NO automatic payments!

[grsthegreat]

i use auto pay on cellular bill for one reason only. american express gives me 5% rebate if i do. never been an issue.

 

[Jchonline]

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 only do auto payments from my credit card. Never my bank accounts.

Another option is a pure online payment system such as Paypal. With that you can cancel any "subscriptions" or auto withdrawals from the website. However with Paypals most recent policy change stunt I cancelled the account immediately. I had it for 12 years. Not putting up with that ridiculousness.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

We pay most bills online, but NO auto payments.
Anything we purchase local is done in cash same day of purchase.

 

[/pine]

What irks me is...most companies charge you to send you any type of (hard copy) bills or statements etc...even if you pay automatically and request a hard copy receipt they charge you for it...!

Like McDonald's charging $1.50 to use the drive thru...!

 

[newbury]

Some time last year the USPS announced that first class mail would not be delivered as quickly as we have/had been used to...

That is part of Dejoy's plan to privatize the Postal Service

 

[drssg]

You must go to work automatically too

A lot of people work from home these days, and paychecks are usually on automatic direct deposit. If management got sloppy, a guy could cease to exist, and his financial life would live on!

 

[scootr]

A lot of people work from home these days, and paychecks are usually on automatic direct deposit. If management got sloppy, a guy could cease to exist, and his financial life would live on!

Not if my wife got hold of it

 

[Lastkidpicked]

There is one advantage to automatic payments. When we had to take over bill paying for ageing parents, automatic payments were truly a lifesaver. No way could we have kept track of all of that each month.

I haven't had any bad experiences, but I'm also very reluctant to allow automatic payments. I have used sort of a sacrificial checking account that contains just enough money to pay the bills.

This is exactly what we do. That way if there is fraud, our loss would be limited.

 

[seville009]

i use auto pay on cellular bill for one reason only. american express gives me 5% rebate if i do. never been an issue.

Similar situation, but Verizon gives me the discount for using automated payments.

They also notify me 11 days in advance as to what the withdrawal will be, so I have time to review or contest it.

 

[ljjhouser]

No, you are not. But today, you are right. Even using security software required Auto Renewal at purchase. For and of those types of purchases (and most others) I look for a "cancel auto renewal" policy and instructions to do so. Then I ask How to cancel XXXX subscription. If many say it is easy, do this, or many say - it is a nightmare" ....That makes the decision. The same is with Disney Plus, Netflix, etc.

And yes, I have been stuck - with Serus XM - had to cancel and change credit card number. They continued to bill AFTER I request cancellation. I will NEVER subscribe to them again.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

And yes, I have been stuck - with Serus XM - had to cancel and change credit card number. They continued to bill AFTER I request cancellation. I will NEVER subscribe to them again.

XM is flat out crooks. I will never have it again.

 

[Oaktree]

And yes, I have been stuck - with Serus XM - had to cancel and change credit card number. They continued to bill AFTER I request cancellation. I will NEVER subscribe to them again.

XM is flat out crooks. I will never have it again.

Personally, I have no use for XM, but my wife has it in her car...she enjoys the smooth jazz channel (Watercolors I think it's called). She has a fit anytime I suggest cancelling it. Once a year I call up, threaten to cancel and they give me a greatly reduced rate. I wish they'd just give a good rate to begin with so I didn't have to play this game every year.
The subscription is my birthday present to her every year...gets me off the hook for having to come up with something else she'd like.

 

[SgtSluggo]

We have pretty much everything on autopay. Never had a problem. I review bills when they come in and then they come out when they are due. Almost everything is on a credit card that we pay in full every month.

Personally, I have no use for XM, but my wife has it in her car...she enjoys the smooth jazz channel (Watercolors I think it's called). She has a fit anytime I suggest cancelling it. Once a year I call up, threaten to cancel and they give me a greatly reduced rate. I wish they'd just give a good rate to begin with so I didn't have to play this game every year.
The subscription is my birthday present to her every year...gets me off the hook for having to come up with something else she'd like.

