Automatic Bill Payment

Aunt Bea

Aunt Bea

SF VIP
Location
Near Mount Pilot
I'm looking at automating my monthly bill paying and banking in case I'm unable to pay my bills as they arrive each month. My thought is that if I'm incapacitated for a few months the bills would get paid and I would not need to rely on someone else not to mention giving someone access to my accounts.

The question that I have is which method do you use or is it some combination.

My preference would be to have the merchant take or the bank send the exact amount needed from a checking account prior to the due date every month without any intervention on my part.

I know that I can set that up with each of the individual merchants but I would prefer to do it all in one location with the bank's online bill payment service. From what I can see the online banking feature would require me to enter the amount and schedule the payment date.

Any information on how best to do this would be appreciated.

Thanks, B
 

Things that are the same amount each month I have set up as automatic withdrawals each month.

The bills that vary in amount I pay when I feel like it...but obviously before the due date.

I just don’t want to be surprised with a huge bill taken out of my account when I don’t want it taken out.
 
We use our credit union bill paying service and it works well, but we also set up recurring payments to a Visa credit card that pays rewards. That card gets paid in full each month and we end up with a tidy cash-back bonus.
 

Thanks!

It looks like I'm going to have to set up individual authorizations with the merchants where the amount varies each month.

A few more passwords to remember! :):playful::eek:nthego:
 
We have the combo others have. We have automatic payments via CC for everyone who will take it (thus getting cash rewards for paying utility bills) and the rest from checking. Then, the cc is automatically paid. We do check everything, and we have our cc set for alerts which sends us an email on everything that gets charged. Makes for a bunch of emails, but lets us constantly check in a few seconds.
We're retired, no mortgage, so we're just talking primarily utilities and a couple of other things (sometimes car payment). We're not paying insurances automatically. So, there are no 'surprises'.
 
All of my bills are linked to my United credit card. Even though I am eligible to receive free flights to anywhere that United flies for free, we use the points for upgrades to either First or Business Class. You would be surprised how fast the miles mount up. Some companies double the miles, if they have that agreement with the United card by Chase Bank. Then, on the 15th of each month when my United bill comes due, the bank cuts just one check and all of my bills for the month have been satisfied, except for our American Express bill, which my wife pays separately each month.
 
Thanks!

Yesterday I started gathering the various statements together, the next step is to sit down and actually link everything.

I keep telling myself that millions of people do this and you folks certainly confirm it but making the switch still makes me nervous, LOL!
 
The whole thing makes me nervous, too, Aunt Bea. I get several of my bills taken out of my bank account (pet insurance and auto and renter's insurance and a few more) each month and then I mail some payments that vary each month. My heating bills in the Winter months are quite a bit higher than during the other seasons so I would be afraid to have them automatically taken out in case I need to only make a partial payment. And then my electric bill is higher in the Summer so I send them a check for that. I wonder if I am the only one on earth still using checks~:playful:
 
Ruthanne said:
...... My heating bills in the Winter months are quite a bit higher than during the other seasons so I would be afraid to have them automatically taken out in case I need to only make a partial payment. And then my electric bill is higher in the Summer so I send them a check for that.....
Click to expand...

Do you not have the ability to set up a budget plan? Our utilities in the Chicago area allow for the same monthly payment, year 'round. If it's a cold winter with higher gas costs, then the gas company ups the monthly amount (after notifying you) and you have a new, monthly amount. Ditto on the other way around (if one is lucky enough to have a bill go down). I would check on this --- if available, it would only be a few 'clicks' to set yourself up.
 
Ruthanne said:
The whole thing makes me nervous, too, Aunt Bea. I get several of my bills taken out of my bank account (pet insurance and auto and renter's insurance and a few more) each month and then I mail some payments that vary each month. My heating bills in the Winter months are quite a bit higher than during the other seasons so I would be afraid to have them automatically taken out in case I need to only make a partial payment. And then my electric bill is higher in the Summer so I send them a check for that. I wonder if I am the only one on earth still using checks~:playful:
Click to expand...

I haven't written a check for several years. The last checks I used to have to write were for my property taxes, but when my county started taking online payments, that was that! I'm not even sure I could find my checkbook if I had to. Paying online is just SO much easier, faster, and cheaper. I don't have to mess with buying checks or stamps, and I can do in a few minutes what used to take much longer. Since all my bills are paperless now, I don't have all that paper to shred either. I hate paper!

Most of mine are still not paid automatically, though. I just go to the websites and pay them online.
 
Ken N Tx said:
Ditto... I do both bank and credit card..
Click to expand...


Me too.

