Auto-Pay?

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First of all; I will say I don't trust auto-pay. You think you are giving the business permission to deduct only your bill amount; but if the business wants you have given them permission to pull any amount (any day of the month) Case in point - a friend had auto-pay with AT&T; someone from some other part of the world somehow got her phone # and charged $600 to her phone. AT&T went in and pulled the amount out of her checking account and didn't notify her. My friend said she was bouncing checks right and left; so she went to her bank and found out that AT&T had went in and pulled out $600. She then called AT&T and their response? Sorry about that; it was an error on us and we will cut you a check; you should receive it in 4-6 weeks. I have thought a good response would be- as a sign of good faith will you give me access to your checking account? Their response might be "are you out of your fxxking mind? yet this is what they ask you to do. Am I wrong in my assessment? What are your views on auto-pay?

P.S.: my mortgage company wants me to enroll in auto-pay

If you do enroll in an auto-pay scheme, set up a separate account just for that service, and then manually put money into it as needed. Any time you want to discontinue the service, just stop putting money into the account.

Of course, a mortgage is more important, but if they insist on auto-pay, then either watch the special account very closely or seek another mortgage company.

I don’t know about mortgages, but my credit union gave me a discounted interest rate for choosing auto-pay.

I use the bill pay service on my checking account for most things.

In general I don’t like a situation in which an outside company gets to draft money out of my account.

hmm, having to pay manually doesn't seem very auto-pay ish. If depositing into a bank account is easier, I suppose it may benefit ease of use. But one of the main reasons of auto-pay is because people forget to pay.

I prefer to pay my bills manually. However I have auto-pay set up with Verizon because I get a $10 discount on my bill for being enrolled in auto-pay & paperless billing. My bill is pretty high even with the discount & I usually only have a few bucks left in my bank at the beginning of the next month so saving $10 is kinda needed. I have auto-pay set for at late in the month as possible which is around the 9th. I check my Verizon bill around the 3rd of each month after I get my Social Security Disability & I budget my Verizon bill as out of my bank account before it's taken out. Basically I use auto-pay with Verizon cuz I get a discount but I play it safe-ish & double check my bill before it's due

I'm enrolled in a monthly subscription for a supplement that is automatically charged to my bank every month. They've been charging me the same amount for a couple years now. It's cheaper than doing a one time purchase every month.

I do PayPal Pay In 4 when I can on eBay & other sites because my payments are spread out over two months. I budget my current month of payments in when I make the purchase. I also have monthly payments of $25 set up with a couple debt collectors.

I budget all those bills in around the beginning of the month & I check my bank account every few days as a buy things from various places. I never had a problem with those things but I want to be safe.

I'm sorry, i couldn't get past the idea that people are still writing cheques.

It's usually fine. I've had to cancel auto pays a few times though. So, it can mess you up on a tight budget if a non essential thing is on auto pay.

I can't believe the phone company didn't do an instant refund.