topic Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion in Credit Cards

Online Bill Pay: Discussion

KingAdrock — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:17:49 GMT

I'm starting this thread so people can share their thoughts on paying bills online. Do you do it? Do you trust it? Do you pay through your bank or through your lender?

Personally I pay all my bills online, and specifically through my bank (BofA). At first I was doubtful, and I set my payments to go through well before the due date, so I could pay in time if anything went wrong. Now its years later and nothing ever has. At this point I'm so confident, if a lender ever tried to claim they didn't get the money, I plan to reply with "Well according to BofA you received the payment on XX date. Perhaps you should call Bank of America and tell them they made a mistake." I think that'd end the argument real quick.

I do not however pay bills through my lenders. Personally I have a real problem with the idea of giving creditors access to my bank account. When I pay through my bank I feel I'm in control, the people I'm paying are receiving the money when I say so, not whenever they want to after I give the go ahead. I'll send them the money, not let them take it.

Please chime in with your thoughts, opinions or disagreements.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

MidnightVoice — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:20:27 GMT

Most via billpay from my bank. The only one that has access to my account for removing money is Amex - I have the minimum taken out every month in case I am travelling

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

fused — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:26:29 GMT

I manually pay all of my CC bills online using my personal checking account...no auto deductions here. I feel it's safe and it saves me time and money. As for my other lenders, I'm stuck mailing my payments for my unsecured LOC with BoA and my personal loan with a local bank in Honolulu. Both of these clowns will not allow me to make online payments on these accounts unless I open up new checking accounts...like I need three checking accounts. Other then this, I love being able able to pay online.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:28:07 GMT

I use it, love it and it's free-

Only one of my creditor does not take electronic payments from my CU (kay's) and they get sent a check.

My CU pulls the statements, emails me when they arive, lets me know if I have not paid them, tells me the min and statement balance, keeps the history -

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:34:10 GMT

I pay through the credit card payment page (unless the don't have one) and never have any issues. I have no problem with them having my bank account info.....nothing bad has ever happened. My electric company, phone company etc also have that bank info, again nothing bad has ever happened.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Scamp — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:52:14 GMT

I'm a control freak and have trust issues with auto-pays and things like BillPay, so most of my bills - cc's and others - get paid at the creditors' websites by me personally, each month.

I have one utility that charges a fee to pay via their own online payment set-up, so I finally broke down and tried my bank's BillPay feature for that one, to allow me to pay online free instead of having to mess around with mailing a check and waiting for that to clear.

I've made two payments this way so far, and though there have been no problems that I can see, it bugs me that I can only schedule payments for the next business day at the earliest, and that such payments seem to take forever to post with the creditor and even longer to post to my paying account. I may do one more mailed check and monitor how quickly that clears all around, as the BillPay route seems to be taking at least as long, if not longer.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

preci0uz — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:25:23 GMT

I absolutely LOVE paying all my credit cards with BOFA bill pay. All the payees are saved and all I have to do is pick a date and amount. With BOFA billpay, companies usually get the money the next day!

I've never had a problem with a lender getting them money. Gotta love BOFA!

Message Edited by preci0uz on 07-27-2008 06:25 PM

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 21:58:49 GMT

I pay everything online, except the water bill, which requires an old fashioned paper check. Even though I bank with BoA, I do not use their bill pay. I pay all CCs, electric, gas, phone, cable, etc through their website. I pay manually each month and use a CC (more points for me, please) for electric etc. I pay the CC bills manually from my checking account. The mortgage and car loans are set with automatic ACH from my checking account.

I am happy with my system. I have never had a problem.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

haulingthescoreup — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:17:47 GMT

I have paid from the USAA site for very specific reasons, but once I have things up and running, I have always paid from the creditor's site, and I have never, ever had any problem or compromise with my banking account's security.

I don't do autopay. Instead, I am very, very (very, very) aware of my statement dates, and I know which cards get paid from the first paycheck of the month, and which from the second, and which involve family expenses and are paid once a month. This is pretty non-negotiable on my part, because I simply don't trust things to hum along in the background, even though they'd probably be fine. My only derogs are late payments, and my feeling is that if it ever happens again, it needs to be my fault, not because a computer hiccuped at the wrong time.

I haven't mailed off a check for anything in ages. I have two bills once a year that I have to pay by check instead of online, and I go there and pay in person, and get a receipt to clutch in my sweaty little hand.

edit to add: the mortgage and the power bill are drafted automatically from the joint account. It has worked without a hitch for years, but we always check within a day or two to make sure that it went through OK.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 07-27-2008 03:17 PM

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Anonymous — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 23:59:54 GMT

I pay everything (CCs, utilities, cell, paper, insurance, EVERYTHING) with Bill Pay on my USB banking site. I don't autopay anything. Instead I sit there and plug all the payment amounts in each month. It feeds the control freak in me lol. I've never had a problem with a payment not being credited the day USB says it will be. I generally schedule them as soon as the statement cuts so I don't run the risk of forgetting later. My checks are rarely used except for the occasional random check written to my child's school for things like school trips and fund raisers. Even some of those allow you to pay online now. I've had the same box of checks for over 7 years!

