Check those auto-pay bills!

[Kev Williams]

I'm sure many of you have your bills paid automatically. Almost all of mine are, and I have plenty. Because it makes life easier, and because my business keeps me hopping 17+ hours a day, sometimes my statements and such don't get checked regularly.

My son fell victim to a (what I call) autopay scam a few years ago. Due to a bankruptcy he had a high interest car loan, and the bank automatically paid the lender on the first of the month. My son got slack in checking his statements, and it was over a year before he found out the lender changed the due date backwards to the 25th. Nothing about this was ever mailed to him. This meant every payment included a hefty late charge, and with the high interest he was paying, by the time he found out his loan balance was more than the original loan.

Since that happened I vowed to keep an eye on MY bills, but sometimes I get a little slack...

Case in point, my Chevron bill-- Since I work at home, and I'm always working, our gas bills aren't all that high, so while I DO check the amounts due each month, I don't always check out the whole statement. Chevron recently 'upgraded' my cards, and because of this I DID check out my statement closely yesterday...

Much to my surprise, I find a $75.00 late fee and $2.05 interest on the late balance added to the bill..

Now wait a minute, I'm on autopay! And Chevron drafts the money (vs the bank just paying them on a certain date)...

A phone call to a perplexed CS agent remedied the situation, she could find no reason for the late charge in the first place and credited my account it and the interest.

But had I not checked the statement closely, I'd never have known that. Chevron would've received a bonus. Like they need any more of my money!

And what did this "late payment" do to my credit score?

Check your autopays!

[Michael Dedon]

Had a similar issue in November with my auto pay health insurance payment. I checked while reviewing my open enrollment and saw they had deducted that month's payment twice two days apart. Then a couple of days later corrected it. I didn't call since it was all straightened out but seven days later I got a letter from them explaining the problem and making an offer to reimburse me for any late fees/overdrafts/etc that may have been incurred as a result of their error along with a note for my bank explaining the situation. I thought that was pretty up front of them. It was one of the large well known banks that begins with a "C" by the way.

[Greg R Bradley]

My business Chevron is on auto-pay also. On 12/2, the first business day of December, I received a call from Chevron Collections for being late!

When I told them it was on auto-pay, they said they don't do auto-pay any longer. When I told them it had been on auto-pay as recently as last month, the agent went and checked with her supervisor and CONFIRMED that they no longer do auto-pay. I hung up and logged onto my account and confirmed that the auto-pay had paid my balance on 11/29 as normal and called Chevron. The Chevron agent said that the part of the company that processes payments was closed on the day after Thanksgiving so my payment wasn't processed until the next business day, when it was late.

Can you imagine getting a call from collections the next morning after a payment is late? Can you imagine the staggering incompetence it takes for an agent and her supervisor to confirm that Chevron does not do auto-pay. It required me explaining to them why it would be unreasonable that I would pay them a late fee when it was only late due to them not processing it!

Thinking about dumping Chevron/Texaco.............. If these people are earning minimum wage, they are grossly overpaid.

BTW, not reconciling bank statements? My personal + 3 business accounts are reconciled almost every business day.

[ray hampton]

Had a similar issue in November with my auto pay health insurance payment. I checked while reviewing my open enrollment and saw they had deducted that month's payment twice two days apart. Then a couple of days later corrected it. I didn't call since it was all straightened out but seven days later I got a letter from them explaining the problem and making an offer to reimburse me for any late fees/overdrafts/etc that may have been incurred as a result of their error along with a note for my bank explaining the situation. I thought that was pretty up front of them. It was one of the large well known banks that begins with a "C" by the way.

All banks begin with a C / cash

[Ted Calver]

....Thinking about dumping Chevron/Texaco....
Don't think too long...you'll get a late fee!!

[glenn bradley]

Anything left to its own devices will go off the rails without proper care and feeding. I use EFT's for many things and I watch them all just like they were . . . . uh . . . . money!!! For any of us who are confused; credit cards are money too :D:D:D.

[Brian Elfert]

Credit cards usually don't report you to the credit bureau as late until you are 30 to 60 days past due. I screwed up recently and paid a few days late. The rep said I would not be reported to the credit bureaus until I was 60 days late. (They were nice and waived the late fee.)

[Dan Hintz]

Every time someone asks me why I insist on paying my bills by check (I write maybe 3-4 a month?), I cite this kind of thing as the reason.

