[NA] timely bill payment?

saracelica

saracelica

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saracelica
So let's say you get the electric bill on the 1st of the month. When do you mail the payment in? The company does give you a couple weeks usually. My husband was annoyed I let it sit over the weekend. He said it should be paid right away. What say you?
 
I use automatic bill pay wherever possible, with the caveat that I won't use ACH withdrawals for any bills. Bill is reviewed when it arrives. If not autopay is not in the bill, I pay it when it makes sense which is Usually in conjunction with a payday.
 
I pay them ASAP. Does your electric company require the payment to be sent back through mail? Surely they have online payment.
 
I schedule utility payments for the day they are due. Many interface directly to my bank (USAA) and I get the amount notification there and then schedule it for the due date.

The electronic payment industry has been getting bigger and consolidating. Now there's something called Zelle which has a large and growing group of banks so you can pay stuff that way instead of the old "bank pays by sending a paper check while they hold your funds" method.

For recurring payments I think that is the bees knees.

For one off payments PayPal and Venmo are solid choices.

But for the OP -- Get the bill, process it, and move it off the docket. I'm not one to stack them up for processing day or stuff like that. My Dad used to do that... once a month we all had to stay away from the kitchen while he and Mom "took care of the books.""
 
Almost every bill should have a "due by" date...look for that and there is your answer.

TCABM said:
I use automatic bill pay wherever possible, with the caveat that I won't use ACH withdrawals for any bills. Bill is reviewed when it arrives. If not autopay is not in the bill, I pay it when it makes sense which is Usually in conjunction with a payday.
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Use auto pay...assuming you are marginally disciplined with your finances I have EVERY bill I can possibly pay on a credit card that I get rewards points for. If you are gonna spend the money anyway, why not get something for it and relieve the hassle of sending a check to every vendor every month? Just pay one credit card bill.

I whole heartedly agree on not using ACH out of any primary sccounts. ALWAYS send money to the vendor via Credit Card or online bank bill pay. Never let them "pull" money from your bank accounts. Only exception I made is that my power company only takes ACH on autopay, so I set up a separate no fee savings account that the bill pays out of and I have it set to auto transfer the average amount from my checking to the savings each month. I also use that account to make other ACH payment from since CC processing fees are becoming more common with larger ticket items, but there is never a significant balance in that account should the info get hacked.

Between all those methods, except for my credit card I now have zero recurring bills I have to manually pay each month and I am racking up tone of CC rewards in the process!
 
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Not an electric company, but based on a random survey of 17% of my customers, the absolute best time to pay me is either next year, or....maybe not at all.
A smaller fraction select as the best time to pay being soon after the deputy serves them notice.
 
saracelica said:
So let's say you get the electric bill on the 1st of the month. When do you mail the payment in? The company does give you a couple weeks usually. My husband was annoyed I let it sit over the weekend. He said it should be paid right away. What say you?
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If it's something I need to "mail" in I usually do it right away so I don't forget. But I automate everything that I can. I say, as long as they get it by the due date it doesn't matter when you pay it.
 
Intermittently when one of my cc or utility companies wants a bonus, they will mail me a bill 5 days before it is due. It will arrive and I will pay it, but too late.
Then I spend 15 mins on the phone with them in which they have to verify my address (which I've had, and they've used for the last 7 years) and end up blaming the post office.
 
SkyDog58 said:
I almost always pay a bill on the day that I get it. Get it out of the way.
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Same. If it's a real bill then you already owe it. If it's a charge for the following month of service then it's something you're buying, so pay it. If you can't afford it then I guess you might wait. The fraction of a penny in interest that a utility bill's worth of money will earn you by waiting two weeks to pay it is a joke and a lazy excuse for waiting to pay someone. My opinion is worth more than the interest you earned. :)
 
I'm another vote for autopay if you can. Our city doesn't have it for utilities and they charge a fee for online payments so I just mail a check whenever. No rush. There's a due date usually for about 2 weeks out and I aim for that. Upset for letting it sit over the weekend....man, he has too much time on his hands.
 
saracelica said:
So let's say you get the electric bill on the 1st of the month. When do you mail the payment in? The company does give you a couple weeks usually. My husband was annoyed I let it sit over the weekend. He said it should be paid right away. What say you?
Click to expand...

I have to drive to the post office to get my mail. When the electric bills, yes bills, show up, I open them and go home to read the meters, then record the numbers. I can write one check to cover both bills. Then on the next Sunday I drop the bills off at the electric coop since it is on the way to church. No online payment available with this electric coop.