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Client9 — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:22:40 GMT

I pay almost everything via online bill pay through my CU. I only write checks for Rent and haircut lady.

I was skeptical at first and actuallt liked sitting down and writing out the checks.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Watchmann — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:20:43 GMT

Have paid using my credit unions free bill payer since 2000. Probably close to a thousand payments over the years. Only once did one go astray, for a water bill in Chicago. They had actually received the payment but somehow it got sent to the dead file because they couldn't figure out the account it was supposed to go to. Their error, quickly fixed.

I pay AMEX from the AMEX site, and have autopay for insurance premiums, mortgage, and auto loan. Long recurring payments in the same amount month after month are more convenient if an autopay is set up. In over 35 years of having life insurance premiums deducted from my checking account I've never had one payment go awry. I am not concerned about a reputable insurance company having access to my account. The amount they can bill me is set by contract. Have not had any crooks so far.

I know like clockwork that the CitiMortgage and Toyota Motor Credit payment will be taken out on the first business day of the month. My mortgage was originally with ABN Amro, but CitiMortgage took them over last year. I was prepared for a royal mess up when the change occured and guess what, nothing bad happened. Starting in September 2007 CitiMortgage became the owner of the loan and the monthly payment continued on as normal. All CR's reported correctly the change in loan providers. And the year end interest statement was correct. No complaints with having autopay set up for long contracts.

Message Edited by Watchmann on 07-27-2008 08:20 PM

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:30:49 GMT

siang wrote:
I pay through the credit card payment page (unless the don't have one) and never have any issues. I have no problem with them having my bank account info.....nothing bad has ever happened. My electric company, phone company etc also have that bank info, again nothing bad has ever happened.

I do the same.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:08:24 GMT

I pay everything from my primary checking account @ WAMU. The only bill that is automatically deducted every month is my mortgage. Everything else is a manual payment from their web site or I do "Bill Pay" from WAMU's site.

I've never had any problem (knock wood).

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

MsKiwi — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:23:41 GMT

I pay manually at the ccc's websites and well before the due date. I actually pay twice a month just so I never get caught late. ( I'm paranoid about it.) I'd probably be a great Amex customer.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

KingAdrock — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 05:47:22 GMT

Thinking about it, I do have my car insurance paid by having it pulled from my bank account every month. But other than that everything is online from my bank. I also don't do the autopay thing. I like to decide exactly how much to pay and when, every month.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:15:28 GMT

I have never had a problem paying my bills online. I really hate writing a check. I have had the same box of checks for a long time to. I like the fact that I have all the proof of payment right on my bill pay page. My bank will dispute any foul ups too. I love it.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:00:01 GMT

I pay bills with my banks billpay if they don't take CCs (local utility board). And my bank offered to give me $100 if I paid two bills online, so.... well I don't have to tell you guys how awesome free money is.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

athensguy — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:23:40 GMT

For those that are writing checks, couldn't you still use your online Billpay to pay those items? If my CU can't ACH the money for me, they will send a check.

Re: Online Bill Pay: Discussion

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 15:20:18 GMT

@athensguy wrote:
For those that are writing checks, couldn't you still use your online Billpay to pay those items? If my CU can't ACH the money for me, they will send a check.

My bank will also send a check to anyone. I wanted to stop writing checks out to my Dad, because at the time I had to pay for checks, so I use my bank's online billpay to mail the check to my Dad. Doesn't cost me anything, and I don't have to write the check.

I used to use the individual credit sites to make the payments. Then when I started banking with a place that had free online bill pay I like the idea that I can look at all my past payments in one space and I like that it comes out of my checking account before posting at the site. In most cases the payments are received the very next day.

I still pay my car payment via the creditor's site and one credit card, only because for some reason my bank's online bill pay will only send them a check.

I also like it because if something were to happen to me, someone else could get into the site and pay my bills for me without having to do too much work.

I have only once had a problem with my bank's online bill pay, they pulled the money out and then a system error caused them to put the money back. They paid it correctly the very next day. And while I can see how that would cause some to freak out, because I have never been the person who waits until the day before the bill is due, that 1 day delay didn't cause any problems at all.

I don't do autopay and doubt I ever will. The idea of not being in charge of the money moving, worries me.