[Larry Edgerton]

Every time someone asks me why I insist on paying my bills by check (I write maybe 3-4 a month?), I cite this kind of thing as the reason.

Ditto.

Larry

[Bill Cunningham]

I have nothing that automatically debits my account with the exception of my life/business/house insurance and 'they' initiate the withdraw every month. I pay my phone/Heat/Elec./water/sewer via internet banking on the due date. Everything else and all business purchases go on my Mastercard, that way I only have one 'other' bill to pay every month. Doing it that way, I clear my balance off with every statement (it's a 'credit card' not a finance card) and because you pay no interest if you pay your full balance every month.. My card closes on the 16th, the statement comes in on the 20th and is not due until the 6th of the next month. So, if I have a big purchase, I do it on the 17 just as the new cycle begins, and I get to use the banks money interest free... I.E. I spend 5k on the 17th of December, that statement cycle closes on the 16th of January, and I don't have to pay it until the 6th of Feb.

[Dan Hintz]

Bill,

I do the same but use my Discover... which means I also get money back (from 1-5%, sometimes more).

[Jon Shank]

I use bill pay at the bank but I don't have auto pay set up for anything. Twice a month I get in there, compare the bills on my desk to the amount the biller sends to the bank and hit pay. It's annoying and keeps me honest and sane. Takes half an hour if I have my head up my nether regions, usually more like 5 minutes, twice a month. I can handle that and I look at my bills every month to make sure nothing has gone astray. Works for me.

Jon

[Bruce Wrenn]

My gripe is with the nations largest utility, Duke Energy. Since they merged with Progress, first month they said my payment was 17days late, even though sent a week before due date. Last month they hit me for another late charge because payment was due on weekend when their processing center is closed. This month again marked as late. Sent it out as same time as Shell and ATT bills which go to Iowa. They were posted two days before due date, even though they experienced a major snow storm. Oh yeah, power bill only has to go 120 miles from here, while others go over 1500 miles. Monday, I will file a formal complaint both with utilities commission and Ag's office.

[Kev Williams]

As for paying by check-- I once sent a payment to Sears. $29, which was the total balance. Payment was due on the 25th (if memory serves). I mailed it 4 days early. Sears got it on the 26th, then hit me with a $35 late fee. Even though the CS rep had the envelope in her hand, postmarked 4 days earlier before the due date, they WOULD NOT waive the late fee. I'd been a PlatGoldium customer for 20 years, didn't matter. I told her to cancel my account, and that I'd never buy another thing from Sears. That was 15 years ago, and I haven't. And to rub salt in the wound, it DID show up on my credit report as a "30 day late payment".

[Brian Elfert]

I have every bill I can set up to auto pay in one way or another. There isn't any routine bill I have to pay by check. I'll keep doing it until I have problems I guess. I check my bank account every few days so I know if something is wrong right away.

[Justin Ludwig]

Our CCs are set up for auto pay and paid in full every month, so we avoid interest. My business card statement came in a had a $62 dollar interest charge. My wife, an accountant, was on the phone so fast it was almost comical. Chase didn't have a reason or explanation. They said it will be fixed on the January's statement and that we would NOT see the adjustment online. We're currently holding them suspect!

[Mike Cutler]

Kev

Believe it, or not, the US Navy scared me away from ever doing auto pay.
I bought a car in 1981, yep it was that long ago. The loan was supposed to be automatically deducted from my pay every month, even when I was at sea.
Guess what? the first payment got screwed up, and I unknowingly was late for the next 47months!!! :( I went to the bank when I thought the car should have been paid off and they told me I had one more month. Only being 25 I thought I just missed a subtle detail.
When I got turned down for a check OK cashing card at the supermarket, 2 years after I got out of the Navy, was when I finally found out about the 47 late payments. It took awhile to clear that up.
Since that day it's been pay by check, or EFT once a month.No auto bill pay for me.

[maximillian arango]

Every semester I have this same issue with my school bill that it is routine. I would suggest those of you who have kids my age (early 20s) that are paying for their schooling to find out what the charges are for because I get charged for online classes and labs every semester for no reason since I am a criminal justice student I don't take any of those classes. Also this isn't some small shady school, so if a big school like rutgers is doing this any school could be doing the same.

[Roger Feeley]

We are with you. We use an online system with our bank but it's not fully automated. We receive a bill (usually by email) and we instruct the bank to issue a check. One advantage is that we have absolute control. If we change banks, we list off our payees and enter the data into the system at the new bank.