So much more fun living away from the general population....:yesnod::yesnod::yesnod:
 
I set up calendar reminders about 10 days early on my regular bill due dates. When the reminder pops up, I go online and pay the bill, if it looks correct.
Got tired of them wanting their bonus payments by sending the bills late or not sending at all.

Another thing I do is have an Amazon credit card through my bank, which is linked directly to my bank account for autopay. I never get any fees or credit charges, and never have to worry about it. (I do look at my statements when they are sent via email)
Plus, I get literally hundreds back in rewards cash for using the card, which directly deposits into my bank account when I say so.
Also by not using my debit card, it keeps my bank account out of the picture on the front end of it all.
So far a great set up.
 
Doesn't everyone pay them on the due date electronically?

I only write checks to my pool guy and landscape guy and church.

No one should have much less use a debit card. . . . whose money gets stolen first?

If you use a credit card for everything - whose money gets stolen first?

People using debit cards drive me nuts. Even just having one - means someone somewhere has that number in their records - even if you don't use it.

My bank sent me one sight unseen - without asking - and I called my personal banker up and asked him wtf they were doing? They're just salesmen - not really bankers - and he starts in on the 'oh, its such a convenience etc etc.' I then asked him whose money got stolen first? And why did you do this when I told you I did not want a debit card. Please cancel it immediately.

He then tells me I lose my access to my ATM card because they don't have them anymore and it was automatically canceled with the debit card.

I pulled every last dime out of that bank and its associated brokerage and went to a competitor. Smaller. Hungrier. A lot fewer ATM's but they simply credit you back other banks fees. My old bank has some distant actual VP call about the loss of cash and brokerage money - and wanted to know. So I told him. He actually tells me I have a do not issue Debit notation on my customer screen. I said: oh well. See ya.
 
What's your beef with debit cards? Unless I have to write a check, it's all I use. I checked with our bank before vacation last year and the manager told me they offer the same protection on their debit cards as on their credit cards.
 
Large businesses, utilities, etc to whom I am just an account number, I pay on the due date.

Small businesses who know me...like my dr and dentist and airplane mechanic...I try to pay ASAP to help them with cash flow and just to try to be a good customer.
 
Gerhardt said:
What's your beef with debit cards? Unless I have to write a check, it's all I use. I checked with our bank before vacation last year and the manager told me they offer the same protection on their debit cards as on their credit cards.
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The difference is a credit card is using the issuer's money; a debit card is using your money. You get no float and no "points" with a debit card. You can get an ATM card for just cash access. Debit cards are just dumb IMO.
 
Gerhardt said:
What's your beef with debit cards? Unless I have to write a check, it's all I use. I checked with our bank before vacation last year and the manager told me they offer the same protection on their debit cards as on their credit cards.
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As I merchant I win 99% of all disputes for those that use a bank debit card to purchase my services. Credit cards on the other hand, maybe 80% of the time I will win a dispute. AMEX is the worse. They chargeback on me immediately with no rebuttal whatsoever. That's just the cost of doing business.
 
comanchepilot said:
Doesn't everyone pay them on the due date electronically?
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I always manually schedule online bill payment for the day after the current month's credit card statement closes if it doesn't conflict with the due date. There isn't much incentive to pay via credit card after the start of the next credit card statement.
 
I like to hang onto my money, but sometimes convenience and cadence is better than the extra few days of clinging to the money. I am paid every 2 weeks, so i organized my bills into first of month bills (mortgage,utilities) and mid month (credit card, car payment, etc.) That way, every time I'm paid, I pay my bills. Sometimes it's before the due date, sometimes after, but none are ever more than 14 days past due.
 
I pay them when I get a Round Tuit. Always before due via bank direct pay if available and check if not.

The one I sort of enjoy is paying hangar rent in person as it's another excuse to go to the airport.

An odd thing is my credit cards (AMEX, Citi) have been compromised a number of times but never my debit card. I do get an email within a minute of using any card.

Cheers
 
Gerhardt said:
What's your beef with debit cards? Unless I have to write a check, it's all I use.
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Your debit card gets skimmed at a gas station...your bank account can be wiped out as the cash immediately leaves your bank account while they figure out the problem leaving you with no liquid cash.

Your credit card gets skimmed at a restaurant (happened to me)...that charge simply gets frozen while the sort it all out and you are not initially liable for the payment.

Yes, there are charge limits but whose money would you rather put on the line during the investigation? They have far from the same protections. It's not a problem till it is.
 
Gerhardt said:
What's your beef with debit cards? Unless I have to write a check, it's all I use. I checked with our bank before vacation last year and the manager told me they offer the same protection on their debit cards as on their credit cards.
Click to expand...

