Credit Cards

[watchnerd]

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beenthere wrote:

Very interesting thread everybody.

What is ACH?

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Automated Clearing House.

It's a type of electronic funds transfer, and different, faster, and cheaper than a wire transfer. However, it's not quite as universally applicable as a wire transfer, for example, for some international transfers or large amounts of cash.

[ficonovice]

I got my account with them in December. 1 week after my first purchases I paid my account online using my Suntrust checking account without any problem. In fact, I was very pleased because they let me pay more than the balance I owed (which I like to do to ensure a 0 balance)....

[haulingthescoreup]

ACH payments are great, but there is still the potential problem of the creditor refusing to admit that the payment is good, and sitting on it. They shouldn't, but I've read sometimes that they do, especially the scum-suckers who like to claim that you paid late.

As cheddar posted back earlier, what I like about paying on the creditor's site is that they acknowledge that you've paid, sometimes even giving a confirmation number, and they tell you exactly when it will be credited to your account. I hate that limbo stage!

* * * * * Just remembered something!!! When you pay on BofA's site, the default payment date that comes up is the payment due date. You have to reset it to the current or next business day if you want it credited sooner than that.

I miss noticing this a lot, but I always catch it on the next screen and go back and correct it. Just something to keep in mind.

[watchnerd]

Sure, they could do that with ACH, but is the risk any greater than them doing so with a paper check? Plus you have the problem of it getting lost in the mail.

Whether it's push or pull, it's typically ACH either way.

[cheddar]

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watchnerd wrote:

Whether it's push or pull, it's typically ACH either way.

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That's true, but I prefer "pull" for the reasons I outlined above.

I'm not comparing Billpay to sending a paper check.  I'm comparing it to an online "pull"-type transaction.

[ficonovice]

It's absolutely an ACH transaction regardless if it's initiated from your checking account website or via the creditors website.

I always pay from the creditors site because I find it easier and it's just what I've gotten comfortable with.

Again though, I had no problem from day one paying from the BoA site using my checking account from Suntrust...

[beenthere]

Hey Hauling, for clarification, is this for making automatic payments? Are you saying that if one sets up automatic BillPay payments the default is to pay ON the due date. That is flirting with disaster no?

I open Bill pay, enter an amount and a drop down menu right beside that amount opens a calender and asks what date I want the payment sent. Usually the earliest available date is 2 business days after the current date.

I do see that there is no way to confirm payments though. I guess my never having crediting issues is due to the fact that I'm kinda' manic about paying just about the time a bill arrives though I too do not trust that a bill will automatically be sent (or that I necesarily will have the money in my account when the bill arrives exactly)

[beenthere]

OK. Beautiful day. Time for a hike out at the lake!

[watchnerd]

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've been using ebill payment for many years now and never had an issue with a payment being credited on the payee side. Thus, I don't worry about it.

Have others not been so lucky or had lots of problems with payee receipt?

[haulingthescoreup]

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beenthere wrote:

Hey Hauling, for clarification, is this for making automatic payments? Are you saying that if one sets up automatic BillPay payments the default is to pay ON the due date. That is flirting with disaster no?

I open Bill pay, enter an amount and a drop down menu right beside that amount opens a calender and asks what date I want the payment sent. Usually the earliest available date is 2 business days after the current date.

I do see that there is no way to confirm payments though. I guess my never having crediting issues is due to the fact that I'm kinda' manic about paying just about the time a bill arrives though I too do not trust that a bill will automatically be sent (or that I necesarily will have the money in my account when the bill arrives exactly)

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I only do the pay-when-I-choose method, so I don't know if it happens on the automatic ones. Surely you would have an option to choose on those as well.

When I'm paying there, I just type in the amount and keep going, which is my fault. USAA always defaults to the current date, or if it's really late in the day, the next date. So my happy little brain is just in the habit of not choosing a date, so I always have a mini-whoops moment.

I don't think that there is usually a delay in posting a BillPay to your account, especially if you work with a civilized bank. But if there is, I'll bet that the fine print somewhere says that they are allowed to wait X number of days, yada yada. It's like making a deposit in your bank, and they've always, always credited your account right away, but one day they don't. When you call to ask WTH, they stiffly tell you that all deposits are subject to a 7-day holding period to confirm that they won't bounce. They're right, but they've never done it before, and all you can do is grit your teeth and kick the dog. (Poor dog!)