What you refuse to put on autodraft (Connecticut, savings, balance)
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For almost 50-years, my wife has paid the bills - and I'm happy to have her do it and don't complain about how she does it. Instead of pure 'auto-pay', she likes to schedule payments on Quicken and then approve them for payment when they come-in. Checks and cash as forms of bill payment are almost obsolete in our approach.
Things are getting to the point, where I'm going to have to take over bill-paying (eyesight). I plan to schedule everything to pay via a credit card ... and then to make one/two CC payments per month via online payment. That way, I can still get things paid on time, verify proper billing/ payment, yet, not have to make individual bill payments ... and also control unscheduled payments such as subscriptions, etc.. (It looks like several on this thread are already doing that). -- Am I missing something?
I plan to schedule everything to pay via a credit card ... and then to make one/two CC payments per month via online payment. That way, I can still get things paid on time, verify proper billing/ payment, yet, not have to make individual bill payments ... and also control unscheduled payments such as subscriptions, etc.. (It looks like several on this thread are already doing that). -- Am I missing something?
No. That's how a lot of us pay most or all of our bills.
To me, the term "autodraft" means a payment that is pulled directly from a person's bank account. Billed automatically to a credit card is entirely different (and much safer).
I had my natural gas bill on ACH (bank debit) autopay at my previous home in Connecticut. Usual winter bills were $500 or so for heating. Summer bills around $30 or so.
One autumn day, I noticed the gas company truck out front, and I gently asked what they were doing. Installing a "smart" meter was the answer. Somehow, the final reading from my old meter was not recorded in their billing system, so the new reading (starting at 00001) was instead used to calculate my usage, implying that the whole series of meter counters had turned over, like an old odometer (a huge amount of gas). I was unaware of any of this at the time, because I also was enrolled in paperless billing -- didn't even open the electronic invoice until the following happened....
Several weeks later, I'm at an ATM, taking out some cash, and I notice my balance is WAY below what I expected. I phone the bank, and they tell me that the gas company had recently debited my account by twenty something thousand dollars!
I put this all together, spend about four hours on the phone with the gas company, and get the thing straightened out. Needless to say, I could have bounced a lot of checks if I hadn't noticed this. The gas company over-nighted me a check for the whole overcharge, and I believe that in the confusion, one month of gas was somehow "written off," but the episode was a real shock.
^^^Your story is why I really limit autopay from my bank account. SNAFUs such as the one you are describing are more easily fixed when a credit card has been billed instead of the money withdrawn from your bank account! (Ditto getting a company to stop autopay of a service you no longer want. It's easier to cancel a credit card and open up a new one than to close a bank account to stop an unwanted auto-withdrawal for a service you're trying to discontinue.)
I had my natural gas bill on ACH (bank debit) autopay at my previous home in Connecticut. Usual winter bills were $500 or so for heating. Summer bills around $30 or so.
One autumn day, I noticed the gas company truck out front, and I gently asked what they were doing. Installing a "smart" meter was the answer. Somehow, the final reading from my old meter was not recorded in their billing system, so the new reading (starting at 00001) was instead used to calculate my usage, implying that the whole series of meter counters had turned over, like an old odometer (a huge amount of gas). I was unaware of any of this at the time, because I also was enrolled in paperless billing -- didn't even open the electronic invoice until the following happened....
Several weeks later, I'm at an ATM, taking out some cash, and I notice my balance is WAY below what I expected. I phone the bank, and they tell me that the gas company had recently debited my account by twenty something thousand dollars!
I put this all together, spend about four hours on the phone with the gas company, and get the thing straightened out. Needless to say, I could have bounced a lot of checks if I hadn't noticed this. The gas company over-nighted me a check for the whole overcharge, and I believe that in the confusion, one month of gas was somehow "written off," but the episode was a real shock.
That's my big concern. I guess Netflix is autocharged to a debit card but the stakes are low there. I've heard of what you describe, also people stealing electricity and water, or nightmares with a "smartmeter" on the water, etc...
For utilities, why don't you just do levelized billings? That way, it's the same amount every month. We've done that for years without a hitch. And, truthfully, if you have unlimited data packages on your mobile, you aren't going to have much variation in that either.
I have EVERYTHING on auto-draft and/or auto-pay. My gas and electric are on levelized billing and my credit cards are set up to pay the minimum every month just in case I forget to make a regular payment. I have not written a check in over 8 years. I don't even have checks with my new credit union.
Well, everything that I can except credit card, which is just the mortgage, utilities, and car payment. Everything else like internet goes to the credit card, which I manually pay online.
I would have the other things on my credit card, but they charge extra.
I had my natural gas bill on ACH (bank debit) autopay at my previous home in Connecticut. Usual winter bills were $500 or so for heating. Summer bills around $30 or so.
One autumn day, I noticed the gas company truck out front, and I gently asked what they were doing. Installing a "smart" meter was the answer. Somehow, the final reading from my old meter was not recorded in their billing system, so the new reading (starting at 00001) was instead used to calculate my usage, implying that the whole series of meter counters had turned over, like an old odometer (a huge amount of gas). I was unaware of any of this at the time, because I also was enrolled in paperless billing -- didn't even open the electronic invoice until the following happened....
Several weeks later, I'm at an ATM, taking out some cash, and I notice my balance is WAY below what I expected. I phone the bank, and they tell me that the gas company had recently debited my account by twenty something thousand dollars!
I put this all together, spend about four hours on the phone with the gas company, and get the thing straightened out. Needless to say, I could have bounced a lot of checks if I hadn't noticed this. The gas company over-nighted me a check for the whole overcharge, and I believe that in the confusion, one month of gas was somehow "written off," but the episode was a real shock.
Woo hoo! That would have bounced my account so hard that it broke. I keep only enough in my checking account to cover monthly expenses. I transfer it from my savings account with the same bank. I write a check from a different bank/account to add money to that.
I have EVERYTHING on auto-draft and/or auto-pay. My gas and electric are on levelized billing and my credit cards are set up to pay the minimum every month just in case I forget to make a regular payment. I have not written a check in over 8 years. I don't even have checks with my new credit union.
I have 2 bills that charge you an extra $ 10 if you pay by any means other than a check. I don't see why. A phone ach payment doesnt require a human, but they claim it does, and requires you chat with a human for that extra $10 in one case.
One is a credit card, the other a utility ( of sorts) bill.
Ill pay by check, thank you. That extea $20/m is $240 a year i save by writing a check, free checks from my credit union.
Because if the system you are paying into, say your utility company, gets hacked the hackers have access to your banking information and they can drain your bank account.
Just what I said.
Had it happen to us, causing bounced checks when we got billed WEEKLY for a MONTHLY utility bill.
Also had our checking account drained once using a debit card to pay a bill.
Someone got ahold of the number.
No more.
I will do a ach phone payment, unless they charge extra.
Also payvhecks are every 2 weeks for one job we have, was the 4th and 18th of jan, but will be the 8th and 22nd of feb, causing the funds to arrive at a different time each month. So i can control the ach payment if i phone it in when the funds are in and cleared when i want, but never late.
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