NO automatic payments!

[Shenandoah MF1760]

Am I the only one who doesn't allow these? I have done so in the past with disastrous results... on one occasion I had to close out my checking account to stop them. That was years ago yet it now seems to be normal... I still can't bring myself to do it.
I would rather pay a year in advance than give somebody unlimited access to my finances.
Among other things I have to wonder how many people are paying for "services" they stopped using long ago. Granted that's their fault for not paying attention to their statements, yet still isn't right.
I've even had "exit questionaires" with that as one of the questions. Sirius for one, yet they still haven't done away with it, despite trying to get me back for the last 3 years.
I signed up for access to the local newspaper, not realizing I was agreeing to automatic withdrawals. It turns out that what they consider "news" is mostly opinion, and I get better local news from my MSN news feed. Go figure...

I had a financial advisor years ago tell me to never allow automatic payments. Especially never out of an account where your cash is (checking, savings, etc.) as those accounts don't have the protections a credit account has.

I just spotted a recurring charge in our Amex charge account. The wife bought a personalized book for the granddaughter and somehow ended up subscribing to monthly access to their library of children's books. Thankfully it was easy to stop, but it never should have been started to begin with.

I had Wells Fargo charge me $7.50 a month for an account I had closed because I had failed to stop electronic access when I canceled the account. Really, now. A charge to go to a site where no accounts exist. They promised to refund the money and I'm still waiting. That was years ago.

I don't mind paperless billing, but you have to keep on top of it. Credit card companies are notorious for weird billing cycles. For example, some do it every 25 days. That will cause some payments to occur twice in a month occasionally and are hard to predict exactly when the next one is due.

They are not your friends, and you are nothing more than a source of revenue to them. Never trust, never assume, and question anything that doesn't look right.

 

[Jstpssng]

I had a debit card which I only used in ATM machines. I also check my accounts online frequently. One morning I noticed that Amazon had made a query against my account... there is no way they should have even had that debit card or account number. As soon as my CU opened that morning I was on the phone, telling them to shut the card off and not to send me another. My paycheck is deposited there and I pay all of my bills from it; plus I have overdraft protection which will transfer money from my savings account. I don't need somebody nefariously taking money from it.

 

[IndyJay]

Instagram post shares incorrect information on PayPal policy

Has PayPal secretly resurrected a policy that the company said in October it erroneously released — and then corrected?

www.politifact.com

This is false. They back-peddled when people started closing their accounts.

 

[5030]

This is false. They back-peddled when people started closing their accounts.

...and still are I might add. Lots of them are migrating to Rumble.

 

[5030]

I have one credit card through US Bank and that is it.. Don't need multiple cards, never have and I pay in full every month. Excuse me, I do have a Harbor Freight credit card too and it gets paid off every month as well and I use my Harbor Freight bonus bucks too.

 

[jyoutz]

That was it. Not at all interested in doing business with any company that "thinks" they can do something like this. I am pretty sure they backed it out after the backlash. I have lots of other options.

Kind of a straw/camel scenario for me. I have had a few issues in the past with them holding funds and me having to go back and forth with them (huge waste of time). No thanks.

I’ve had very positive experiences with pay pal. In the past few years they have refunded my money after I filed a claim against fraudulent merchants. One shipped me a cheaply made POS that was not as advertised, then refused to allow me to return for a refund. Pay pal refunded my money. Another instance is when I never received something I ordered but was charged and the seller wouldn’t address this. Pay pal refunded me again.

 

[Jstpssng]

The last thing I bought using PayPal was in 2020... I ordered an aftermarket pair of 6ah batteries for my Dewalt tools. I didn't even realize that it was from an overseas company until I got the receipt, which was in Chinese. That was the only correspondence I ever recieved. About a month later my batteries showed up yet they never debited my account and I never heard another word from them. I have no quarrel with PayPal, it's just easier to use my CC.

 

[jyoutz]

Auto renewal is not about payment method - check, ach, cash, credit card, but about signing up for a service and permitting the use of your bank account or credit card giving them the access to withdraw from your account endlessly.

I have signed up some that were very easy to terminate the service and payment if you choose to do so. BUT there have also been several that you must take extreme measures to stop. It is always interesting how some services show you 10 pages of how to sign up for a service and a hidden line somewhere about how to stop auto renew.

I use a lot of services with auto renew. But I refuse to sign up it they DO NOT clearly and readily make access to the ability to cancel auto-renew. I also sign up for the service, then cancel auto renewal within the first week. Then next year I receive an email notice that it is about end asking me if I wish to continue. If I do, I pay, and again cancel auto renewal within the first week.

THAT had been my experience with SXM. I NEVER want to grant permanent access to any of my financial accounts to anyone.

If you have a family pass away, that is the second instruction regarding paperwork behind getting number of death cert. ---close all accounts to stop withdrawals.

I may or may not choose to retain the service for another service billing period. Next year they may double the bill. For example - Some security software (computer) companies charge around $100 when auto renewed. NOT THE SPECIAL pricing advertised at $39.

I always choose to retain the option to continue a service at the price required or make the decision to go elsewhere.

The pandemic has changed the way I pay. All on credit card paid at the end of the month (on payday). I no longer use cash or use checks. Used to use mostly checks.

I have come to the conclusion that the exchange of money is simply consenting to the exchange (verification). It is just numbers. Allowing someone to change numbers in your account. That is why access without options is dangerous. I could see checks disappearing and maybe eventually currency. But there are people who do not have bank accounts and need currency.

The bank will cancel auto pay arrangements if you explain that the other party won’t cancel. You still own your bank account.

 

[ljjhouser]

The bank will cancel auto pay arrangements if you explain that the other party won’t cancel. You still own your bank account.

I had forgotten about that. However, the bank I was using several years ago charged $25 to block the withdrawal. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[mapper]

I tried that with my CU for a while, as they hold my mortgage as well as the checking account where my paycheck goes, and all of my bills are paid from. First, I don't like waiting until the bill is due before paying it; rather, I generally pay about 10 days in advance. Every month I would keep checking to make sure the payment was taken out.
Then I started trying to prepay a bit every month... that didn't work very well. It turns out that any extra I put in goes toward my escrow rather than the principal. That's stupid for two reasons... every year they send me a refund check for a bit over a month's payment into my escrow. They also end up charging me more for interest than if it had been applied toward the principal.

You usually have to specify that extra money in your mortgage payment is to go to principle, some banks do that automatically but many don't.