How To Pay Monthly Credit Card Bills

[Danmar]

We check our credit card purchases every day on line. Once the cards are cut off (eg statement date) pay total amount via bank's bill pay function. Have a few of our Arizona utilities on auto pay but wouldn't want to put CC on auto as like to review first. Catch errors/irregularities very quickly. All bills everywhere are paperless since we move around so much.

[kcowan]

We have all bills on autopay to the CC. Then I check the CC before I epay each month. A little more complex in Mexico owing to FX charges so we use autopay to the bank and move in money to cover a few times a year. I probably spend a day a month on average with reconciliation. All bills are electronic so checking is all simple.

Sent via wifi from Milano hotel.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan We have all bills on autopay to the CC. Then I check the CC before I epay each month. A little more complex in Mexico owing to FX charges so we use autopay to the bank and move in money to cover a few times a year. I probably spend a day a month on average with reconciliation. All bills are electronic so checking is all simple. Sent via wifi from Milano hotel.

Kcowan - (off topic) did you see Krebs series about compromised ATMs in Mexico? I assume you have a trusted ATM there.

It's a three part series: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/09/...ang-in-mexico/

[Golden sunsets]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 Kcowan - (off topic) did you see Krebs series about compromised ATMs in Mexico? I assume you have a trusted ATM there. It's a three part series: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/09/...ang-in-mexico/

Audrey; What a great article. Thanks for posting!

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBQ-Nut Yeah - what is up with that fee from a credit union for bill pay? SDCCU charges for that as well - f' that. It's cheaper to use the cc website and tie in the payment via electronic transfer (but not via bill pay) - or use stamps! I review my cc bills for charges, but DW and I both pay off our cc balances in full to carry no balances month to month.

Yep - it's SDCCU. I had my cobra dental on autopay for our big trip - because that was the only way to get it paid. I've switched it back off autopay.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden sunsets Audrey; What a great article. Thanks for posting!

It's a pretty wild story!

[August West]

Thanks again for all the replies to my OP. Both my SallieMae and Citi Double Cash cards are setup and ready to go so I'm already saving 5% on groceries + gas and 2% on everything thing else. From somebody who has paid cash for almost everything for the last few decades it is quite a change but saving several hundred dollars a year is a nice perk and I think I'll quickly adapt.

I have decided to start out by signing up for the e-statements and the autopay option so I will be able to review all the charges before the autopay date. One thing I've found is these bigger banks have websites and online services that are miles ahead of my local CU which looks like something out of the 1990's with online services to match.

[tulak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golden sunsets Audrey; What a great article. Thanks for posting!

+1 . Great article. In the last article, he mentions that these were all privately owned ATMs. He didn't find any bank owned ATMs that were affected.

I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to debit cards. I do two things to protect myself. The first is to use only bank ATMs. Banks are everywhere and it's not much of an inconvenience to find one. The second is to use a separate checking account. I have a Schwab checking account for this purpose. I don't have a debit card for our regular checking account and instead use the Schwab account whenever I need to withdraw cash. This works well at home and when we're on the road. And the biggest is bonus is that Schwab reimburses all fees and there are no international transaction fees.

We visited Playa/Tulum for a couple of weeks last summer and mostly paid cash, which meant regular ATM withdrawals. I didn't have any fraudulent transactions, so I'm guessing the strategy of using bank ATMs worked.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustic23 I too have only two, but I rarely check them. Instead I have a notification emailed to me when anything more than 99 cents is charged. The only problem is it is sent when the charge clears, and not when it goes pending. I emailed the band and ask if it could be on pending as it would catch fraud quicker, and they said they would look at it. Two years later, I guess they are still looking. As my card has been cloned before, and the bank picked up all charges, it is really more their worry than mine.

My CC (Capital One) now e-mails (and also sends me a text message) me after every charge, regardless of the amount. Last week, my card was hacked and the thief did a trial charge at the Apple Store for $0.10 and I was notified immediately. Stopped them dead in their tracks.

