Paperless!

[Deleted member 8987]

My malpractice carrier sends me a bill each month online. I have to print it out, cut off the bottom portion and mail it in using MY envelope. Only advantage? I get my bill well ahead of time. OTOH, my credit union Mastercards - two of them - will not forward the monthly statements to my Florida address, so - I get them late each month and have to pay a $25 late fee on each card. I would love to get an online statement ahead of time. I don't like automatic bill pay for obvious reasons. I do have another credit card with a national bank and so I paid this month's payment at a local bank branch down here. You win some, you lose some.

Get new cards at a bank in Florida and use those cars while in Florida?
Gotta be some way around that.
Change of address at the local PO?

 

[Gliderman8]

My malpractice carrier sends me a bill each month online. I have to print it out, cut off the bottom portion and mail it in using MY envelope. Only advantage? I get my bill well ahead of time. OTOH, my credit union Mastercards - two of them - will not forward the monthly statements to my Florida address, so - I get them late each month and have to pay a $25 late fee on each card. I would love to get an online statement ahead of time. I don't like automatic bill pay for obvious reasons. I do have another credit card with a national bank and so I paid this month's payment at a local bank branch down here. You win some, you lose some.

Consider making an overpayment during the time you’re in Florida. You will show a credit and you’ll avoid the late fee.

 

[mikephillips]

I pick up my check & cash it at work every week.I like doing that
so I can separate funds for gas,etc.
I recently got a notice from the company that they'll either download money
to a pre-paid credit card,or do direct deposit.
Since I don't do online banking,how would I know how much my check was?
I prefer to pay cash whenever I can.

Where I work they went direct deposit probably close to 30 years ago. Didn't give us an option, it was either that or don't get paid/move on. I can verify the deposit by checking the HR website at work, normally don't from home. So I usually stop at my branch every couple weeks, when deposits are made, and get cash to pay daily expenses like gas, lunch and such until the next payday. I've told folks I'm philosophically opposed to the idea of a payment app or credit card for every dime

 

[TR3driver]

I don't like automatic bill pay for obvious reasons.

Ok, I'll bite. What are your "obvious" reasons? What's the problem with instructing your bank to mail a check every month? If you don't trust them, why do you give them your money?

 

[vette]

So now if we are not part of the Digital world then we are truly off grid anyway. I still like to keep paper records on file at home. Who knows what these little bits and bites might be trying to do with my info. And why should the said sender of such miscellaneous documents save their money on printing, etc when I have to spend my money and printer ink to save or read a hard copy. And what about the USPS?? How's their efficiency going to improve if they don't have anything to deliver. I don't like Autopay or excessive use of credit cards but recently I have found out that the more credit cards the better. I bought a new car recently and some bank out west sent me a letter (hard copy can you believe it) stating that they refused my credit. At same time enclosing a copy of the credit report that showed that my credit score was 899 out of 900. I thought what the ****. Here they refused my loan because I haven't shown any credit purchases in awhile. I as thought about it I realize that it probably has been about 15 years. Yet I buy with a credit card all the time, everyday.
Come to discover the Wife has gradually been TAKING CARE OF EVERYTHING for a long time and everything I buy with the cards are in her name. Well she's still living here with me so I suppose she isn't planning to ascond with the dough yet. Anyway I quickly got the car loan in my name and took out a few more credit cards. Just think how quickly this digital world car wipe you out of existence.

 

[John Turney]

...

One reason I've been pushing the "paperless" issue: I work with dozens of people in their 70s and 80s at the air museum. I see every day how the "online experience" is crushing them.

Thanks.
Tom m.

Wait! I resemble that remark!

Actually, I do my banking, bill paying and ordering online. Wife prefers paper, checks, and calling on the phone. I have fewer problems. YMMV.

 

[pdplot]

1. All our mail is forwarded to us from CT once a week. We pay the USPS to do that. Thus bills come in late.
2. We have substantial balances on our cards. The interest rate is low.
3. The Mastercards are issued by and tied into a credit union. We have had them for years. I don't think it would be practical to transfer substantial balances to a totally new card with a high rate of interest on unpaid balance.
4. We only have automatic bill pay for our supplemental Medicare. We don't keep a large balance in our checking a/c. All we need is one overdraft check to hurt our credit. Our car insurance is very expensive - several payments of $915.00 each. Living in CT is expensive. Our real estate taxes are about $13K per year - and we only have a 2500 sq. ft house, not a mansion. And they are going up 3% every year with no end in sight. Plus we can only deduct $10K of our taxes each year under current law. I will say no more about that.

 

[waltesefalcon]

I have one credit card that use for gas every month (just to show usage) and a debit card. I do pay most of my bills online and utilize autodraft for the few that are the same month to month. My biggest thing is that I like having a hard copy of all my bills so I have a physical record of what's going out so I can keep a good ledger. I try to tell my students that budgeting is important even if you know the phone bill, etc. is the same every month because if you aren't keeping track of it you're likely to get an ugly surprise someday when you go to withdraw money from your account. Many of them just don't get it as they have grown up with everything being digital and don't see the benefits of keeping a paper record of things.

 

[Bayless]

Herself and I use a credit card for almost everything rather than carrying cash because it's just so much easier. Besides, it gives us 1% to 3% back on every purchase. We never have a balance though. I usually get $100 every few months from the ATM for those little purchases where the card isn't accepted or not convenient.

 

[glemon]

Ok, I'll bite. What are your "obvious" reasons? What's the problem with instructing your bank to mail a check every month? If you don't trust them, why do you give them your money?

I am not the original author of this, but I will bite on the obvious reasons. First let me distinguish between electronic or online payment and automatic payment.