I think XM must be making a pretty penny from folks that don't know to go argue the subscription rate. They are so desperate for customers now, we get 1 or 2 "free trials" that don't even require a credit card a year now. This most recent one was for 3 months. We listen to it while we have it, then go back to the radio when it's done.

 

[Jstpssng]

Personally, I have no use for XM, but my wife has it in her car...she enjoys the smooth jazz channel (Watercolors I think it's called). She has a fit anytime I suggest cancelling it. Once a year I call up, threaten to cancel and they give me a greatly reduced rate. I wish they'd just give a good rate to begin with so I didn't have to play this game every year.
The subscription is my birthday present to her every year...gets me off the hook for having to come up with something else she'd like.

I had it for a couple of years, as there is little to no radio service in many of the places I work. It got so that no matter what station I listened to I always heard the same few songs; although I'm SURE that the Rolling Stones have recorded more than 4 songs in their career. They also had the same MO... play two songs, then you hear them tooting their own horn about how they had no commercials, then play two more songs and another promo... "If you want to hear more Bruce Springstein go to channel..." (I'd rather eat ground up glass.)

I wish that every utility would have transparent pricing. There's no way that my phone and poor quality internet package is worth what I am paying for it, yet it would be the same if I went to cellular.

 

[Oaktree]

We have pretty much everything on autopay. Never had a problem. I review bills when they come in and then they come out when they are due. Almost everything is on a credit card that we pay in full every month.

While I'd rather have individual bills to pay each month, I don't have too many objections to autopay tied to a credit card. If there's a dispute, at least you have some rights. I absolutely positively refuse to give any merchant/service provider direct access to a bank account!!
Several gas station chains offer 10¢/gal discounts if you sign up for their direct pay, but I won't do it.

I wish that every utility would have transparent pricing. There's no way that my phone and poor quality internet package is worth what I am paying for it, yet it would be the same if I went to cellular.

Supposedly, congress is considering a bill to require a more transparent fee structure for banks, but it doesn't extend to any other businesses. I used to have the ultra-basic cable tv package (mostly OTA channels from a neighboring state, along with a couple shopping channels, a religious channel and CSPAN) that was fairly cheap. Except. They tacked on a "broadcast tv" surcharge that more than doubled the cost of the service. We didn't watch enough tv to warrant the expense so we dropped it (off air reception doesn't exist here).
Phone companies tacked a lot of fees onto landline charges that the cable company doesn't charge for their landline. A "city" friend has so many surcharges on his water bill that it almost doubles it.

I don't know how many of these surcharges/fees are legit, but at the very least either roll them into the advertised cost or at least be upfront about them before customers sign up.

 

[jyoutz]

I only do auto payments from my credit card. Never my bank accounts.

Another option is a pure online payment system such as Paypal. With that you can cancel any "subscriptions" or auto withdrawals from the website. However with Paypals most recent policy change stunt I cancelled the account immediately. I had it for 12 years. Not putting up with that ridiculousness.

What did pay pal do recently?

 

[Richard]

I'm on the side of NOBODY has access to my account for any automatic payments.....nobody.

I got burned on that 30 years ago when the timing of their bill, therefore taking cash out of my account, was 2-3 days ahead of me getting paid so I bounced a number of checks.

Never again. I agree with and actually am generally, paid several months in advance on everything.

If you pull up virtually any of my bills other than mortgage, you'll find a credit on the account. Heck, my new car is already paid up to the middle of January.

I've always done this so I have options. If for example, I need to take a dog and our cat to the Vet on a "rushed" (not emergency) basis, I've got the cash in checking and I can wait a bit on my reoccuring bills to maybe let the credit take care of a month until my next payday.

 

[grsthegreat]

Jchonline, what did paypal do to piss you off? if this was about them saying they would fine a person $2500 for misinformation, that was "possibly" done by mistake, and deleated. mind you, if they kept it inplace, i too would have dropped them.

 

[LittleBill21]

everything we humanly can is on auto pay. 0 issue in the last 15 years.

 

[Jchonline]

Jchonline, what did paypal do to piss you off? if this was about them saying they would fine a person $2500 for misinformation, that was "possibly" done by mistake, and deleated. mind you, if they kept it inplace, i too would have dropped them.

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.