Have you ever seem how much of a hold they put on your checking account when you buy gas?
 
I pay nearly everything through the credit union's bill pay and schedule so it pays on the due date. My GM card, through Capitol One, drives me crazy. Every month they with a late fee about a day before the due date and then credit me when the payment hits. We write a check to the landscape guy and the church.
 
2 credit cards with billing cycles 15 days apart. Use each in the first half of their cycle. Those I pay via bill pay on their due date online. Bills I pay with credit card by due date. I'll pay them earlier than due date as long as it's in the first half of that cards cycle. I never "actually" pay for anything for about 40-55 days and get lotsa airline miles. The exception is gas. I have card just for that because it has a good cash rebate.
 
I arrange my bills to be paid a few days before the due date. Not right away and not in the grace period.
 
saracelica said:
So let's say you get the electric bill on the 1st of the month. When do you mail the payment in? The company does give you a couple weeks usually. My husband was annoyed I let it sit over the weekend. He said it should be paid right away. What say you?
Click to expand...

Mail? Like that old Pony Express stuff? People still do that? ;)

I say automate that crap and save yourself hours a month of time you could be doing something interesting before you're dead. I have notes in my budget that tell me the exact days the automated stuff will come out.

If I had some crazy cash emergency and decided to stiff every creditor who's in the "discretionary spending" category, I'd just need about five minutes to run down the list and turn off all the auto-pays. Deal with them later. It'd have to be a pretty big problem to need to do that.

As far as your electric bill goes, depends on how long they'll let you slide before they report it as a late payment to lovely secure companies like Equifax.
 
azblackbird said:
As I merchant I win 99% of all disputes for those that use a bank debit card to purchase my services. Credit cards on the other hand, maybe 80% of the time I will win a dispute. AMEX is the worse. They chargeback on me immediately with no rebuttal whatsoever. That's just the cost of doing business.
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Oh yeah, I love AMEX! Use one for all online and gas purchases, and AMEX will clobber a charge in a hearbeat, as you say.

I don't use a debit card for retail - and no auto-debits from my "real" bank accounts.
 
paflyer said:
The difference is a credit card is using the issuer's money; a debit card is using your money. You get no float and no "points" with a debit card. You can get an ATM card for just cash access. Debit cards are just dumb IMO.
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Some are dumber than others. But if the issuing institution is decent, chances are their fraud prevention will be as well; and some of them do issue "points" or cash back.

PayPal gives 1 percent back on their business debit card. I used to make quite a bit of money on purchases with it years ago. If they ever get around to issuing chip cards, I will start using it more often again. As it stands now, I don't use it very often simply because I've soured on magstripe cards after having several of my cards compromised at a local supermarket years ago. It's the magstripe I object to more so than the fact that the card is a debit card.

I may be being a bit unfair to PayPal because their fraud protection, in my experience, is exemplary.

On one occasion I extended a trip to California for which I'd paid for the airfare on their debit card, and then made an ATM withdrawal in California after I was supposed to be back in New York as far as PayPal knew. They gave me the money, but immediately called me on my cell ("immediately" as in while I was still standing at the ATM) to make sure that I was the one who had made the withdrawal. It was a bit creepy, but impressive nonetheless.

On the second occasion, someone had cloned my card following the FoodTown fiasco and made two consecutive purchases at a Target store in Queens. I got the alerts and called the PayPal fraud number printed on the card. They immediately credited the money back to my account. They also canceled the card in an interesting way: They gave me the option of making one more cash withdrawal on the "old" card at a local ATM of my choice, while canceling it for all other uses, just in case I needed cash.

PayPal also offered to wire money to any of my connected checking accounts if I needed funds transferred more quickly than the EFT system allowed for back then. Nowadays it's next-day (and will be same-day this week), but back then three days was more common. PayPal offered to wire the money, which would be available almost immediately, on their dime, if I didn't want to wait the three days -- even though EFT from the account was unaffected by the card compromise.

So really, I probably shouldn't be so concerned about PayPal's debit card fraud resolution. The one time it happened there was literally nothing else they could have done to make it less painful other than flying someone to my front lawn in a helicopter with the replacement debit card in hand on the same day. Granted, my PayPal account gets a lot more activity than most because they're also my credit card processor, but I doubt that I was treated any differently than anyone else would have been.

The other time a debit card of mine was compromised was a result of the same supermarket breach. On that occasion, my credit union decided that a particular jewelry purchase from an online vendor in Thailand someone was trying to make on my card was probably fraudulent; so they declined the charge and called me at about 5:00 a.m. to check it out. When I confirmed that it was fraud, they canceled both my business and personal debit cards and had new ones waiting for me at the branch when it opened that day. When I got there they told me that had the charge gone through, they would have immediately refunded the money to me.

