Online banking bill-pay vs. paying via vendor website

Kobac,

Let me jump on the band wagon.

I, like you, are skeptical about giving access directly to my checking account. So I use my credit card for almost all cases where a vendor insists on a card for payment. Though not as long as a lot of posters responding to you, I have use my banks on-line bill pay, free of charge, for about 8 years without any difficulty at all. For bills that are constant every month, I use the recurring payment method and change it once a year if necessary. I've never experienced any late charges except for Discover Card who insisted on posting my payment two days late consistently. I just dropped them completely.

In 2011, I only wrote 7 physical checks. In 2010, 2 and in 2009,4. I really like on-line payments. I'm retired and when I travel, I don't have to worry about bills piling up.

I have only two instances where I allow direct withdrawal from my checking account; one is my mortgage, the other is my credit card (yes, I only have

Make sure you'll comfortable with you bank and go for it.

With very few exceptions, I pay all bills using Quicken to do online bill payment through the bank. For companies of any significant size, a check is not sent; it's an Electronic Funds Transfer. Almost the only time the bank actually sends a check is if I'm sending something to an individual--for example a gift to a family member; and even there, it's the bank's stamp, not mine.

Ummm, don't you mean 20th century Sharx? ;-)

Regards,

Margaret

I will not, however, allow the credit card companies to automatically take the "full (new) balance" from my checking account. One reason is that if I return something or have to dispute a charge, I want to make sure I pay the full balance minus any pending credits (that should come into the account before the payment due date). The other reason is to maintain control. I don't trust credit card companies to automatically reach into my checking account! :-)

I've been doing auto payments for so long I can't remember when I began. And the only times I've had a problem is when I've initially signed up for the autopayments. Companies usually tell me to continue making my manual payments until they notify me they've successfully linked to my credit card account -- only to promptly charge my credit card. This results in a double payment, so I no longer make a manual payment when I sign up for autopay. I just watch the account to make sure they pull the payment prior to my scheduled payment date, which I usually make one or two business days prior to the actual due date. And if the scheduled date goes by with no payment pulled, I call the company to see when they're going to pull the payment. I've never once been bitten by the double payment bug since implementing this system.

Way back in the beginning of autopayments, however, I don't believe it was possible to use a credit card (certainly not with all creditors), and I encountered a double payment perhaps a few times. Had I not allowed for that possibility by leaving more money than necessary in my checking account (shudder), the double payment would have resulted in an overdraft.

Anyway, my $2 worth. ;-)

Regards,

Margaret

I've been reviewing my various monthly payees. More than a few of them do not accept automatic (or any) credit card payments or, in at least one case (GEICO), charge extra for it. It looks like I'll have to consider using my bank's bill pay system if I want to automate more than I'm already doing.

I like your method of avoiding double payments when starting autopay.

Thanks, Margaret!

}With very few exceptions, I pay all bills using Quicken to do online }bill payment through the bank.

Me too. I have been using online bill pay -- first with Checkfree and then my bank since the early 90s. In all of those years I had less than a handful of problems, which is probably more reliable than if the USPS was delivering a physical check and the biller processing the payment.

One way to tell if it is an EFT or physical check is how quickly the payment can be sent in Quicken. If it is a day or 2 then it is an EFT. If the soonest you can schedule the payment is over 3 days it is probably a physical check being mailed.

Later, Dave

As I told Margaret, I will have to go with my bank's online bill pay if I want to automate my procedures any further. My credit card payees won't accept payments made with a credit card and quite a few others don't have any online payment options at all.

The only automatic debits I have going right now are with GEICO for our auto insurance. They actually charge a larger fee if you opt for auto pay via credit card versus paying from a bank account.

Thanks for your comments, Richard!

I would expect that online bill pay has taken some strides forward since I last used it 14 years ago, but I'm a bit leery of farming that task out to Quicken based on my past experience.

I caught a glimpse of Kobac on Sun, 01 Jan 2012

In Australia I use a Credit Card where I can access my Savings Account and/or available Credit. Currently $1500.00 available via Credit.

When I pay a bill online I'm asked how I want to pay, Credit or Savings? I select Savings, the $1500 available credit is handy for emergencies.

Y'welcome, Kobac! Speaking of bill pay, I forgot the few payments I must issue from either my local credit union or AlliantCU. I pay my property taxes twice a year this way as well as the lawn service that takes care of warm-weather lawn care and winter snow removal. I'd have to mail each a check, so I've used both credit unions' bill pay service. Fortunately it's free, and I've had no problem with payments not arriving on time. I prefer it when companies accept electronic payments directly, but small businesses tend not to. Perhaps over time this will change over time.

Regards,

Margaret

I've been doing this not quite as long as you, but some ten or fifteen years. I can't remember ever having a single problem with it.

That depends on what bank you're using. With my bank (Bank of America), nothing is less than four days. However I don't really care where it's a check or an EFT.

I should add that one of the things I like the most about paying bills this way is that I pay all bills as soon as I get them, but schedule them to paid when they are due. Before I did this I used to put the bills in a tickler file and have to remember to pay them on the appropriate day.

Similarly, when I'm on vacation, I schedule bills to be paid while I'm away, even before the bill arrives.

This is not a reply, but it's the same topic. I tried to start the new year off right by putting my 16 different monthly payments on online pay. With each one, using the vendor's instructions, it is a new learning curve, and after perhaps six hours I only have 4 accomplished. I tried to use Bank of America online payment but their roster of payees did not include what I needed (Coldwell Banker). I tried the method in the Quicken textbook, by clicking on a checking account entry and you are able to click a message highlighted in blue "Pay online" or words to that effect, but that got me to a page that assured me that the payment would not be made from that page. I have a Quicken textbook, but even with that. I can't seem to find my way clear to getting the job done. The best of them was Waste Management, which has already replied back to me that payment has been made. One Home Owners Assn. check to be paid via Bank of Omaha made me try several passwords and finally it refused to proceed. I want them to take money out of my checking account and can't get them to do it. The Florida Department of sales taxation actually displayed a box for an essay type answer to the question "why did you pick ACH-credit". Their site is opaque and probably not worth the time; enter all the data on the screen each time. Any advice (or commiseration) would be appreciated.

If BOA is where your checking account is, you are not limited to the prepopulated list of payees. All you need to do is enter the name and address of the payee. Best base is that BOA will have the details on file to process an eletronic transfer. Worst case is that BOA will mail a check on your behalf.

Thanks, will try. John

Exactly right, except that in my view the best case isn't really any better than the worst case. As long as the payment gets where it needs to get, I don't care whether it's done by EFT or by a check being sent.

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

As long as the funds for the check are only withdrawn as it clears. I always hate it when a large amount gets deducted from my checking balance, and I have to wait (sometimes almost a week) until the payee posts it to my account. It depends on the FI how they decide to handle it.

Like you I have (and still do) used quicken bill pay (and predecessor Checkfree) for many years) and experienced the same problem you had but I called checkfree/bill pay support and explained the problem and they called the merchant/credit card company and resolved this issue. I did not have to pay late fees for any of these issues and in a few case where I was dinged the late fee was removed.

Marty