Autopay

[bz386]

How many of you have setup automatic payments of your credit cards? If not, why not?

Personally, I have all my cards setup for autopay of full balance. This way I don't have to worry about paying bills. Of course I still double check the statement and also verify that the payment went through.

It seems like a lot of people here pay their bills manually and I'm curious why.

[Anonymous]

I personally domy because I like to calculate all my transactions in detail after entering them in Quickbooks. This is just so I know I'm not paying for someone's bogus charges.

But then again, your way works since you're looking over your statement. I just like getting more "hands on" with my statement to make sure.

[Anonymous]

I manually make payments because I like to know how much is being paid, when and to whom. I like to be hands on when managing my money and credit. I do, however, have autopay set up for minimum balance just in case I somehow "forget". Although I never have forgotten to make any payments, I just like to know that the added security of autopay is there.

My cards that are still on the intro 0% APR period carry balances, while the cards that aren't on any intro period are PIF.

[bz386]

If you have autopay setup, you have up to 25 days from the day the statement cuts to review the accuracy of the statement. I have had unauthorized charges on my cards before and I never had to disable autopay. I simply called the CCC and they removed the unauthorized charge before the next payment came out.

I understand the use case of 0% APR, but even if I took advantage of that (I never do), I would still setup autopay of the monthly payment.

I'm curious if there's anyone here who doesn't even have autopay for minimum balance due setup.

[Anonymous]

There are some cards (such as some of the Comenity ones) that do not have autopay

[bz386]

Seriously? Wow, I didn't know that. When I originally got my HSBC Premier, it didn't have an online autopay option either. I called customer service and they sent me a form to fill out to setup autopay. A couple of months later the autopay option was finally available online, too. Maybe Comenity is similar?

[EddieK]

I don't have autopay set up on any CC.  I rotate my cards each month to have one report a balance so it's just easier to do that manually for me.

[bz386]

If you had autopay setup, it would be extra insurance in case you forgot to pay. Why would you not setup at least minimum balance due payments?

[EddieK]

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@bz386 wrote:
If you had autopay setup, it would be extra insurance in case you forgot to pay. Why would you not setup at least minimum balance due payments?

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You're probably right, I just believe I won't miss one with the amount of times I check them.  

[bdhu2001]

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I have a combination method.  I pay most of my bills through automatic schedule via on-line banking.  I started with Microsoft Money & Quicken before on-line banking & other things became an option. Eventually, I switched to on-line banking and still use it because I like to have one area to view all scheduled payments.

Over time, I've adapted to using autopay for the minimum on all my cards, but I manually go on line to pay the full balance prior to due date.  In addition, I manually make additional payments to make sure balances aren't recorded between due date and statement close date (if I think I may apply for something).

I also keep an excel spreadsheet that tracks all my bills and payments.  In addition, I have a tab that tracks utilization.  On top of that, I check "Mint" every morning to make sure nothing got missed.