Credit Card autopay

[BobFly]

What is the deal with dish pushing auto-pay? are there any advantages?

[Cyclone]

The advantage is that they don't have to worry about you forgetting to pay or making a late payment. For you, its about the same. You don't have to worry about making payments, its automatically charged to your credit card.

I personally don't like the idea of someone automatically having access to charging my accounts.

[Crazy 1]

I agree, I'm not giving anyone the ability to charge to my credit card or withdrawl from my checking account. I don't trust anyone that well with my money.

[Karl Foster]

If you get paid once a month or on specific days of the month, auto-pay works pretty well, but for people like me who get paid every two weeks, and budget that way, it is kind of a pain. I pay Directv every four weeks rather than a specific day of the month. Just easier for me to do it that way.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by Crazy 1
I agree, I'm not giving anyone the ability to charge to my credit card or withdrawl from my checking account. I don't trust anyone that well with my money.

But there is a difference between your credit card account and checking account. Either by mistake or by intent, your Checking Account is your reserve of money and inproper access can cause checks to bounce (or you to even be broke), etc But credit card access is not direct access to your money, it is a middle man, you have around 30 days before you have to dip the money out of your checking account, you can dispute charges, money can be put back much easier, etc.

[Chris Blount]

I was curious how many people have CC autopay that visit this board. I've posted a poll:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14047

Thanks!

[ScottK]

For me, there are advantages to CC Autopay. I would NOT use a checking account, however.

I get paid monthly, on the first of the month. This makes scheduled payments that are due on the 5th (like my Dish bill) sometimes difficult to handle. CC Autopay is helpful in this regard.

Second: ever get charged for a PPV that you didn't receive, or have another billing error which Dish was unable / unwilling to rectify? If your service is billed to a credit card, you can dispute charges through the card issuer, who is generally very responsive to disputed charges.

Third: It costs money to send a check... Postage, plus the cost of the check. If you pay your credit card off monthly, there is no added cost. And, you don't have to take the time to write the check. You can still receive a printed statement each month for no added charge.

Last: CC Autopay does give you upgrade promotions that you cannot get otherwise.

Auto-Pay from a checking account is a bad idea. Use a credit card.

-S

[tampa8]

Good advice about using a credit card, not a checking account. Auto pay has been trouble free for me for years. I am a little confused how when you get paid has any impact on cc auto pay. You pay your credit card payment by the same date every month regardless of how often you get paid.

[MMF]

Autopay is for companies trying to strenghten and manage their cash flow. Problems with this will come up when you try to cancel the service.

[ScottK]

The trouble with the date of a paycheck is when you DON'T have autopay... sometimes you have to write a check and post-date it to get it in the mail in time to make the due date.

As for a card, you can choose a card to bill to that has a more convenient due date, or have ALL your bills on that card, making bill-paying easier if you are on a monthly pay schedule.

As for cancelling service, that's one of the reasons not to use a checking acct. If the bills keep showing on your credit card after cancellation, you dispute the charge and block further charges from that vendor. It can be done with a phone call and a letter to your issuing bank.

-Scott

[Cyclone]

Its a lot easier to not pay a over-charge than it is to get it refunded.

[xgrep]

Originally posted by Cyclone
Its a lot easier to not pay a over-charge than it is to get it refunded.Actually, that's not exactly true. If you need to dispute a bill, it's a lot easier to do if you have already charged it to a credit card than if you refuse to pay it with a check. The latter action will almost certainly get you a bad credit entry.

I have credit card autopay for as many things as I can, because it offers more control and safety than autopay out of a bank account (obviously), it's convenient (no postage, no worries about mail delivery), and, as mentioned, I have more leverage in a dispute.

However, for disputes and credit card fraud, Amex is far and away the best, in my experience. I won't use any other card for an autopay arrangement. It's the only card I know I can trust if Dish's database is hacked or there's a charge dispute.

x

[Rick_EE]

Why is Amex better? I've never used it, so I am curious.

[Tomsoundman]

They charge an annual fee and make you pay it off each month. Doesn't seem like an advantage to me. Just use your debit card from your checking account with no fee.

[Rick_EE]

I would never use a debit card, for the above stated reasons. I have credit card that pay me to use them.

I don't even like having a debit card, the protections from fraud and theft are much less than with credit cards.

I was curious how Amex was better when the database was hacked and in charge disputes.

[Glenn]

Big DITTO on the debit card. Tomsoundman, I encourage you to contact every site that has your debit card number and change it to a credit card. Any credit card. (I recently did this.) If someone with a dishonest nature were to get ahold of your debit card number you'd be flat broke in no time, with no way to recover your money. At least with a credit card your liability would be limited to $50.

[xgrep]

It's true that Amex is expensive, but when you have a dispute with a merchant or any fraud problems, Amex will *instantly* credit your account, replace your card (new one shipped overnight or sooner), and, in general, make the entire experience hassle free, if not actually pleasant. They make every effort to get problems resolved as quickly as possible, fairly, and, if you're a customer in the right, to your complete satisfaction. Also, Amex was the first, and still one of the few card companies, to offer single-transaction card numbers ("PrivatePayments"), where you can, on the web, get a card number usable for a single transaction with an internet merchant, so if their database is hacked, you are still safe.