[prudent_one]

I get paper statements and schedule payments through my bank's billpay service. Autopay set up with the credit card company is also fine but you still have to be diligent about reviewing the statements. I don't use e-statements (which I did try) because I found it's too easy to miss other notifications regarding change in terms. But that's just me.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 My CC (Capital One) now e-mails (and also sends me a text message) me after every charge, regardless of the amount. Last week, my card was hacked and the thief did a trial charge at the Apple Store for $0.10 and I was notified immediately. Stopped them dead in their tracks.

What a pain having your card details stolen, but excellent that you caught it immediately.

[kimcdougc]

I have all my bills on autopay. Pay all I can with the credit cards, then automatically pay in full every month. I still use the old check register to put all my purchases down in. I check my credit card accounts everyday via the internet.

I still like to get paper copies of my bills as I believe the companies sending them should be on the hook for postage and printing them for me...it costs to much to print those bills being as I am queen of cheap. :-)

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan What a pain having your card details stolen, but excellent that you caught it immediately.

Yes, another incident at a restaurant, I suspect. We had a large party at Buca De Beppo for my DW and that was the only time my card left my hand in recent memory (paying the large bill). Next morning, the $0.10 charge appeared. I notified the store manager and he said he would look into it. Who knows....

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Yes, another incident at a restaurant, I suspect. We had a large party at Buca De Beppo for my DW and that was the only time my card left my hand in recent memory (paying the large bill). Next morning, the $0.10 charge appeared. I notified the store manager and he said he would look into it. Who knows....

When the US gets chip and pin cards, you can look forward to having the point of sale terminal brought to your table.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh When the US gets chip and pin cards, you can look forward to having the point of sale terminal brought to your table.

Back in 2010 in Toronto we ate at a restaurant where the waitress brought a hand-held swipe terminal to our table. The US just does not like change and I suspect that even when they have CHIP and PIN that they won't actually advance onto wireless hand-held terminals as well, so I expect I'll still be scratching off the CVV code on the back of the card for when it leaves my sight. At least thieves won't be able to scan the card to store the details and will have to resort to old school writing down of numbers.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh When the US gets chip and pin cards, you can look forward to having the point of sale terminal brought to your table.

We are starting to get the cards (chip and signature, not pin yet), but most of the retailers have not put in the readers yet. And like Alan stated, they will certainly be slow with wireless card readers,

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 We are starting to get the cards (chip and signature, not pin yet), but most of the retailers have not put in the readers yet. And like Alan stated, they will certainly be slow with wireless card readers,

Around these parts I can also wave my credit card at the POS terminal for purchases less than $50, provided the retailer has the latest version. This does not make me feel more secure. A thief could wave my credit card just as well as I can.

[athena53]

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Originally Posted by CRLLS I like to keep a close eye on the bills. I get paper statements and pay electronically from my bank's online payment center to the creditor. The only auto-pay I have is my mortgage. I do have one auto-pay directed to a rewards card. I have had several screw-ups with ACH which snowballed. Maybe if I travelled for a few months at a time I would consider auto bill pay.

Yeah, I'm a control freak. We have 3 credit cards, all due within a week of each other. I download all the transactions, make sure there are no suspicious ones, and then use my bank's on-line bill-pay, entering each manually. Other than the time I accidentally sent both Amex payments to my corporate card instead of routing one to my personal card, there have been no problems. And, since I'm retired, the corporate card no longer exists!

[Danmar]

Our cards have been hacked several times. Usually after an Internet purchase but sometimes a restaurant charge. Once after a purchase at the airport in Montego Bay. Less so now with the hand held terminals. That's why we check our cards every day. The crooks almost always charge a trivial amount through first to test the card before the big amounts hit. If you check every day you can stop them quick. You will need a new card in any event. Use a separate CC for Internet purchases so you don't have to change all your auto pays.

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh When the US gets chip and pin cards, you can look forward to having the point of sale terminal brought to your table.

Actually Chillis has put old fashioned readers at each table. The alternative many restaurants adopt is to have folks visit the cashier on the way out, it seems simpler to do it this way.