Even with autopay and paperless billing, I get an email with the amount of the bill before it gets paid. I check those carefully. I also reconcile my credit cards each month (even thought they too autopay). I also check my checking account balance most days, to make sure everything is OK.
Last week, my xfinity autopay had a new higher amount. I had to echat with two different agents for about 30 minutes to get my old plan and lower rate back. So, I can still pay close attention to what I am being billed.
We have whatever we can on autopay - utilities, credit card. We have to write a check for trash pickup for 4x a year.
We pay our CC bill off every month, but if someone carries a balance, maybe they donât want it on autopay. But for recurring bills/amounts, I would get those on autopay, especially if you are single or the bill-payer in the house.
Recently my widowed 86-year-old neighbor/good friend was in the hospital. Luckily, she was with it enough to know she has a bill for her health insurance coming soon (what if she had been super ill/barely awake, etc?) I paid the bill for her (she reimbursed).
And sometimes parents decline more than we realize - what if they forget to pay those important bills?
I have some like that, for varying utilities bills, Allstate etc. But I just remembered that I do Visa online/manually⊠that bill can vary widely depending on vacations etc⊠gotta verify that checking account has enough funds. Same for property tax and estimated tax payments (though my husband handles the online steps for those).
My H pays the bills here. We have a few bills on autopay either through our checking account or CC but there are several bills that still come in the mail to be paid. Some of these he will call and pay with CC (?) and some he pays with check. This process means he takes up the dining room table about a week per month (procrastinator!) to âpay the billsâ. I donât know why he wonât do autopay for as much as possible!
But then again he still insists on balancing the checkbook the old fashioned way every month.
I have T-Mobile. They give a discount for autopay. The best deal was autopay on your credit card, because depending upon the credit card you use, there is cell phone damage coverage from it. Ever dropped your cellphone in a hot tub, Puget Sound, put it on your car roof and driven 50mph? Not saying anyone in my family has done that , but our Amex used to cover up to $800 worth of damage.
T-Mobile took away the discount if you used a credit card, so we chose to take the autopay discount over credit card protection. But many people donât realize that if they use a credit card for monthly payments, they may have this protection.
We have anything that can be paid on autopay set up for CC or from checking. We pay very little by check. If we get a medical bill in the mail we go online and pay by CC.
I was resistant too, until we went to Europe for 3 weeks in 2015. The bills were going to be due while we were gone, but we wouldnât have gotten them in the mail to pay before we left. I made the switch and never looked back.
I also still balance the checkbook every month the old fashioned way. Just another check that nothing weird is going on. Really itâs still the same as before except I donât have to write a million checks and envelopes. And paying each bill separately online is annoying to me too for some reason. Every month when I pay the utility bill, I roll my eyes. It just takes longer I guess.
Many lawyerâs offices are small businesses so they donât have the volume to get a discount from MC/Visa so it costs a lot to set that up. My brother has a small business and he used to do it himself with about 1/2 the people writing checks and the other half doing credit cards, but that was a LOT of work (and basically 3 times a year as he runs a youth sports league so they sign up Spring/summer/fall). He now uses a service and builds the cost into the registration cost.
Your second example of the âsetting up an accountâ reminded me of one place I still write a check if billed. Our Toll Road system is run by a private company. I have, twice, gotten into the toll lanes and had to pay. The first was about $6 and if I had set up an account it would have gone to $7.25 but I didnât want them to have my info and âauto payâ themselves. Last summer I again got into a wrong lane and had to pay $3.xx and again was offered the privilege of setting up autopay. I sent the check. Another stamp!
My doctors all take credit cards. I donât know if they know how to take cash or checks. It seems like the clerks checking me out have enough trouble just taking the cc and making the next appt.
Yesterday at Costco I was getting my hot dog and used a credit card at the Kiosk. Then I saw a woman walk up to the counter and pay CASH. I didnât know you could do that. I will do that next time as I donât like to charge small amounts when I have the cash (I usually have $1.50).
Iâm in the autopay everything possible camp. Using a CC if thereâs not a surcharge, otherwise from checking. All my CCs send me text alerts for charges, so if thereâs anything unusual, I know about it well before the bill comes.
I know every locality is different but it may be worth rechecking next time those taxes are due. Our city used to be mail/come in with a check, or pay a CC surcharge. We can now pay from a bank account without a surcharge, and I can add all the various cars & property to my âbasketâ and it all comes out in one lump sum.
I do not do autopay for any variable amount, e.g. utility bills or credit card charges. I do autopay for mortgage because I get a discount. The reason is if the billing is incorrect it may take some time for them to fix it, mean while have taken it out of my account. I had a case that my electric company over charged by a thousand (extra 0). I was very busy at the time. It wasnât until they took money out of checking account that I realized what happened. They told me it would take 3 months for them to reverse the payment.
I do pay everything online from my checking account. No checks.
I would have asked if the lawyer preferred checks or credit card. I usually do that for all small businesses. I pay my hair stylist by check or Venmo.
We recently had to get a new transmission. The owner was happy to accept a check. On $5600 for the transmission, he was happy to save the transaction fee.
Big businesses, like my medical insurance premiums, you know I pay by credit card. I donât care about their transaction fees.
I know what my utility bill is going to be before they tell me. They read my meter on the 17th. So on the 18th I check the results and calculate what it will be. They donât post the actually bill total until the following week. I oddly find it fun.
But itâs similar with the credit cards and all bills really. When I write them in the checkbook and check the credit card statements, itâs the end of the month. They donât actually come out of my checking until the 5-20th of the month. If thereâs an issue thereâs plenty of time to fix it beforehand. Itâs really no different, just faster not having to actually pay each bill individually.
In my opinion credit card is one of the most important bills to autopay because the consequences are severe if a payment is missed/late, with the high interest rates.
Autopaying a credit card does not prevent you from disputing charges. Typical credit cards make it quite easy to dispute. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, credit cards must support disputing charges for at least 60 days after date of first credit card bill, including if you have already paid the bill. Most credit cards go well beyond this minimum, supporting 120 days after charge or longer.
I regularly monitor my credit card charges, so I usually notice if there is an error within a couple days after charge, never reaching the 60+ day limit. I used to use Mint for this purpose. After Mint closed, I switched to Fidelity Full View. Itâs my favorite free version, but has enough limitations that Iâd be hesitant to recommend it. I think Full Viewâs strength is tracking investments, rather than tracking spending.
If one spouse is doing all of the bill paying please make sure the other spouse knows the system, the passwords, etc. If you havenât done this already, do it today. You never know .
You are absolutely right. While my husband pays and Iâm happy to hand him do it, I know the general routine, have my name on the $ accounts and know where the passwords are.
I also know how to check the online banking something he struggles with a bit!
, but our Amex used to cover up to $800 worth of damage.