Online banking bill-pay vs. paying via vendor website

I currently pay all of my bills with one-time payments via each vendor's website. I do this because years ago (1997), I signed up with Intuit to pay my bills (at the time, they used a company called CheckFree to actually perform this function). Most of the time it worked fine, but several credit card companies began charging me fees for late payment, even though I had instructed Intuit to send the payments on time. I subsequently found out that CheckFree would actually snail-mail checks to certain vendors who could not properly handle electronic payments. They assured me that they mailed payments out sufficiently early so that the vendors would receive them by the due date. Why certain large banks that owned credit cards could not process electronic payments mystified me at the time; it's not like I was paying the corner deli - one of the vendors was Capital One Bank, for God's sake. After incurring various late fees, calling and writing the companies involved to have the charges reversed (mostly successful), and maintaining a list of which companies I could and could not pay through CheckFree due to this issue, I finally canceled the service due to all the hassle and told them exactly why I was canceling.

My bank offers free online bill-pay, and I was wondering if any of you use a similar service and what you think about it. Any heads-up on "gotchas" to watch out for would be greatly appreciated.

I should also mention that I do NOT want to initiate any automatic debit arrangements. I do not want anyone taking money out of my account automatically. I want to be the one who decides how much to pay and when to pay it. I'm currently going back and forth with one vendor who did not properly credit a payment I made, even though they sent me a receipt for it. It's much easier to argue the point when the money is still in your account and not in theirs. :)

TIA

Steve

Reply to
Kobac
Loading thread data ...

Been using ING's online bill pay for 8 years now Never had a single issue. When you set up someone to pay ING knows if they accept electronic payment or if paper is mailed and displays when a payment can be made. I also use several local banks bill pay also no issues as to them gettting payments made on time

Reply to
golfer55nj

Thanks for your reply.

I should also add that CheckFree assured me at the time that they had mailed out the so-called late payments on time. The problem apparently was mostly on the vendor level with processing the payments. Capital One Bank, for example, consistently credited my payments late starting in August 1997, even though they had no problems for March through July. The August payment was credited 12 days late, the September payment was credited 4 days late and the October payment was credited 7 days late. We got nicked for 2 late payment fees of $20 each and Capital One would not credit them back despite several letters and phone calls from me; they were the only vendor, in fact, that did not credit us back for late fees after I explained the situation. After that, I went back to mailing a paper check myself. Poof - no more late payments - what an amazing coincidence. ;)

Reply to
Kobac

I use the service offered by my credit union. When I set up a new payee, they make it clear whether they get paid electronically or if they send a paper check, so I know which ones take longer to go through.

On the other hand, I do my online payments to each payee on the same date I would have used if I'd mailed the payment, just in case the system is down or something else prevents the online payment from going through.

Like you, I don't want folks reaching into my bank account.

I have a number of accounts paid monthly by credit card. This limits the number of bank transactions I have to handle and also gets me at least

1% back on each payment.
Reply to
Bert

I do a similar thing as you do for timing online payments. I schedule the payments at least one day early so that if something glitches, there's an additional day to straighten things out.

Paying bills online with a credit card - do you set up recurring payments or just make one-time payments?

Reply to
Kobac

Checkfree (are they still around?) should have done more than just assure you the payment was made on time. One of the "services" they were claiming as a part of the monthly fee was to work with the payment recipient to resolve any disputes and to cover any late fees assessed as long as their records showed the payment was requested on time.

Reply to
Robert Neville

Kobac wrote in news:jdni91$hfg$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

The online bill payment via Quicken or any other institution should guarantee that the payment arrives on time. Period. If there is a problem and you can show that you initiated the payment on time, it's a question between the payee and the bill pay people. I have never accepted late fees (happened only a couple of times way back when there was Citibank Direct Payment (or whatever it was called in the 80's).

On the other hand, I got really fond of letting the payee make sure they got the money, so I have authorized those dreaded automagic withdrawals or charges to a credit card. Never a problem except with Verizon. Their FiOS billing usually takes a few months to get things right after a change or extension of service, and I revoke the automagic and go via onetime payments from the verizon website until everything is kosher.

Reply to
Han

Indeed they ARE still around.

And I did send messages to Intuit about the problem and even copied the messages when I wrote to Capital One.

They were, ah, UNMOVED.

I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but I can tell you that the problem was never resolved to my satisfaction, which is the reason I canceled the service - and I told them exactly why.

I would imagine by now (14 years later) that the kinks have been worked out, but I wouldn't place any heavy bets on it.

Reply to
Kobac

I totally agree with you, Han, on what *should* have happened - but it DIDN'T happen that way in my case.

