I got an email this morning from one of my sisters, linking to an interesting article by Valerie Hoff of 11 Alive. The article discusses a new kind of Gift Registry website called Billpay Registry. The premise is that you register to ask your family and friends to send money to pay your bills instead of asking for gifts from other registries (baby showers, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, etc).
I’ve got seriously mixed feelings about the premise of this registry. On the one hand, there’s no possible way to get a great deal on giving cash. T
here’s no 80% off and a 10% rebate when you give cash. It’s not possible to maximize your gift giving value when you’re giving cash. In order to stay within your budget when giving cash… you just give less. Of course, when people do give cash, they often give more than they afford in order to keep up appearances. I believe that if these kinds of websites become popular, many people who sign up for the service will exploit that.
On the other hand…
It’s a great idea for people who don’t really want or need physical gifts, or who need help digging out of their financial mess far more than they need something from a store (or hand made). It might be a life saver for a college grad or dropout who have a crushing load of student loan debt hanging over their head as they start their “real life”.
Would I sign up for this service? Probably not as an only option. I might add it to a list of options, just like my Amazon.com wishlist for when someone asks “What would you like for your birthday or Christmas or Anniversary?”. However, I’d never sign up and send an unsolicited notification to all my friends and family to ask for bill money.
Would I send money to someone else using this service? I think that solely depends on who is using it and what they’re doing with their lives. If I get a request from someone who is digging themselves into a hole financially and depending on everyone else to bail them out while they continue to make shitty financial choices… not a chance. If I get a request from someone who is working toward getting their financial lives on good footing and I felt like I was helping instead of enabling, I would be far more likely to make a cash contribution to their goals than to purchase a physical gift that would have less personal meaning for the recipient.
What do you think? Would you use a service like Billpay Registry? Would you send a monetary gift to someone who did?
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Would I give to a site like this? Yes. I wouldn’t care what they were doing with their financial lives…if they were on my gift list, I’d give them what they wanted. I’d be glad the money was going to something sound and concrete and not being wasted. Would I sign up for something like this? No, too proud I guess. I wouldn’t want others to know I needed that kind of help.
I think I would use it for immediate family members, for example, the girls when they get older, in college, first house etc. Normally I would say to use a visa/amex gift card but those now have fees when you purchase them and fees on any balance after a certain date. I haven’t looked at the site so I don’t what sort of fees are attached.
I am a bigger believer in gift cards if you just can’t get an actual gift. Doing house work? Home Depot or Lowes card, buying a house – some sort of decor gift card, going to school – book store card, etc. Sometimes actual gifts are impractical and people just don’t want them, but I always feel really weird just giving money.
This year for xmas I asked for Kohl’s gift cards. I am in desperate need of clothing, but knew if I asked for clothing I would end up returning it anyway and I knew if I got money it would end up going towards something other then the clothes I need. So in this case gift cards were the perfect solution.
I agree, it depends on the person who is requesting the gift. If you are going to give someone money and you want to be sure it goes to their bills this is a great way to ensure that. However, I bet Miss Manners would not approve of asking for this as a gift.
These are a great ideas for parents and grandparents.
When my husband and I got married last year we kind of wanted something like this since we already lived together and had most of the normal registry type items. We ended up registering with myregistry.com so we could set up a bunch of different cash funds that we called “home renovations” and “honeymoon fund” and things like that. We also put a few other items that we didn’t need but wanted in case anyone felt weird about giving cash. We did end up using quite a bit of our wedding money to pay bills though when I lost my job shortly after the wedding, so it was a similar idea.
Agree, this site is likely not for everyone, but for the few times in someone’s life where they are expecting numerous gifts (wedding shower, baby shower, graduation, etc.), I think it makes sense. After my wedding I was faced with boxes of vases and pot holders that at the time seemed like a great idea, but once the enchantment of wedding planning ended, I wish would have magically turned into rent money.
I think in this day and age (especially these financial times), finances and bills are no longer taboo. We all deal with them and there are very few people who wouldn’t appreciate a little breather if they can get it!