Comments on: The Dangers of Online Bill Pay and Automatic Deductions

By: Alger

Alger — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:34:21 +0000

Thanks for the personal experience. I just linked to it on my blog. I think this is the root of a lot of overspending too. People have no idea where their money is going.

By: SVB

SVB — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 07:39:27 +0000

Ruth,

I apologize but I cannot help you in this regard. Please ask your bank’s customer service to help you out.

By: Ruth L. Wooten

Ruth L. Wooten — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:28:15 +0000

I would like a form sent to me or tell me how to bring up the form on my computer to have my monthly telephone deducted from my Checking account.
What s the charge for this feature. All my other bills are deducted from my checking account at no charge.

By: Weekend Roundup- Election Day Edition | Think Your Way to Wealth

Weekend Roundup- Election Day Edition | Think Your Way to Wealth — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:54:43 +0000

[...] The Dangers of Online Bill Pay and Automatic Deductions at The Smarter Wallet [...]

By: Money Saving Links: 11/2/08 | Online Savings Blog

Money Saving Links: 11/2/08 | Online Savings Blog — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:00:35 +0000

[...] The Dangers of Online Bill Pay and Automatic Deductions – The Smarter Wallet When our money travels along the ether, we don’t usually think about it much. But according to the Electronic Payments Assocation (or Nacha), the electronic payment network upon which our automated payments travel, the error rate for our money transactions occur at a rate of 38 for every 100,000 bill payments. [...]

By: Favorite Links for Week of October 27

Favorite Links for Week of October 27 — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:09:41 +0000

[...] The Smarter Wallet:The Dangers of Online Bill Pay and Automatic Deductions [...]

By: SVB

SVB — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 22:37:18 +0000

Slinky,

Very interesting! I actually worked as the blog editor for Mint for a little bit of time and the issue on security has popped up now and again as a concern. Admittedly, Mint says that their service is not for everyone, as there are folks who will never be comfortable with the sharing of their personal information or who only will do it on a very limited basis.

I guess if you’ve got your bank as the central point for your money management activities, that definitely works (I have it mostly set up this way as well). For others, they may decide to use Mint as their central repository for information.

By: Slinky

Slinky — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:34:07 +0000

It’s always struck me as slightly insane to give ANYONE free access to your checking account. They can take any amount they want!

For the same reason I don’t give out credentials for my accounts, which is why I won’t use Mint. They may not store that info, but Yodlee does. Someone hacks them, and I could get cleaned out in two minutes.

I’ll trust my bank, because I’m not keeping my money under a mattress, but my bank lets me keep control of my own money, thank you very much.

I pay all of my fixed rate bills automatically. My bank sends them a check on my behalf. To cancel, I just pop online and click a few buttons. Variable bills, I have to set up manually, but it takes less than 5 minutes to schedule a payment from my bank. The only things I write checks for are rent and wedding presents.

By: Carnival of Personal Finance - Financial Armageddon Edition! | Master Your Card

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:41:26 +0000

[...] The Smarter Wallet talks about the very real dangers of Online Bill Payment and Automatic Deductions, and makes a very strong case for staying away from them. Personally I like the convenience, but I will certainly be keeping a closer eye on my statements from now on! [...]

By: SVB

SVB — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:59:45 +0000

This has happened to me as well. Foolishly, I had set up auto payments with Clark’s Pest Control to deal with our ant problem (using our credit card). When we decided to cancel, they made it very difficult for us. We had to write them a letter to cancel — they wouldn’t do it over the phone. And despite repeated letters, they wouldn’t close our account, claiming that the letters were not received. It seemed like we were dealing with a rogue office (since these pest control companies have local offices). Eventually we simply disputed the payments via our credit card company, who investigated the issue, and this was how we ended up resolving things — through our card company.

This would have been so much tougher to deal with if our bank had been involved, I am sure! So be wary of how your deductions are being made.

In addition, I’ve heard of transactional errors as well, involving double billing or over billing. So just because the payments are automatic doesn’t mean we should completely forget about them conveniently. On the contrary, we may have to remember about them all the more in order to monitor these potential mistakes.