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Buzz Out Loud Lounge: Tom and Rafe don't pay bills online?
And that....
by Magishine - 8/28/07 8:50 AM In reply to: I can confirm that by acedtect
...is exactly why people don't use auto pay. It's way to risky. Especially with some corrupt people out there.
When you agree to auto-pay, you're basically agreeing to pay whatever charges your account may incur without being notified of them.
Not being notified of charges....does that make you feel better about it?
A quick fix that would ease my mind would be to combine the two. Sign up for auto-pay, but then the company should send out an e-mail before your charged for anything. Then if everything is all good, you can click a link to pay the bill. That way you have the security of a bill but the ease of use of auto-pay.
Just a thought
what about conflict resolution?
by robstak - 8/27/07 7:53 AM In reply to: Tom and Rafe don't pay bills online? by FredAgainif you pay your bills automatically you lose that bargaining chip, no? I don't pay online any bill that varies... but my car and mortgage I do because they dont vary...
anyone else with me? or maybe im wrong?
-karl
EFT vs Credit Card
by mikeburek - 8/27/07 8:10 AM In reply to: what about conflict resolution? by robstakIf you were to pay your bills using your credit card vs using your bank account (debit card), you would have more rights and protections with the credit cards. At least when a charge appears on your credit card, that's still a type a "virtual money," until you actually pay it with real money. But if you pay with your debit card or EFT, that is real money, and it's hard to get back. It can be done, but it takes a long time.
That's why when people were still signing up for AOL left and right, it was recommended to use a credit card and not the online checking (what EFT used to be commonly know as). Sometimes AOL continued to charge you after you terminated your service with them (remember those days - wonder why AOL isn't America's favorite anymore). If they took money from your bank account, there was no incentive for your bank to fight for you to get the money back - they make money from fees and loans. If they charged your credit card and you made a formal written dispute, then that money would go to AOL and you would not have to pay for it, meaning the credit card company would lose that money themselves, so the credit card company would fight for that money because they had a personal interest in it.
If you listen to one show of Clark Howard, or check out consumer's rights pages, you will probably run into many people that find this out the hard way, when ethically, it shouldn't happen, but legally it does.
Banks just want everyone to use a credit card...
by Nicholas Buenk - 8/27/07 8:12 AM In reply to: EFT vs Credit Card by mikeburekThey get the interest don't they! They aren't really motivated to make EFT better..
*grumbles*
I pay all of my bills by auto-debit, but still get the paper
by Vance14 - 8/27/07 9:55 AM In reply to: Tom and Rafe don't pay bills online? by FredAgainI have been paying ALL of my monthly bills, from insurance to my electric bill, by automatic debit for years. I don't right a single check, or even THINK about my monthly bills getting paid. I do check the bills when the come (which is before the debit) to make sure the amount they will take out is correct, but then I can toss it and forget about it. Here are the bills that get paid without a lift of a finger:
Mortgage
Student loan
Natural Gas
Electricity
Car and home and life insurances
Cable
My gym
Telephone
A couple of "dues" type payments annually, like AAA
Car payment
I have not had to do anything to pay any of these in years and there has never been a problem.
Someday, me too
by mikeburek - 8/27/07 6:25 PM In reply to: I pay all of my bills by auto-debit, but still get the paper by Vance14Hopefully, someday it will be reliable enough that many more people feel safe doing the autopay. Yes, it is still the responsibility of the person to check their bill and not just blindly pay it. Don't want to call for government rules, so hopefully some company will take that leap of faith and care for their customers. Then the market will follow.
Hope for the best, plan for the worst
by milkky - 8/28/07 6:42 AM In reply to: I pay all of my bills by auto-debit, but still get the paper by Vance14Everything works until it breaks--just because my car has run without problems for x years, I would be head-in-the-sand to decide that it will always do so. See yesterday's story about MS saying there would never be any problems with Windows Advantage giving false positives--it sounded unreaslistic when they said it and we just saw the proof.
I want to be in the loop--approving the payment before it gets made, just in case of a messup. I think the points about paying from the redit cards and and letting set payments like mortgages be automatic are good--I have some of those being done automatically myself.
You know, it's been quite awhile since I did the math, but I know that the last time I compared the bank's transaction fees etc, it was cheaper to pay for the stamps unless you had more than something like 10 automatic payments. Doea anyone use PayPal's payment system? I don't think there's a charge for that is there?
I do pay bills online
by rafe - 8/29/07 4:15 PM
In reply to: Tom and Rafe don't pay bills online? by FredAgain
Hang on. I pay all my bills online (Quicken). But I like to GET them on paper.
-Rafe
I pay online, no paper statements...
by raygun01 - 8/29/07 4:52 PM
In reply to: Tom and Rafe don't pay bills online? by FredAgain
I hate all the mail. I have automatic payments and transfers set up between my accounts. I am sent an email a few days in advance of everything warning me of the impending transfer and amount. If the amount seems kosher, then all is good.
Since I have switched to full automation, I can't even begin to tell you how clear my brain feels. Keeping it all straight hurt my brain too much. This is so much nicer. 
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