I pay anything I can by CC because I get cash back. But my CC bill is not auto-paid.

My utility company charges extra for CC payments... so I've arranged for them to auto-debit my checking account every month.

.
 
Butterfly said:
I haven't written a check for several years. The last checks I used to have to write were for my property taxes, but when my county started taking online payments, that was that! I'm not even sure I could find my checkbook if I had to. Paying online is just SO much easier, faster, and cheaper. I don't have to mess with buying checks or stamps, and I can do in a few minutes what used to take much longer. Since all my bills are paperless now, I don't have all that paper to shred either. I hate paper!

Most of mine are still not paid automatically, though. I just go to the websites and pay them online.
Click to expand...


I still pay my annual property taxes via checks. There is an extra charge to pay by CC.

Because all three taxing entities have offices close to where I live and shop, I pay at their offices.

I like getting an immediate paper receipt showing my taxes paid in full.

.
 
I've had automatic payments coming out of my main checking account for many years. With my credit cards, at first I had it set up so a certain amount (close to what I thought the balance would be) likely would have to be adjusted once the actual bills came in. Making some payment would negate late fees and incur only a small amount of interest but I don't believe in paying interest (haven't paid it in decades). a couple of times I had to add a payment before the due date because I forgot to make the adjustment (I always pay my bills 4 or 5 days before the due dates). My son and oldest grandson would have been responsible for making the adjustments if I couldn't handle my business due to severe illness. But it would have been a hassle because they'd have to login to each account, then login to the bank's website to make the adjustments. A few months ago, I decided I've had enough experience now with online payments to trust each credit card company with initiating automatic payments. This way, my son and grandson don't have to worry about how much (or how much more) is owed and when to pay it. So far so good.

I have other bills automatically deducted as well and have never had a problem with them taking double payments. Planet Fitness, my utility company and Legal Shield are the entities that automatically debit my account. It just provides peace of mind.....one less thing to worry about, well several less things actually. Once I pass, my son or grandson would just have to make sure automatic payments with those companies stops.
 
Aunt Bea said:
Thanks!

It looks like I'm going to have to set up individual authorizations with the merchants where the amount varies each month.

A few more passwords to remember! :):playful::eek:nthego:
Click to expand...
We use one cash back credit card to pay usual expenses like food, gasoline, needs & wants purchases from stores.


Utilities like gas, electric, & wter we've set up auto pay since the amounts change. AND if something seems wrong we can still dispute it. We haven't had to so were comfortable with that.


Last we pay online accessing our account to pay the credit card and bills like trash, sewage, & cable.


One pin number to access & pay everything. When cash is needed there are over 1000 ATM's that are tied into the credit union with no use fees. Maybe best part is there is documentation of every transaction that we can print out if ever needed.
 
I just finished setting up my normal monthly payments on various forms of automatic payment with paperless statements, email alerts, texts, etc...

As various other items come trickling in I will look at setting them up, if possible.

The next step is to get some additional money flowing into the checking account each month.

If this works I'll be dead for a year before anyone even notices that I'm gone!!!:):playful::eek:nthego:

Thank you all for your helpful replies.
 
Aunt Bea said:
If this works I'll be dead for a year before anyone even notices that I'm gone!!!:):playful::eek:nthego:
Click to expand...

Right now only my two health insurance bills are paid automatically each month. I should probably start planning on automating other stuff like you're doing. I do pay all my utilities online, either at their website or through bill pay at my credit union.

I read once about this family where someone came home and parked the car in the garage but forgot to turn off the engine. Months later the three individuals were found, two in the bed, and one on the couch with the TV on and they were all dead from carbon monoxide from the running car. Their bills were paid automatically. Strange, though, they were not missed by family or employers or friends? Like most articles, there was a lot of missing info. I think it happened in Florida, because right away I thought of the heat and the smell of decomposing bodies. It was a detached house, not an apartment.
 
It's working!!! :):playful::eek:nthego:

AS3QbgAKuPYTRIXlsrgnSwHaKf.jpg




2Q==

2Q==


2Q==
2Q==
 
No checks here either, for many years now. I pay online through my bank, it's so much easier and fast.

Two of my bills are on automatic EFT; my cell phone payment and my auto/home insurance payment.

Food, gas, misc expenses go on my rewards credit card.
 
I use Direct debit for all my accounts,Gas Rates, Power ,Isp,Etc Etc....Just requires me to Authorise each each one initially, then get an email usually a week before with account to be paid attached and the date when will be debited ,the payment is linked to SAVINGS account...not credit card ( Interest rate too high)
 


Back
Top