I had Intuit (Checkfree) telling me that they mailed the payments on time. That did not seem to satisfy Capital One. As I said in my earlier post, the same thing happened with several other vendors and they all reversed the late fee. Only Capital One refused to do so.

The only thing I do NOT like about my present payment method (pay on the vendor website) is that I have to login at each website to make each payment. It's not the worst thing in the world and it does give me total control of the process, but I'm always willing to listen and see if there's a better method. Given how vendors are always changing things around (different mailing addresses, bank name changes, etc.), thinking about doing things automatically gives me pause.

Reply to
Kobac

Recurring payments. There's always a scramble every few years when the new cards arrive with new expiration dates, but otherwise it's quite smooth for things that I intend to keep for a long time, like newspaper subscriptions and my satellite TV bill.

Reply to
Bert

Kobac wrote in news:jdnrer$6tj$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

If you don't like "them" to reach in your checking account, I suggest you let them charge a credit card. If need be, get a separate one for the purpose of paying bills. Then, if one of them charges you an amount you can't agree with, "dispute" the charge with the CC company. Btw, I would NOT have been satisfied with Capital One not agreeing to refund the late charge, but, then, I would have notified Checkfree that their payment didn't arrive on time and that Checkfree needed to correct the late charge. Period. It's their job to get the payment there in time. FWIW, a company called Jamaica Water Company (since that time in the '80s it's been taken over severl times) didn't honor Citibank's remittances in a proper and timely way, and Citibank took care of it. Two or three times I had to complain. After that, JWC did it right. I thought that Citibank told them off.

Reply to
Han

That's a good idea with using the credit card.

Well, of course I wasn't satisfied with Capital One. And I DID notify CheckFree about the late payments as well as Capital One. I thought I laid out my position very clearly to both of them. Perhaps I wasn't bloody-minded enough, but I thought at the time that I had done everything that a reasonable person would do (perhaps that was my mistake!). I was faced with a situation where each side blamed the other. Actually, Capital One didn't blame anyone - they simply refused to give me a credit despite what I said and what I told them that CheckFree told me - in writing, no less.

Reply to
Kobac

Kobac wrote in news:jdo3m6$hn7$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

My Citibank experiences weer in the beginning of electronic paying, and Citibank clearly stated they guaranteed on time delivery. And I called them on it.

Reply to
Han

Thanks, Bert - appreciate the feedback!

Reply to
Kobac

I can certainly understand your frustration with Capital One. I would have been enraged, had that happened to me. However, mailing paper checks is so, so 19th century! Yuck. Find the envelopes, find the stamps, find the return address stickers. Find your check book. Write out the check. Put it in the envelope. Seal the envelope. Schlep it to the post office, Then sit and wonder IF and/or WHEN the receiver physically received it and, more importantly, WHEN they deemed to have CREDITED it to your account. YUCK YUCK YUCK.

I know that you have "control issues" about having "others" take money from your account, however I've been doing exactly that (pre-authorized debits) for almost TWENTY years without any problems. By now, I have save THOUSANDS of hours of menial, repetitive clerical work by having OTHERS do all the work. But, hey, obviously some people of lots of spare time to do it the 19th century way. Good luck and Happy New Year!!!!

Reply to
Sharx3335

Bert, the OP was already going on and on about being scared of "recurring payments". Like you, when possible, I authorize recurring payments made from my credit card and then enjoy the 1% annual rebate of payments made in such a fashion. I keep a handy of list of payees who would have to be notified should the credit card details, such as expiry date, change. Those payees who won't exempt a credit card number are dealt with via automatic bank account debit. In ALL cases, save 1, invoices from the payees are received well in advance of the actual debiting date, allowing ample time for corrective action to be taken. However, in almost TWENTY years, there has never been a billing error.

Reply to
Sharx3335

Han, your approach is the sensible one! To forever abandon the convenience of automatic withdrawals simply because of an occasional bumble is, indeed, counter-productive. I've saved thousands of hours, over the last 20 years, allowing the automatic method to take a lot of drudgery out of my live!!!

Reply to
Sharx3335

Yeah, I'm with you there - I hate writing checks, too. About the only time I do it is when I pay our real estate taxes, local utility bills and some other local vendors since they don't offer online payments. The online bill pay through my bank, though, would take of that, I would think.

The "if and when" part is the part I really don't like, and the online bill pay through my bank would still involve a paper check being mailed out, just not by me.

Happy New Year to you as well!

Reply to
Kobac

I am actually just against automatic bill pay from my bank account. Using a credit card to do it is worth considering!

Reply to
Kobac

It was more than an "occasional bumble" - it was a whole series of them with different payees, as I mentioned in my original posting.

But that was a long time ago and that is why I am looking at the situation again.

Reply to
Kobac

BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.