The credit union has since switched to chip cards, and I still use them from time to time. USAA's debit cards are also chip-enabled and have been for quite some time, and I use theirs with no hesitation if I prefer not to use a credit card for some reason. It's the magstripe cards I don't use anymore. Chip cards aren't perfect, but they're a heck of a lot better than magstripe.

As to why not use a credit card rather than a debit card for all transactions, that's just a habit held over from the days when my credit lines were skimpier than they are now. I didn't want to use up my credit lines with a bunch of routine, recurring purchases like gas, groceries, and utilities. Nowadays the credit lines aren't an issue; and because the credit card issuers have started granted more generous rewards on those sorts of purchases, I've started switching over to using credit cards for more of those purchases.

Rich
 
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I pay bills right away usually. A few are automatated. Ones I do pay are online and occasionally a bill will come in and I'll write a check and mail it. I don't do automatic renewals on associations and magazine subscription, so those are paid with checks also.
 
EppyGA said:
Have you ever seem how much of a hold they put on your checking account when you buy gas?
Click to expand...

I check my account almost every day and it always has the funds available that it should. I bought gas last night and this morning the pending transaction amount is the exact amount of the purchase.
 
I've got bill pay with my bank and I don't think there's a bill I get that's not on there. I push payments only - nobody's pulling a payment from me. I queue them up to pay a few days before the actual due date. On recurring charges with varying amounts, I set a $50 or so recurring payment to make sure I never completely miss a payment, and then, using the bank mobile bill pay, change the amount to pay as I open the mail. Saves me from my typical behavior of piloting ... you know - pile it all up on the desk with the intent of "Getting to it" right away ... someday.
 
EppyGA said:
Have you ever seem how much of a hold they put on your checking account when you buy gas?
Click to expand...

That was a shock the first time it happened to me. Bought about $40 of fuel in north myrtle but the hold was for $250.
 
I pay everything but the water bill, mobile phone and property taxes online on the due date. Log into the bank and transfer enough to pay the bills and log out. Log into each biller's system and pay them. Takes about 15 minutes to pay both mortgages, both electric bills, the one credit card and cable bill. Mobile phone gets paid at the mobile place due to some programming stupidity with ATT. Since our phones are on a huge corporate plan, we can only pay by check or at a kiosk in their stores. I usually have email confirmations from everyone before I log off my computer a few minutes later.
 
Gerhardt said:
What's your beef with debit cards? Unless I have to write a check, it's all I use. I checked with our bank before vacation last year and the manager told me they offer the same protection on their debit cards as on their credit cards.
Click to expand...


Ok - lets try this scenario:

1. Credit Card: You have a great lunch at the little bistro you found in Italy. The owner has a thief working for them - and they steal your number and charge up $4000 in charges that day - you catch it when you get home - your bank did not detect the fraud because you told them you were in Europe on vacay. You fill out the affidavit - bank removes the fraudulent charges - you owe nothing.

2. Debit card: You have a great lunch at the little bistro you found in Italy. The owner has a thief working for them - and they steal your number and charge up $4000 in charges that day. As a result your mortgage and car payment checks bounce, and you can't get cash anymore because your account has been cleaned out. You have a $150 late fee from your mortgage, you are paying interest every day, and get a late car payment and they have a $50 late fee. Your credit card payment also bounced, with a $35 late fee and interest of 19.7% plus the 26.9% penalty rate.

You get no sleep that night because you are a nervous wreck, and you're waiting waiting waiting until 2pm to call back to the US to report the theft. You need to find a place to get a fax to full out the forms - then find a notary legal in the US. You come home, and explain every thing to the mortgage company, and car loan and credit cards - who happily reverse the late fees but keep their interest - after all - your payment was late. Your bank sends them a nice note confirming the theft- all this takes another 2 or 3 hours to resolve. You have filled out the affidavits and you're not out any money, except interest, but you have lost a day of vacation and 4 hours when you get home.

Which scenario looks better?

Change it to reflect you being in the US. . . . in your home town - its more likely you will discover the theft from an overdraft notice - not from regular checking of balances - who does that?
 
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saracelica said:
So let's say you get the electric bill on the 1st of the month. When do you mail the payment in? The company does give you a couple weeks usually. My husband was annoyed I let it sit over the weekend. He said it should be paid right away. What say you?
Click to expand...

About a week before it is due.
 
I put the utilities on auto pay. Gardner and housekeeper are ePay through checking account. Pretty much everything else is a manual electronic transfer. I write very few checks.
 
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