I do not like auto pay for the very reasons listed above. We got burned really badly one time with auto pay and decided we would never do auto pay again. And, we never have and never intend to do so.
@Anonymous wrote:My 'a-ha' moment about autopay was when I discovered Rewards Checking Accounts, after which I went all statement balance autopay and never thought about going back.
For the longest time I had been resisting autopay because of the risk of overdraft. I was keeping all my savings in a savings account, and managing my checking account to zero, since it didn't earn any interest. Why would I want to be carrying money in checking that wasn't earning any interest? I'd carefully move money between my checking and savings to keep most of my money earning interest, while having only enough in checking to cover outstanding checks and other pending outflows. Paying my credit card bills manually allowed me to more carefully manage timing of those large outflows.
But now, rewards checking allows me to keep a significant balance earning even higher interest than any savings account on a large enough balance to make it practically impossible to overdraft. Right now I have a $10k balance in checking earning 5% APR. All of my autopays (45 of them) come out of that account. So instead of managing my checking account to $0, I'm managing it to $10,000. If I fail to account for an upcoming autopay and it causes by account to fall below the $10k, it's no big deal. It just means that for that small amount of money I'm not earning 5% interest for a couple of days, until I rectify the situation by transferring from savings to get the balance back up to $10k. Now, if I actually overdrafted by $10k, then I've got a much much bigger problem to worry about.
The RCA has additional benefits as well. If I do write a large check to someone and I don't know how long it will float (e.g., I once had a $4,000 check to a car dealer remain uncashed for a month and a half), I don't have to let that money be sitting in a no-interest checking account earning 0%; I can simply wait until it clears and then immediately transfer the money over from savings to cover it. Also, most RCA's waive outside ATM fees.
To the OP's question, in my experience, most issuers have moved to a policy where they will adjust autopayments so that they don't result in a credit balance as a result of manual payments (which I often do make) or other credits (returns, promos, etc.) during the cycle. If I do end up with an overpayment, I don't sweat it; I just call customer service and request them to send me a check. Sure, I'll have lost deposit interest for a couple of days, but no biggie. But I can't remember the last time that's happened because of an autopayment.
Chris.
I do almost exactly the same thing. My main checking where the majority of these autopays draft from, earns more interest then any of my savings accounts.
As far as "forgettitng" to make a payment, that is prevented in my case. We have set up automatic reminders to remind us to pay each bill (credit card, electricity, water, etc.) so that there is no way we can forget. We have total control. When the reminder gives us a poke, we go to our bank on-line, and set up a payment via bill-pay. IMO it is much better tan auto-pay. That is just me, though. Everyone has their favorite way to conduct their financial business.
@IncrsCreditScore wrote:As far as "forgettitng" to make a payment, that is prevented in my case. We have set up automatic reminders to remind us to pay each bill (credit card, electricity, water, etc.) so that there is no way we can forget. We have total control. When the reminder gives us a poke, we go to our bank on-line, and set up a payment via bill-pay. IMO it is much better tan auto-pay. That is just me, though. Everyone has their favorite way to conduct their financial business.
Yup ..I have each lender send me a reminder that the bill is due in a set number of days..though its just a heads up so I know they are going to draft that account. Either way you do it..you are still paying them. lol
@IncrsCreditScore wrote:As far as "forgettitng" to make a payment, that is prevented in my case. We have set up automatic reminders to remind us to pay each bill (credit card, electricity, water, etc.) so that there is no way we can forget. We have total control. When the reminder gives us a poke, we go to our bank on-line, and set up a payment via bill-pay. IMO it is much better tan auto-pay. That is just me, though. Everyone has their favorite way to conduct their financial business.
This is what I currently have, and I really like it. 
The only reason I would consider some type of auto-pay for the minimum is in the event something happens (accident, sickness, etc.) and I physically can't get to a computer to make the payment. For those of us who are single and who don't have somebody to take care of those things it's nice to have a backup in place, kind of like insurance. It would make a bad situation even worse to wake up in a hospital just to realize that the good credit I've worked so hard on has been trashed by no fault of my own.
I also like to think if I'm somewhat prepared that might decrease the chances of me ever having to use it... things seem to work that way with me (i.e. when I'm ready for something it never happens, when I'm not ready it usually does happen... LOL). 