metavante's response to our original review. I has a teleconference with them but nothing really was done. I could not find many new features. Sure there are tweaks here and there, but nothing that makes me sit up and take notice.

The site is very text ridden, but still does what it is supposed to do: eliminate paper billings and give you a nice placed to store and call up your bills when they are needed. Paytrust makes your bills accessible online for each calendar year. At year end, you either have to download bills into Quicken or a CSV file. For an additional fee, Paytrust will also burn a CD for you that contains all of your bills for a calendar year. If you really have not seen this in action, please watch the Paytrust Video. It's not the greatest quality, but you will get the idea.

The Smart Balance feature is still touted. This enable you to find out exactly what your checking account balance is from Paytrust. For this to work, your existing bank has to be Smart Balance Bank member. If this is important to you, then call Paytrust at 1-800-paytrusst and ask.

Paytrust also allows you to have several funding accountings. This means you can specify which checking account and bank to make payments with.

The references to Paytrust from Yahoo and others are very dated and are from early 2000.

Greater Expectations from new owner Intuit
I expected greater integration of Paytrust with some of Intuit's other products such as TurboTax and Quickbooks since I use both of these software products. That did not happen.

To do anything with your Paytrust data you have to download it into Quicken, another Money Management software type of file, or a CSV or Excel file. It's awkward and time consuming. I would have hoped to see something in Intuit's TurboTax Software that would have allowed me to download relevant tax related bills that were paid using Paytrust into the TurboTax software.

I also expected by now that Intuit would have integrated Paytrust with Quickbooks, its business accounting system. There's no information on the Paytrust website or QuickBooks Online website that discusses that.

Would we drop Paytrust?
In case I failed to mention it, I am still a Paytrust subscriber. That speaks volumes. However, I would drop Paytrust only if I found a software program that would link checking with QuickBooks Online and TurboTax. The system would still have to uphold the prime directive of eliminating paper billing and facilitate retrieval of bills and allow us to pay bills from any computer. Being able to manage bill paying for elderly parents is also a major plus.

What is Paytrust good at?
Paytrust still makes sense if you are managing your bills and paying them using any online computer. It is also idea for:

• Managing bills for your elderly mom and dad who live in another State (they may forget to pay their utility bills),
• Managing paper and calling up bills electronically, especially if your entire household is turned upside down when you are remodeling, and
• Those who travel extensively or who move to warmer climates during the winter aka Snow Birds. Paytrust enables you to keep the bills on both houses in order.