@longtimelurker wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
@Kutuzov wrote:Just be done with thier payments, and use your online banking instead. All in one place and no hold backs etc. You can even pay more than what you owe, cash is taken immediately so no worries when your payments post, etc. I find it a lot more convenient.
+1
The only time I've ever had this issue (and it's been several years ago) was when I used a credit card's own website for payment, allowing them to do an ACH 'pull' from my checking. Once I started making all payments exclusively using my own bank's bill pay to 'push' the payments, I've never had an issue. HSBC used to be particularly bad about this; their payment holds would last 7+ business days, well after the funds had cleared.
This isn't to say there's never a case for using the card's website for payment, though. If you ever have an 'emergency' and need to make a payment at the very last moment, it's quite convenient to be able to do so. In that case, though, most folks will be more concerned with avoiding the late fee than a payment hold... it's a trade-off.
I use push for a few things, but I am much more of a fan of using the issuer site! If you pay on their site, and you have enough money in your account, they take the responsibility for posting on time etc. A bank push has a lot more variation, and if things go wrong, you have to sort things out. Also, it takes more time so you are giving away interest earning money too early.
Agree 100%.
There is also the possibility that the CCC keeps track of when you have scheduled a payment, factors that into the status of the account, and would prefer to see that you have set up an autopayment. PIF Autopayment as a regular attribute one selects on their CCC lets the bank computers sleep at night.
Do I have specific data to back this up? Nope, but the data is there in the systems for the bank algorithms to see if they are smart enough.
@longtimelurker wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
@Kutuzov wrote:Just be done with thier payments, and use your online banking instead. All in one place and no hold backs etc. You can even pay more than what you owe, cash is taken immediately so no worries when your payments post, etc. I find it a lot more convenient.
+1
The only time I've ever had this issue (and it's been several years ago) was when I used a credit card's own website for payment, allowing them to do an ACH 'pull' from my checking. Once I started making all payments exclusively using my own bank's bill pay to 'push' the payments, I've never had an issue. HSBC used to be particularly bad about this; their payment holds would last 7+ business days, well after the funds had cleared.
This isn't to say there's never a case for using the card's website for payment, though. If you ever have an 'emergency' and need to make a payment at the very last moment, it's quite convenient to be able to do so. In that case, though, most folks will be more concerned with avoiding the late fee than a payment hold... it's a trade-off.
I use push for a few things, but I am much more of a fan of using the issuer site! If you pay on their site, and you have enough money in your account, they take the responsibility for posting on time etc. A bank push has a lot more variation, and if things go wrong, you have to sort things out. Also, it takes more time so you are giving away interest earning money too early.
Very true, but most banks (both of mine) take responsibility for any fees should a payment arrive late, which has never happened to me in all the years I've used bill pay.
I'll also agree with you on the variation on delivery timing, as my own experience has been that some banks are definitely faster than others. When I use Wells Fargo, it tends to take slightly longer than USAA, which for most of my creditors is the next business day. This is likely due to Wells using their own in-house system, versus USAA using an outside vendor (Checkfree I believe).
Basically it comes down to personal preference, and what you're more comfortable with. If you need to avoid the possibility of a payment hold, though, ACH 'push' using the bank's bill pay is the way to go. If you need (or prefer) instant posting - especially if you're trying to beat a due date - using the creditor's site is the way to go.
They both have their uses, and aren't necessarily exclusive; I actually have most of my accounts set up to get paid either way. 
@Open123 wrote:
@UncleB wrote:Very true, but most banks (both of mine) take responsibility for any fees should a payment arrive late, which has never happened to me in all the years I've used bill pay.
Likewise, and have never had a single payment arrive late or not send. The main reason I prefer push is my paranoia on entering the incorrect (typos) checking number caushing the "pull" payment to bounce or be declined.
+1
I've actually had this exact concern, since there are threads where it's actually happened to folks and the card got AA because of it.
Even calling to explain what happened didn't help, since there were other issues contributing, but the "bounced" payment was the straw that broke the camel's back.
We may be 'paranoid', but a little paranoia never hurt anybody! 
Edit: typo
I like "push" payments and have been setting it up for more accounts. It allows me to pay the balance based on what I know the balance to be, and that way I don't have to wait for pending charges to post on a card.
@UncleB wrote:
@Open123 wrote:
@UncleB wrote:Very true, but most banks (both of mine) take responsibility for any fees should a payment arrive late, which has never happened to me in all the years I've used bill pay.
Likewise, and have never had a single payment arrive late or not send. The main reason I prefer push is my paranoia on entering the incorrect (typos) checking number caushing the "pull" payment to bounce or be declined.
+1
I've actually had this exact concern, since there are threads where it's actually happened to folks and the card got AA because of it.
Even calling to explain what happened didn't help, since there were other issues contributing, but the "bounced" payment was the straw that broke the camel's back.
We may be 'paranoid', but a little paranoia never hurt anybody!
Edit: typo
Whereas typos in entering the account number on the bank web site never happen?
I REALLY don't get this! In each case you either have to enter payee and a long account number on the bank site, or routing number and bank account number on the credit card site. For each account/bank pair, you enter the info once on whichever site you choose. I find it easier to do on the cc sites as I can just cut and paste the routing/acct number from a text file that is the same for all my cards. And my bank account number changes much less frequently that card number changes due to fraud.
@Open123 wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:Whereas typos in entering the account number on the bank web site never happen?
I REALLY don't get this! In each case you either have to enter payee and a long account number on the bank site, or routing number and bank account number on the credit card site. For each account/bank pair, you enter the info once on whichever site you choose. I find it easier to do on the cc sites as I can just cut and paste the routing/acct number from a text file that is the same for all my cards. And my bank account number changes much less frequently that card number changes due to fraud.
With potential mistakes, my initial $1 test payment will either be: (1) in limbo; (2) returned as undeliverable; or (3) paid the wrong account. In any of those scenarios, since my mistakes were on CC account numbers, I won't risk any potential AA; whereas, on the CC site, a "wrong" bank account number could prove more troublesome.
+1
If I make a mistake entering the wrong account number at my bank, the payment just goes 'nowhere' and it's not a big deal; I'll have plenty of time to resubmit it correctly. If a checking account number is entered incorrectly on the creditor's web site, it results in a 'bounced' payment, which could have real-life repercussions.
Like I mentioned earlier, I do use the bill pay feature on occasion on a credit card's web site, just not regularly. To make sure there's no typos in entering my checking account number, I generally do a copy and paste from my bank's website (they display the full number) to keep it simple. This has the double benefit of keeping me from digging out my checkbook.
Again, I just mentioned this as a concern, not as a 'show-stopper'. I haven't been hit with a payment hold in years from using an ACH 'pull', but using my bank bill pay's ACH 'push' there's no concern either way. That was the concern the OP detailed in the thread's first post.