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A thread about a person in the hospital prompted this question.
Do you have automated bill pay? (where the utility-, credit card-, or mortgage payment is automatically pulled from your account)
In the case above a family member was trying to get the sick loved one's credit card paid, but didn't have bank info. And one post commented that "most" people have automated bill pay. I just wondered about that. "MOST" people?
As for automatic bill pay, I've always hesitated to let too many entities pull money out of my accounts.
But I have done that with the mortgage, car payment and car insurance -- where payment amounts stay pretty much the same once they're set.
I do pay bills online, but I have to initiate how much is paid and push the money out from my banking end.
I've just always feared that a 66.02 water bill could be pulled automatically as 666.02, or a 147.86 cable bill is pulled as $1,478.60. All it takes is one digit transposed or added to result in checks or other bills being bounced. I suppose if one has 'overdraft protection' that could soften the blow. But 600.00 in the covering account won't help if the mistaken withdrawal is thousands off the mark.
So how many of you have automated bill pay?
VS...pay online but YOU have to do the paying?
Everything but credit cards payments and cleaning service are automated. I typcially pay the cards off every payday but my wife has the ability to do it if something were to happen to me. Also I believe past due amounts have to go past 30 days before they get reported so that does buy a little time
I have automatic payments for mortgage, HOA fees, cell phone bill, internet, Netflix, and electricity. The only one that concerned me was signing up for automatic bill pay for electricity based on prior poor experiences my parents have had with electricity companies where they'd be greatly overcharged and had to fight to get their bill reduced.
I have automatic payments for mortgage, HOA fees, cell phone bill, internet, Netflix, and electricity. The only one that concerned me was signing up for automatic bill pay for electricity based on prior poor experiences my parents have had with electricity companies where they'd be greatly overcharged and had to fight to get their bill reduced.
That sounds similar to us. The MONTHLY bill started being deducted WEEKLY for the total amount of the monthly budget payment.
The company, only available through emails, claimed TGEY had been hacked and monthly bills were reset to weekly billing deductions.
After three months it didn't stop, they continued day in an email "were working on it". ( what...a major electruc company cant " getvit fixed in 3 whole months????) The only Way to Stop the autodeductiond was to close the checking account. We didn't have extra money then to play around waiting for them to stop the bleeding.
Then they claimed that WHEN they could get it "fixed" that they could not refund my money because we closed the account!!!!
I said you got my money ONCE, but Never AGAIN! I terminated with them and went back to my regular supplier. They got 16 paymentsfor 4 months of service.
They were in California and I in N.Y. would be difficult to get them to PAY up.
So the ONLY BILL I allow to be autodeduction for is my health insurance. If I'm hospitalized at least I won't lose my insurance coverage. Everyone else can wait till I'm out, or my OH takes over the bills because I died.
A thread about a person in the hospital prompted this question.
So how many of you have automated bill pay?
Only on one item but I use my bank's virtual credit card feature. I get an artificial credit card number that I can set for a limited amount for a limited amount of time. It's for a small monthly bill ($12) and I can just close that card number if I want to dump the service.
As for not being able to get the auto-deduction to stop...I know people who've been double billed.
And also, I'm single, no "other half" -- and God-forbid something happens to me those automated payments would keep coming out, draining my account and family members might not even know it.
(IT IS on my list of things to do to get a list of my bills, my account passwords, etc and let them know which payments are automated. On one hand if I croak I want them to stop. those. payments -- ASAP.....on the other hand I could see how in their grief, that may not be their top priority.)
adjuster jack
Quote:
I use my bank's virtual credit card feature. I get an artificial credit card number that I can set for a limited amount for a limited amount of time. It's for a small monthly bill ($12) and I can just close that card number if I want to dump the service.
So do you feel the same way about automated charges to your credit card? I may soon close a bank account -- BUT that account has a monthly debit for its own credit monitoring service which I use. Once I close that account, I've been told the only way to keep the service is to have it automatically charged monthly to a credit card.
I'm NOT crazy about that idea. Sort of for the same reason I balk at automated payments from a bank account. Potential issues with stopping the payment. Is the virtual credit card available from ANOTHER bank which I will be staying with -- or I get it through one of my credit card companies -- or EITHER ONE??
I have most bills on automatic. Insurance, Health Insurance, utilities.
I do not have credit cards because some months I do not want to pay off the total amounts due to returning items I bought. I've also had my card hacked twice this year and my husbands debit card got hacked. The banks are good about deducting those fraudulent payments and issuing new cards. I like to check the credit cards before paying.
I pay everything on line. Easier and more efficient.
I use auto bill payment for just about account that offers it; however, I keep an Excel spreadsheet showing each account, amount due, due date, and scheduled payment date. I tend to have the credit cards to auto-pay the minimum 8 days before the due date, then I schedule the remaining 3 business days before its due. I've never had a late payment and I don't ever intend on having one. I also pour through each statement as I itemize our monthly expenditures and flag business expenses for my wife. In our 10 years of merged finances, we've only had 2 instances of fraudulent charges. This is why I make sure to look at my statements each month; automating things is convenient but you don't want to automate leakage.
everything but rent is auto paid . anything that does not charge extra goes on a credit card for points .
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