Electronic payment you get your statement or bill, but you still say when you pay and how much. Our bank lets us set up our vendors or payees, we go to the bank site, login once, pick the vendor, put in the amount, push send whatever, and on to the next one. Paying the monthly bills is quick and painless (from a process if not monetary standpoint).

Automatic payment they are authorized to take what they say is the monthly bill or amount owed. This puts you in a less advantageous position if you dispute the amount or want to cancel the service/payment.

I do electronic payments where possible, it saves me buying stamps, putting things in the mail, and sometimes paying extra for paper based services.

I avoid automatic withdrawals wherever possible for the reasons stated above.

 

[TR3driver]

First let me distinguish between electronic or online payment and automatic payment.

I use a different method, that doesn't match either of your descriptions, but seems like "automatic" to me. I tell the bank to mail a check for a fixed amount, to arrive on the 10th of every month (or whatever) to the payee and address I give. Although they give me the option of making that for a limited time (eg one year), I just let it run for utilities and such.

So I still control how much gets taken out of my account, and when. If, say, the gas company generates a bill for $10000 instead of $100.00; they still only get $100.00. And up until just a few days before the payment is scheduled to arrive, I can cancel or change a payment, without charge, from almost anywhere in the US, any time day or night. I have literally stopped by a library and used their computer because I didn't have my phone with me.

Someone else mentioned overdraft fees; they are not possible since the bank will not mail the check unless they can transfer the funds first. (Instead, I get an email to let me know there is a problem.) The checks are, in effect, cashier's checks drawn on the bank (not on my account). (There probably is an option to handle overdrafts differently, but that's the way my account is set up and the way I like it.)

The bank does get to keep my money in their account for a few days; but since the service is free otherwise, I don't mind them making a few pennies that way. Current prime rate is something like .013% per day, so they make about $.05 on a $100 payment that takes 4 days to clear. (The rate on my checking account is a low lower than that, so it doesn't even cost me the whole nickel.)

 

[jfarris]

Mixed emotions. We bank online, but not on our phones, that could very well be the opposite of what we should do.
Like Walt, here in the rural area, the water is still paper. I like the Citi Bank notice that lists the monthly amount, but I go over the credit card statements with a fine tooth comb.
I'm 70 and do OK with the electronic stuff, but my 88yo MIL struggles.
Maybe, I'll get my adult children to train the robotic vacuum cleaner to handle the bills.
Change...........OK...........if I have to!

 

[NutmegCT]

Jim - train the robotic vacuum cleaner to handle the bills.

That is funny. Excellent idea!
Tom M.

 

[glemon]

Randall, The automatic I was thinking of was vendor has authority to pull from your account. I talked to a banker about this a few years ago. They told me when you do this you are not authorizing Netflix, for example, to take 12.95 out of your checking account once a month, you are simply authorizing them to withdraw from your account, any amount, anytime. An automated push out of your account is a different deal, and I would not have any issue with that.

 

[pdplot]

I don't trust anything online. Every week I get warnings from my title company about phony wiring instructions and other scams. Good friend of mine, an attorney, received an email the day of a closing to wire funds to a certain account. It was a fake and he just caught it in time. He would have been out over $300,000.00. Another friend had her account hacked and had one helluva time getting the problem cleared up. I don't have a debit card or an ATM card. When I need $$, I go to the bank personally and talk to a teller I know. No online banking for me, thank you.

 

[TR3driver]

I've used several services over the years (originally had to pay a different bank $10/month for the privilege), and they've all offered the ability to do what I outlined. The vendors are only involved to the extent of setting up a "level pay" plan so the bill is the same each month, my bank doesn't even see the bill.

For the credit card, I set up a "base" payment each month that comes close to covering what I usually spend, and also ensures no late fees. Then when (if) I read a statement, I order an extra check to pay it off. Ideally I should do that every month, but it doesn't always happen (especially when I'm away from home for months at a time). Turns out, the CC companies don't mind at all if you run a positive balance instead of negative; and if you want, they will cut a check for any overpayment.

Obviously, I really like this; it's made my life a lot simpler than writing paper checks.

Fidelity also offers what you described, vendor bills the bank, but I'm not interested for the same reason.

 

[TR3driver]

When I need $$, I go to the bank personally and talk to a teller I know. No online banking for me, thank you.

Every brick and mortar bank I've dealt with is out of business today. And the big banks (the ones that swallow up all the little ones) treat me like feces. After Chase took over my last bank (Washington Mutual), I literally laid down in the lobby and took a nap while they cut me a check for the contents of my checking account. I'd like to think my snoring got someone's attention, but I doubt it. It's like the old SNL skits "We don't have to care, we're the phone company."
https://vimeo.com/355556831

 

[NutmegCT]

Randall - thanks for that SNL clip.

"A multi-billion dollar matrix of space age technology, that is so sophisticated, even we can't handle it."

(might apply to just about every system we have to use these days!)

 

[pdplot]

Banking/credit card update. Our joint account bank statement came in on saturday. A $300 check we wrote showed up as $800 on the statement. Although my wife's 3 looked like an 8 on the check, the Three was clearly written out and banks will only pay out on the written amount and not the figure. A call to the bank corrected the error. Next - a call to Mastercard will result in statements coming directly to us for as long as we're down here. While my wife was clearing up these matters, I was out losing $5 on the golf course, shooting a terrible 111 and my bad luck continued tonight by losing $20.75 in poker - my 5th losing session in a row. Life is good.

 

[waltesefalcon]

If someone offers to buy you breakfast after taking all your money at cards, don't show up and shoot him; that's just bad manners.