Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
With Progress Energy my electric company, if I pay online or over the phone with a credit card or checking account, they charge me almost 6 bucks for the priviledge. You can pay your bill with many companies at Wal-mart and Amscott for a much smaller fee but how fast is shows up on your account varies. With Progress Energy, you can pay the bill in cash at Amscott for like .88 cents and it shows up by the end of the day.
My gas company if I pay over the phone or online, it costs me 3 bucks for the priviledge but luckily the gas company is just down the road and I can walk in to pay the bill in cash and not pay a fee.
The phone company has no place to walk into so you pay a fee like $1.50.
If you counted up these fees if your using the convenient online resources, your paying alot of money for that convenience. They even charge a fee if your bank sends them a check.
With my electric bill alone, I would pay an extra $60 a year if I always paid it online.
What these companies really want you to do is to give them direct and monthly access to your checking account. Do you know what it takes to reverse this should you change your mind? According to my bank, you have to change your account number or they will continue to withdraw money. I got stung and would never give that kind of access again. I can't tell you the number of times I have found errors on my bills which would mean they would already have my money by the time I sorted it all out.
Money is tight and there are times when I don't have enough to pay them all when they are due, when I have to make a decision that the gas bill, the electric bill and water bill are more important then the phone bill as I have a cell phone.
Do they charge a fee if you just mail them a check like everyone used to do when paying in person was not convenient or possible?
It is my understanding they do charge you a fee because they have to process your check.
Literally the only way to get out of a fee is if your service provider has an office where you can go in and pay it in cash and there aren't many of those.
When I was a child, I remember there being a Me Bell office in the next town and my dad would go in there if he had a question, needed a new phone or wanted to pay his bill.
OH, I forgot to mention, I can go down to the county office and pay my homeowners taxes AND water bill in cash and not incur a fee. Otherwise, if you pay online, once again they charge a fee.
I think that's just the companies you deal with - I pay my electric and telephone bills over the 'net and the only circumstance in which I'd pay a fee is if I needed the payment applied right away.
I pay almost all of my bills online and there's no charge for it. Now, if I call and do a payment, say, to my credit card company, there's a $14.95 charge for them to take the payment that way. Which I think is ridiculous, since if I do the exact same thing online, there's no charge. I could see the difference if I was actually talking to a person when I call on the phone, but it's automated.
I think its funny... Congress is enacting a law that forbids credit card companies from charging a fee when paying by phone or online.... but I remember that if I wanted to do the same thing for government services, I would have to pay a fee... I remember there was once a company that charged an expensive fee for paying by credit card, they charge another fee if paying by electronic withdrawal from my bank, there was also a fee if paying by check, and lastly, if I decided to pay by CASH, there was a fee for that too... I was like WTF? Oh yeah, that company was the US Federal government... hahahaha.... yet it was all legal for them to do it... hypocrites... I can understand the necessity of fees like paying online to maintain and protect/buy the servers... I can even understand a fee by paying through phone... the people who take that information have to be paid too... what I can't understand is charging a fee by paying with cash... only in the US government would they think of a fee for that..
I have NEVER heard of a utility or any other business that charges a feww to process a payment by check through the mail.
I pay all of my bill with online checking through my bank, never pay a fee for it, and don't even have to buy stamps. Than bank either pays electronically or send the check at their cost. This doens't give the utility/credit card/whever the option of getting the money from my bank account, because it's just like a regular check.
Exactly -go thru your bank to set up online bill pay-you will not be charged a fee-(that is what i have experienced with my bank)
I won't allow anyone to have my bank account number and access to withdraw funds when they want.
I also had the water department tell me it takes alot longer to get the checks credited that come through online bill pay because they have one envelope FULL of checks.
Ask your utilities if they are charging you, you might be surprised.
I have a friend here in Florida but with different companies and she was being charged for doing bill pay month by month online through her bank.
I have never heard of anyone charging a fee when you pay your bill... I have done it many times, there is no such thing as a fee.
With online banking, you don't give anyone your account numbers, and it takes no longer to get a check credited with on line banking, probably less, since when they get a check from a bank, they know the check is good. As of a few years ago, all checks are required to clear overnight, no three day stuff any more..
No one charges for that stuff, someone is pulling your leg.... Companies are happy to have your money, they aren't going to charge to get it...!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