Contrast this with other cards that (1) have established zero liability only since internet fraud became widespread (and some still have little exceptions to this), (2) can take months to credit your account or resolve problems (on more than one occasion, it took various Visa card companies several months before my balance was finally corrected - on Amex it was corrected *that instant*, verifiable on the web site).

I don't doubt there are people who have had other experiences, but my opinion is that if you conducted a survey, you'd find a higher percentage of satisfied Amex customers than any other major card.

x

[xgrep]

Forgot to mention, Amex also has "normal" credit cards with no annual fee and typical (competitive) interest rates, but with the same protection policies as their paying cards.

For the record, I'm not affiliated with Amex in any way, just a cardholder for 27 years. They're the only card company that has never screwed me.

x

[Chris Blount]

AMEX sounds like a great solution but I have found that opening a separate checking account reserved for internet transactions works best. You simply dump necessary money into the account and if they try to steal more than authorized, they can't because it simply isn't there to steal.

[dbronstein]

Originally posted by xgrep
It's true that Amex is expensive, but when you have a dispute with a merchant or any fraud problems, Amex will *instantly* credit your account, replace your card (new one shipped overnight or sooner), and, in general, make the entire experience hassle free, if not actually pleasant. They make every effort to get problems resolved as quickly as possible, fairly, and, if you're a customer in the right, to your complete satisfaction. Also, Amex was the first, and still one of the few card companies, to offer single-transaction card numbers ("PrivatePayments"), where you can, on the web, get a card number usable for a single transaction with an internet merchant, so if their database is hacked, you are still safe.

Contrast this with other cards that (1) have established zero liability only since internet fraud became widespread (and some still have little exceptions to this), (2) can take months to credit your account or resolve problems (on more than one occasion, it took various Visa card companies several months before my balance was finally corrected - on Amex it was corrected *that instant*, verifiable on the web site).

Under law, you are only liable for $50 if your credit card is used fraudulently, and most banks waive that. The reason the card companies provide the single-transaction numbers is for their own protection, not yours. It's the same reason they call you if they notice unusual activity on your card.

I've never had a problem disputing a charge on any of my cards (Visa, Discover, etc.). They credit me the charge right away and put the onus on the merchant to provide verification of the charge.

Interestingly, the only time I've known someone who needed a replacement AMEX it took them two days to get him the card because it was on a weekend. Apparently they can't handle providing overnight service on a weekend. And this was in Denver, not in a remote small town. I know that's just anectodal evidence and doesn't mean a whole lot, but so is your experience.

The bottom line is IMO I don't see what Amex provides over other cards that is worth the annual fee. You're happy paying the fee for the service you get, and that's great.

Dennis

[AllieVi]

Originally posted by Rick Densing
I don't even like having a debit card, the protections from fraud and theft are much less than with credit cards.
I really don't understand the advantage of a debit card over a credit card from my perspective as a customer. It's clearly a benefit to the financial institution and the merchant, but not me.

I never write checks to merchants - if not paying cash, I use a credit card. The lure of parting with money today versus 30 to 60 days from now escapes me...

[Rick_EE]

Originally posted by AllieVi

I really don't understand the advantage of a debit card over a credit card from my perspective as a customer. It's clearly a benefit to the financial institution and the merchant, but not me.


If your card # is used fraudulently, you have a lot more legal protections with a credit card than a debit card, for one.

With a credit card you are only liable for up to $50.  If your bank accout is emptied by thief with your debit card, you have no recourse.

 

If someone is leery of autopay, it escapes me how they could ever use a debit card.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by AllieVi

I really don't understand the advantage of a debit card over a credit card from my perspective as a customer. It's clearly a benefit to the financial institution and the merchant, but not me.

I never write checks to merchants - if not paying cash, I use a credit card. The lure of parting with money today versus 30 to 60 days from now escapes me...

I have several friends who have the debit card, it bascially prevents them from spending more money since they have to keep a running balance on their spending since it accesses their bank account. If they had a credit card they would spend more money... I don't fully understand the logic but that is the way it has been continually explained to me.

It also is an option for those who cannot secure a credit card (no credit history, bad credit history, etc.), if gives them the necessary use of "Plastic" these days, with only the requirement of checking account.

[AllieVi]

Originally posted by gcutler


I have several friends who have the debit card, it bascially prevents them from spending more money since they have to keep a running balance on their spending since it accesses their bank account. If they had a credit card they would spend more money... I don't fully understand the logic but that is the way it has been continually explained to me.

It also is an option for those who cannot secure a credit card (no credit history, bad credit history, etc.), if gives them the necessary use of "Plastic" these days, with only the requirement of checking account.
The situation of someone just getting started in life and having no credit history is a good reason for a debit card - it allows them to demonstrate they are responsible and eventually gain access to credit. Those who can't otherwise control their spending obviously need a debit card, too.

I see people who don't fall into either of those categories regularly using them, though, and that's what stumps me.