Auto-payment bad?

Feb 19, 2001
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Ok, so I understand that I shouldn't auto-pay things like CC bills and stuff and I would never do that simply because I want the time to look over my bills and then to transfer money from a high-interest account into my checking account so I can actually make the payment.

However, there are things like cell phone and Comcast that I bill to my CC. I still don't like to auto-pay simply because I feel that sometimes I might be overcharged for something (although that has yet to happen to me). I tried auto-paying for my T-Mobile bill before, but with 3 separate phone numbers under my main account, the auto-payment would pay for all 3 instead of just my number alone, and so I had to cancel that.

However, my mom told me she read somewhere online that one of her coworkers had an issue with auto-payment before, and that when her coworker tried to cancel the auto-payment, the bank denied the request saying that the payee needs to agree to the cancellation too. She then added saying that of course the payee doesn't want it cancelled so her coworker could not even cancel the autopayment, and had no choice but to close that bank account. Now I've never heard of such a thing, and if what she says is true, it might be a one in a million thing. From what she told me, this auto-payment method sounds like it's done through an online banking site (i.e. I setup a recurring payment thru BoA, but I don't see how that works if they don't know how much say my PG&E or Comcast bill is).

And so she's telling me I shouldn't auto-pay for these reasons. I'm trying to explain to her that her story sounds quite weird and I have trouble believing it, but even if it did happen, it's probably a 1 in a million thing. I told her I have auto-paid my bills before and cancelled it and had no issue (my tmobile situation), and that if you think of it logically, you should never run into such a problem with auto-payment. Her defense is that while its logical to think this way, that wasn't the case with her coworker.

It's quite useless arguing with my mom on such issues, so I told her that I'm going to setup auto-payment on Comcast and Cingular for the next month to show her that it's not a problem. I dunno. I don't really understand how what she said could be a problem. I don't know how you could possibly auto-pay through your bank because they wouldn't know how much you owe, but maybe it's possible with BoA's e-bill system?
 

grohl

Platinum Member
Jun 27, 2004
2,849
0
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I auto pay the gas bill and Dish bill. The rest I pay manually. As I get more comfotable with auto pay I will move more bills over to that.

Tell her to relax about the whole thing. Ebills are so easy to deal with.
 

I Saw OJ

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2004
4,923
2
76
I have my comcast autopay through my CC, it was sort of an accident to begin with. I signed up for it, but when I called them to cancel it, they said I needed to go down to their office and do it in person. I was too lazy for that so I just left it. One less bill to worry about.
 

Sphexi

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2005
7,280
0
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I don't have many auto-pay setups, but I do have payment info in my bank's website, so I can just login, click a few buttons, and make a payment from my account to my ccard or Sears card or whatever.
 

Mermaidman

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
7,987
93
91
Originally posted by: DLeRium
However, my mom told me she read somewhere online that one of her coworkers had an issue with auto-payment before, and that when her coworker tried to cancel the auto-payment, the bank denied the request saying that the payee needs to agree to the cancellation too.
Some special offers require an auto-payment. e.g. In order to shave 1/8% off a mortgage rate, a bank might require an auto payment from an account at that bank. I can see how such a setup would require some action on the part of the payee when cancelling an auto payment.
 

Spacehead

Lifer
Jun 2, 2002
13,067
9,858
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Car loan & loan from the bank for some land both gave me discounts on the % rate if i had it auto-deducted from my accounts. Car/homeowners ins. also shaved off a few $/month for auto-payment.

Electric & phone are deducted automaticly too. There are a few bills that aren't monthly that i still pay manually. No problems so far.



edit- it does seem weird that this coworker of your mothers couldn't stop auto-paying. Maybe if it was part of a bank loan agreement or something. If it's just monthy bills you can stop those anytime, at least the ones i have you can.
BTW, all my auto-payments are taken out of my checking account, not to my CC.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
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Why would you mother need to read on the internet about her coworker's problems? Couldn't they just talk.

I also do not get you having to transfer money out of a high interest account into your checking to pay the bill...seems counterproductive.

I autopay most of my bills. I still review them and if there is a problem I have not had a situation where the merchant/vendor/company did not reimburse me or adjust the next bill accordingly.

I have also cancelled auto-payments and occasionally the bank will pay out one or two. All I need to do is call and they are reversed.
 

