Everybody knows your bank info. And it is pretty easy to take money out of an account. I guess people don't do it so much because it is pretty easy to figure out who did it.
Everybody knows your bank info. And it is pretty easy to take money out of an account. I guess people don't do it so much because it is pretty easy to figure out who did it.
NO automatic payments, ever. I do NOT ever want to get stuck between funds and have an auto pay kick in, resulting in an over-draft fee. After last year's identity theft, I pay everything by phone, in person, or by mail. Yes, I know, my ID can still be stolen again, but I hope the above actions make that harder. Oh, and when I do buy on line, it's with one dedicated credit card with a low maximum.
I make virtually all my payments by check. Not only does that keep people from having access to my accounts whenever they want to, it means I also have cancelled checks. In case many of you have not found out, sometimes there's no replacement for a cancelled check.
For instance, there's a fairly widespread car payment scam going around. They forget to give you credit for your last payment and then charge you again. At best you get a penalty payment, at worst you pay the last payment twice. I see proof of this a lot in my business. When you want a mortgage and your old car payment shows a 30-60-90 day past due or a balance you pay it if you want the loan.
In some cases the law still doesn't allow a bank statement to replace the cancelled check for proof of payment. They will some day, but just not yet.
The only thing I have on autopay is car insurance, everything else is still manual.
Every time you write a check, you are still distributing all your checking account information. How is it better than manually making an online payment? In that case, writing a physical check is just like making a copy of your information for the bad guys so they don't have to go through the trouble of writing it down.
foxtrapper wrote: Huge difference between automatic payments and automatic withdraws.
Not really. Unless it's you setting up the bank or CU to send in a pre-determined amount that you specify with specific instructions to not alter, the receiver can request a different amount and usually get it as it's all automated. Even then there's no oversight as to if your financial institution messes up and sends double payments or what have you.
If you, the human who owns the money, doesn't click "Yes" to authorize the payment every single time, it can (and will) go wrong.
Because all it takes is a tiny bit of spyware to sneak into my computer from one of a dozen sites I visit to get my cheking info by paying everything on line. . Writing a check limits, to some extent, the ease with which to attack my account, and that's worth my peace of mind.
Javelin is totally right. Based only on the information in his GRM profile, I just took $800 out of his bank account. I am not a thief, just proving a point.
SupraWes wrote: The only thing I have on autopay is car insurance, everything else is still manual.
+1.
Otto Maddox wrote: Every time you write a check, you are still distributing all your checking account information. How is it better than manually making an online payment? In that case, writing a physical check is just like making a copy of your information for the bad guys so they don't have to go through the trouble of writing it down.
If you have an automatic payment (which is not the same as just paying online) it would be like having the bank hand your checks out to every person they see as they walk down a street.
Although I do agree with you on checks vs. online, I'd rather use a secure connection and a CC backed by the CC company then mail my personal checking through the US-oops-we-lost-i-again-PS.
Otto Maddox wrote: Javelin is totally right. Based only on the information in his GRM profile, I just took $800 out of his bank account. I am not a thief, just proving a point.
Que? There's no financial info on GRM's website and unless JG has a stack of checks dating back at least 3 years on his desk and you rummaged through it for mine they don't have any financial info.
Read the posts, I think you're thinking I'm disagreeing with you.
carguy123 wrote: I make virtually all my payments by check. Not only does that keep people from having access to my accounts whenever they want to, it means I also have cancelled checks. In case many of you have not found out, sometimes there's no replacement for a cancelled check. For instance, there's a fairly widespread car payment scam going around. They forget to give you credit for your last payment and then charge you again. At best you get a penalty payment, at worst you pay the last payment twice. I see proof of this a lot in my business. When you want a mortgage and your old car payment shows a 30-60-90 day past due or a balance you pay it if you want the loan. In some cases the law still doesn't allow a bank statement to replace the cancelled check for proof of payment. They will some day, but just not yet.
Truth. My bank copies the checks on to the back of the monthly statements. Interestingly, my entire account number is nowhere on the monthly statement, just part of the routing number. Keeps the mail theft/hack an account activity down. Yup, it's even blacked out on the copied checks.
In reply to Javelin:
No, I was just trying to be funny. And I refuse to use emoticons. So nobody knows when I am kidding.
Otto Maddox wrote: Every time you write a check, you are still distributing all your checking account information. How is it better than manually making an online payment? In that case, writing a physical check is just like making a copy of your information for the bad guys so they don't have to go through the trouble of writing it down.
Just so you understand, I am an 100% agreement with this statement. I prefer paying manually online. If that is an option, it's how I pay the bill. I don't like writing checks.
Otto Maddox wrote: In reply to Javelin: No, I was just trying to be funny. And I refuse to use emoticons. So nobody knows when I am kidding.
LOL, okay, I understand. 
I don't even write checks, electronic or otherwise. I am married to a brilliant (and beautiful) CPA, so I let her handle it all. She knows everything that happens to us financially down to the penny. I am actually a CPA too, but when I get home I'd rather mow the lawn or read car magazines than screw around with finances.
i pay cash for my bills- you know, that green paper stuff that you keep in your wallet. the only exception is my car insurance, and that's only because it's a lot cheaper to do that online- but i go to the website every month and make that payment manually.
I use the online bill payment (with some automated payments for amounts that are the same month to month) provided by my credit union. I control the amounts. The full amount is deducted from my account instantly so I don't have to worry about anyone holding onto a check without cashing it. The checks sent come from the bank, so my routing info isn't on there.
And the best part is, if anything goes wrong on the receiving end and they claim they didn't get payment or it was late, the credit union will pay any charges and issue a letter that I can send to the credit agencies showing the amount was paid on time and that the late charge was the result of the people cashing the check.
Oh, and if I use online services instead of doing things through the mail they bump up the interest rate on my accounts by a few percentage. So it's easier, safer, and I get something out of it.
I pay everything with my credit card, and use the "bonus points" to get 40 cents/gallon off on my gas. I pay the card off every month via online banking.
Checks? I don't use those. Too much idiocy out there.
I have the check to wife option, meaning my wife pays the bills and she writes checks, puts them in an envelope with a stamp and mails them the old fashioned way. She refuses the automatic payment option. Mainly because she is Korean and english is a second languege for her and she isn't very tech savvy. She has a computer that the only thing she knows how to do on it is click the shortcuts to her Korean movies that I set up for her. She has got to be the only person I know that doesn't have and email account. If we did the automatic payments that would mean I would have to take over the bill paying. She does a mighty fine job of it. No one is knocking on the door about not being paid and there is money in the back so I'm happy.
After a really crappy experience with moving due dates around (check the contract carefully before you sign!) I will NEVER do that again. It is convenient ONLY for the company receiving the payment and can really screw up an individual's life (and credit).
The ONLY thing I have on auto pay is XM Radio since you can't get it otherwise. That's on my only credit card which is insulated from all my other accounts. Everything else I either mail or drop off a check or I will make one time online payments.
I held out forever, but recently caved on a couple of the big ones. My mortgage is paid automatically, etc.
The reason is that I realized the impact of automated systems on credit ratings. 1 day late didn't used to mean very much. Now it can trigger all kinds of automatic dings on my credit report.
SVreX wrote: I held out forever, but recently caved on a couple of the big ones. My mortgage is paid automatically, etc. The reason is that I realized the impact of automated systems on credit ratings. 1 day late didn't used to mean very much. Now it can trigger all kinds of automatic dings on my credit report.
1 day late can't hurt you, but 31 days does.
A lot of things to end up with a discount.
My already low student loan rate dropped another .5% for going to automatic withdrawal. Same thing on the car loan as well.
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