Billpay - options & opinions

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I've been using your 3rd option for more than 10 years with no extra costs and no problems. Once I set it up, the money is automatically withdrawn from either my bank account or my credit card, as the case may be, on the FINAL DATE. In other words, I have the full use of MY money until the last possible day and never have to remember to go on line to pay the bill or, gawd forbid, drag out stamps and envelopes and checks or money orders, whatever. I would NEVER, EVER pay for any service, such as Quicken, to accomplish this. I would also never, ever go for your 2nd option. Sooner or later a payment won't reach the payee in time and you will be in a battle with both parties over the resulting penalty for late payment.

No question, the 3rd option is the ONLY rational choice...as long as you continue to carefully check your monthly invoices to make sure that they are correct--since my bills come 2 or 3 weeks before the Final Date, I have ample time to detect and correct any error--never has been one, though!

My Quicken bill pay is free from Wells Fargo so I use that. Your bank is likely less tha what Quciken charges. The third option is fine if you trust every payee to do things correctly. Personally I don't want anyone pulling anything from my account. I want to push it at my command.

snipped-for-privacy@nada.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I agree about giving anyone access to my bank account. If they support it, I allow various payees (Verizon, Utilities) to automatically hit my credit card, as long they they post the charge within a day or so of the due date. The exception is Comcast. They post the charge about 30 days in advance, so I logon to their website once a month on the due date and make a "one time charge".

For those that don't support credit cards, I use Quicken Billpay from my WF checking account. It's free for me becuase my Wachovia accounts were grandfathered in.

I've been using the 2nd option (BOA online banking - free) for well over

10 years now, and have been very satisfied with it. Before that, I had used Quicken bill pay at $10/month.

As far as problems, I have had 3 instances of late payments, and they were all the same payee where BOA had to mail them a check because they didn't accept electronic payments. The check either got lost in the mail, or in the payee's office somewhere. However, as soon as I notified the bank through their online system, they took care of it from there, including getting the late fee waived. I no longer have that payee, and haven't had another issue for several years now.

So no, it's not 100% perfect, but close, and I have no inclination to change. I've never liked the idea of authorizing payees to "pull" the payments from my account, and much prefer to initiate all payments myself from the same place. Everyone has their own preferences.

Over the years I have saved, literally, HUNDREDS OF HOURS by using the 3rd option. Everything happens automatically, correctly, regardless where in the world I am. I, or others, still closely check the bills/invoices every month JUST to be absolutely certain that I don't get one of those million dollar water bills. Any problems that people have with the 3rd option usually result from THEM not carefully checking their invoices. Oh, yes, and none of this has cost be one red cent. No service charges anywhere for any part of the transaction. I think that there is far too much paranoia re this subject.

Ok, well you must have much more complicated personal finances than I have, since it would take me several lifetimes to save "hundreds of hours" of time spent paying bills. I easily spend less than an hour per month on it (on average), including checking my bills for mistakes.

I simply do it the way I'm comfortable with, that's all. No need to change.

There's always some who fight technology, just like how the Luddites used to trash factories. Hell, nothing like a ride in a horse-drawn buggy, eh?

OK, well now you're just trying to stir up a fight for reasons known only to you. Please try someone else. I'm finished here.

In other words, you have no credible comments to refute my comments.

You've got to be kidding. You start tossing insults at me because, of all things, I choose not to pay bills like you do, and you want me to keep talking to you? Get over yourself already. I've seen your act before here, and I shouldn't have bothered responding to you to begin with. My mistake.

Ok, NOW I'm finished here.

You are absolutely entitled to waste time each and every month paying bills the old-fashioned way. Hell, you can even walk everywhere, too.