Uhtrinity

Platinum Member
Dec 21, 2003
2,263
202
106
About 2 years ago I had auto pay through a credit card on my Cable account. I decided to save some money and dropped the Cable TV portion and kept Cable Internet. Problem was the Cable Company outsourced the auto payment option and it took 30 days for the change to take effect. So I got billed for 30 more days, then received a refund check for the difference.

I would also avoid automatic direct withdrawals from a bank account at all cost as there is almost no way to stop them from taking what they feel you owe them. That happened to me about 6 years ago with a Merchant Account lease company. My contract was up for renewal, I opted out, faxed in the cancellation (which they conveniently didn't receive), about 2 month later they did an auto withdrawal for $1200 for the remainder of another years service. Since the burden of proof for faxing the cancellation (how do you prove you sent a fax?) was on me I was screwed.
 

bennylong

Platinum Member
Apr 20, 2006
2,493
0
0
I like the convenience of autopay, but make sure you stop autopay when you cancel your account or move.

I'm still trying to get AT&T to pay me $50 for billing me for one month of service after I already moved!
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Originally posted by: Uhtrinity
About 2 years ago I had auto pay through a credit card on my Cable account. I decided to save some money and dropped the Cable TV portion and kept Cable Internet. Problem was the Cable Company outsourced the auto payment option and it took 30 days for the change to take effect. So I got billed for 30 more days, then received a refund check for the difference.

I would also avoid automatic direct withdrawals from a bank account at all cost as there is almost no way to stop them from taking what they feel you owe them. That happened to me about 6 years ago with a Merchant Account lease company. My contract was up for renewal, I opted out, faxed in the cancellation (which they conveniently didn't receive), about 2 month later they did an auto withdrawal for $1200 for the remainder of another years service. Since the burden of proof for faxing the cancellation (how do you prove you sent a fax?) was on me I was screwed.

Most faxes have a confirmation sheets.
 

Thorny

Golden Member
May 8, 2005
1,122
0
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I auto pay almost all my household bills that don't charge a fee for the sevice. Mortgage, cars, insurance, cable, cell phones, student loans, and retirement. I've never had a problem, but also keep close tabs on everything. My bank will also allow me to block the transaction on thier end if I need to, for a fee of course.
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
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www.slatebrookfarm.com
I've seen several cases where the interest rate is lowered for auto-payment (student loans, mortgages) - it'd be foolish not to auto pay in such situations.
 

Thorny

Golden Member
May 8, 2005
1,122
0
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Originally posted by: DrPizza
I've seen several cases where the interest rate is lowered for auto-payment (student loans, mortgages) - it'd be foolish not to auto pay in such situations.

Yup, I get an 1/8 deduction for my student loans, and 1/4 for my cars. Plus I auto pay all everything else I can on a rewards card for cash back :)
 

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,019
156
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There have been problems where people could not get autopay stopped.

I don't have a problem with it for something which is a fixed amount like a cable bill. My co-worker sets up autopay for everything and she had a big problem last winter when her gas meter was misread and they took $500 out of her account instead of the $100 it should have been. It eventually got worked out but it was a major hassle for her.
 

Eos

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2000
3,463
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We just opened a checking/savings account at BofA and will be using their free Bill Pay service. When we want anyone added to the Bill Pay list, the bank contacts the payee and they then setup something where all we do is go online, click the payee and fill in the amount, then BofA sends an electronic payment or cashier's check to the payee. Easy peasy.

I've been lucky to never have issues with autopay, I guess.
 

Dr. Detroit

Diamond Member
Sep 25, 2004
8,526
930
126
Autopay the cell-phone bill. I have close to a month to review the online bill before I'm charged.


 

MSCoder610

Senior member
Aug 17, 2004
831
0
71
If you have time to review the bill before auto-pay happens, I don't see a problem with it.

I have auto-pay set up with my credit cards. I usually pay in full every month (manually), but I also have auto-pay for the minimum amount on the due date just in case I forget once or something.
 

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
29,767
33
81
T-Mobile and Verizon bills are autoed to my MasterCard. As well as my monthly Telnap web hosting fee.

My checking account is set up to auto pay my BCBS health insurance every month.

Otherwise, I do things manually online.