Do you Autopay your Monthly Bills?

[Healthy Lifestyle]

I have a new responsibility in retirement where I now am paying the utility bills.
Presently I am paying house bills monthly on-line. I am wondering if should I set up autopay for most of bills? Do you trust the bank and or credit card pay method on-line?

 

[MissMolly]

I have been doing this for over a decade and never once had a single problem.

 

[disneysteve]

Yep. Autopay for gas, electric, water, land line, cell phone, alarm company, internet, streaming services, and probably some other things. Been that way for years.

 

[iloveyoga]

I have autopay for anything possible. No issues, unless I have messed something up.

 

[SecondCor521]

Autopay, autodeposit, paperless on everything (*) for decades. No problems ever that I can recall. If there had been any problems, I'm sure they were fewer and of a smaller magnitude than when I was doing things manually where there are more opportunities for error IMHO.

(*) Except year end tax forms, which is something I just need to get over.

 

[Alan]

+1 on autopay for everything I can. Never had a problem.

 

[jebmke]

Some are on direct debit. Most of the rest of our expenses get put on one CC. I have been meaning to put that on automatic for a while.

Handful of irregular bills are processed through online bill pay. Once a year or so I have to write a paper check.

 

[audreyh1]

Done it since early 2000’s. Most are credit card charges. A few are bank bill pay. Most of those are electronic but apparently the bank is still mailing a monthly check to our city water/sewer and HOA. Over 13 years (current house) I’ve had to deal with a lost in the mail check once for each.

I also autopay my estimated taxes via EFTPS.

 

[mpeirce]

We've been doing this for years.

We prefer putting it on a CC if we can - 2% kickback and actually pay it next month.

Some only have a direct debit option.

Our local water department requires a check. The local sewer folks joined the modern age this fall, so we're down to one check.

Ooops, that's wrong, our propane vendor also requires a check. But we usually prepay for the year to get the discount. They're really just a big farm in the area that used a lot of propane and decided to start selling to their neighbors.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I let the company or entity bill a credit card wherever possible so as to maximize credit card spending incentives. Some places will not me let use credit cards so, so I let them debit from my checking account -- gas company, city water, T-Mobile cell phone, etc.

Most everything is on autopay for my simplicity and has been for years. I let them initiate payment so that I don't have to.

HOWEVER, I do manually pay all my credit cards every month rather than let them pull from my bank. I prefer to double check things on the cards first. But I do pay them all by initiating payment from my bank online account.

This has been my routine for many, many years.

 

[tutan]

Just switched my last monthly bills, electric and finally water, to my Chase CC. I still manually pay the card from my bank account monthly. It gives me a chance to quickly look at the outgoing amounts in one place. I haven’t switched over the semi-annual/ annual insurance and property tax bills yet.

 

[2017ish]

Another one who has been doing it for as long (before 2000) and for as many accounts (nearly all now) as I can. Withdrawals and withholdings from IRAs are also automated for the year.

Never a problem. A bit of a pain when a credit card is replaced, as you need to go into each autopaid account and change the number, but that really doesn't take that long.

 

[Finance Dave]

I have been doing this for over a decade and never once had a single problem.

+1, but 25 years for me. The only minor issue is depending on how you do it...either direct from checking or with a credit/debit card. If with a card, and your card is lost/stolen, then you have to contact each vendor and update them...a bit of a pain...I had to do that once.

 

[Midpack]

I have autopay for anything possible. No issues, unless I have messed something up.

+100. We've used autopay for at least 15 years, longer in some cases. Not just monthly bills, but taxes, registrations, insurance, and anything else possible. We are disapppointed when we have to pay any other way e.g. mail or hand written checks (what an unnecessary PITA). Most of ours are direct billpay from bank checking, but we use a CC if there's no other option.

 

[SecondCor521]

HOWEVER, I do manually pay all my credit cards every month rather than let them pull from my bank. I prefer to double check things on the cards first.

I still manually pay the card manually from my bank account monthly. It gives me a chance to quickly look at the outgoing amounts in one place.

I double check all charges and do autopay on all my credit cards. The latter doesn't preclude the former.

In the very very rare case of a charge that is incorrect, it's very easy to dispute the charge. The CCs typically give you a conditional credit while the dispute is in progress, so it doesn't need to be paid, doesn't accrue interest, etc. In all cases I can recall, the conditional credit becomes permanent after a month or so.

In the larger picture, even as I have everything on autopilot, I still try to maintain the discipline of doublechecking everything. I used to do so religiously to the penny with every account on every statement. This year I've slacked off on a few of my smaller accounts with very few transactions. I still do a once-yearly reconciliation on every account to the penny.

 

[disneysteve]

I also manually pay the credit cards. I want to review those. Also sometimes the balance can exceed what’s in the checking account and I need time to move funds around.

 

[timbervest]

Have used autopay for years. Would recommend a CC or Paypal rather than deduction from you checking account for reasons stated above and for ease of handling disputes.

 

[jazz4cash]

I use autopay as much as possible. I try to “push” payments from my Bank of America checking account using ebill if available. I also autopay via Fidelity 2% cashback for every biller that accepts. I avoid letting billers pull funds because if I need to change accounts I would have to update each biller.

 

[razztazz]

Autopay all the way. I pay credit cards manually online but they are set to autopay at the end of the month in case I happen to be in a coma or in jail someday

 

[MarieIG]

Nope. DH pays the utilities.

I review all bills before paying them - and "push" rather than authorize a "pull." Most bills (other than taxes) are on my credit card(s).

 

[audreyh1]

I also manually pay the credit cards. I want to review those. Also sometimes the balance can exceed what’s in the checking account and I need time to move funds around.

I have most (not all) credit cards on autopay. However, as soon as I get the statement, I reconcile it with receipts (paper and electronic).

All upcoming bills are scheduled in Quicken so it’s easy to track and view upcoming payments.

The amount I have scheduled to push to checking monthly is usually enough to cover, but can easily be tweaked.

 

[GenXguy]

I've been using auto pay for pretty much every monthly bill except for credit cards for a long time. I pay credit cards online from checking account after reviewing the charges on the cards. My insurance and property tax are either biannual or annual, so I pay those manually online or by check.

 

[Healthy Lifestyle]

I am presently paying the bills manually either through debit or credit card if allowed.
Appreciate all the helpful comments, to make things easy for myself I will move to autopay in the future.

 

[audreyh1]

I am presently paying the bills manually either through debit or credit card if allowed.
Appreciate all the helpful comments, to make things easy for myself I will move to autopay in the future.

With autopay it’s very helpful to have a tool like Quicken that tracks scheduled payments for you and shows you what is coming up.

 

[scrabbler1]

Like several others who have replied, I autopay most of my monthly bills. Only the credit card (because it varies a lot) and my health insurance (because I visit that website all the time) I don't autopay, but instead I manually pay those two on line. The more irregular bills such as car and home insurance, and income tax payments (estimated and otherwise) I manually pay on line. I did my first autopay back in 1993 after I refinanced my mortgage (I paid it off in 1998).