Question about automatic bill pay

[TangoWhiskey]

I pay my bills online, but most of them are not automatic--I review the bill, punch in the amount I want to pay, and submit it.

I'm curious, for those of you using automatic bill pay with your bills... when does the vendor actually debit / charge your payment account? On the bill cycle date (as soon as the bill is generated), on the due date, or somewhere in between?

For the vendors I've looked at so far, I've not been able to determine WHEN they'll debit my account. The single exception is Dish Network... they clearly state that they bill your card on the 19th day after the cycle date, to give you time to review the bill (and challenge, if necessary) before they take the payment.

So, what has your experience been? I'd love the convenience of having all my regular bills paid automatically each month, but am loathe to give that much control over my finances to another company, not knowing exactly when they'll take the payment.

 

[KennyFlys]

The only ones I have on automatic pay are insurance. Both pull the payment right on the due date. I used to have T-Mobile on auto-pay and it was also on the due date.

 

[TMetzinger]

I don't use auto-pay, after a utility proved unable to bill on a consistent date in spite of their promise to do so in writing.

It's a slight pain to pay the bills online myself, but still beats writing checks and mailing payments.

 

[Noah Werka]

I pay some of my bills online. Most every one of them says to allow 2-4 days for processing. To me that means if it is sent on the date due, it may be 2-4 days before it is recorded, which can go down on the books as a late payment. The date it is sent is immaterial. Is the date recorded or processed that counts. So just to be on the safe side, I send mine in at least 4 days before the due date. It usually takes 6-7 days before it shows up in the bank records.

 

[Speed]

Mine will notify me of a pending payment, which usually occurs whenever the normal bill would come out, payable on the due date. i.e. with Verizon, and a 30 day bill cycle, my Verizon payment shows pending for almost a month before it pays. Pays on the due date. Up to about two days prior to the due date, you can change or cancel the pending payment. Works great for me. I have all of mine doing that. Means it will get paid if I forget to look at it, but I do have the option to change it if I want.

I also have the option to set a max amount that will pay - with Verizon I set a limit $10 over my normal monthly bill, which then sends me an email if it is higher than that to alert me it won't pay it. Usually ends up with a call to Verizon arguing the charges and getting a refund.

 

[mikea]

I have most of mine set up as auto-pay through the bank's online banking. My biggest fear of having the utilities do auto-debit is missing an outrageous billing error and having that charge trash everything.

As it stands I only have my village water/sewer/trash bill and AT&T for auto-debit.

My bank's bill pay service can get the actual bill. They do screen scraping. THAT requires you to trust the bank's bill pay service with your utility's online account name and password. I don't do that either.

For utilities I just set up a monthly payment that's more then the usual bill and make it a point to get in and edit the payment to make it correct. That way a) you don't' forget a payment and b) if you overpay a bit, no harm. Now ask me when's the next time I really have to pay the gas company. (I think I'm paid up until into May. )

With the bill pay service I can see if it's electronic transfer or gets mailed. I send out all payments well in time to get there by the due date. They even have a calendar that shows when the payment would arrive. I get paychecks on the 5th and the 20th so I have most payments going out right after those dates, like on the 6th and 22nd.

 

[kevin47881]

I have most of mine set up as auto-pay through the bank's online banking. My biggest fear of having the utilities do auto-debit is missing an outrageous billing error and having that charge trash everything.

We're on auto-pay for almost all recurring bills (mortgage, electric, insurance, etc.).
Mike, one thing you may want to look into is normalized billing service. We pay the same amount for our electric each month regardless of use. One time per year both parties balance out the account and recalculate the pending year based upon the prior year usage.