Do you Autopay your Monthly Bills?

[COcheesehead]

I auto pay, e bill, go paperless, automate as much as I can. Never had a problem and it eliminates so much. Also everything that can be paid on a credit card without a surcharge, goes on the credit card. I’ll take all the 2% cash back.

 

[Mark1]

I put everything possible onto a Fido credit card to get the 2% cash back, and the rest get paid via Fido Bill Pay. However I have nothing on auto-pay, not because I have any real security concerns, but mostly because I like to review and record everything while I'm paying it.

 

[rodi]

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).

Close to this:

Recurring bills that are a set price per month (cell phone, cable, health insurance) are autopay 'pulled' - charged to my credit card.

Variable bills (gas utilities, water utilities, credit card, property taxes) I push. What I can is paid via credit card - but the credit card and property taxes are paid online via push online payment. Local property taxes charge 2% to use your credit card, so I save that 2%.

Even the 'push' bills can be done via my phone... no laptop/desktop neccessary.

 

[Another Reader]

I pay the cell phone and internet on a business card. Get 5 percent back.

 

[jebmke]

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.

pretty much how I do it. Statement closes around the 26th. Payment isn't due until 20th of following month so plenty of time to examine. I don't autopay (yet) but will probably set this up shortly -- no reason not to.

I scheduled all my direct debits at the start of the month. My pension hits at end of prior month and clears those. SS hits a couple of days before CC due date and clears that unless one of us goes on a binge the prior month. If so, by end of the month I have a pretty solid fix on cash requirements for the next month.

 

[pb4uski]

About 10 years ago, inspired by DD, on January 1, I sat down and put every bill possible on autopay. To the 2% rewards credit card wherever possible but otherwise to our bank account. I still get monthly statements by email that I can review long before the statement is paid. Never a problem.

One of the best things that I have ever done.

 

[MichaelB]

Inspired by advice from fellow forum members, I dedicated one credit card just to autopay. It doesn’t leave the house and is not used for any other purpose. That way it is less likely to be hacked and having to set up all new autopay.

All other regular bills are direct debit or auto bill pay. We have a brick and mortar bank account for this purpose (along with safe deposit box) and we keep enough to pay the bills but not much more.

 

[COcheesehead]

Auto pay doesn’t mean blind to the cost. You still see a notice of the bill or a statement, usually days or weeks prior to being due. You just don’t need to do anything.

 

[MC Rider]

Auto pay and E mail bills on almost everything.
The only downside is it becomes easy to forget or ignore the bills.
But, if you got the money honey.........

 

[audreyh1]

Auto pay doesn’t mean blind to the cost. You still see a notice of the bill or a statement, usually days or weeks prior to being due. You just don’t need to do anything.

Right - for most of my cards it’s almost a month from statement date to payment due date.

 

[audreyh1]

Auto pay and E mail bills on almost everything.
The only downside is it becomes easy to forget or ignore the bills.
But, if you got the money honey.........

I download transactions into Quicken and that’s where I reconcile the statements against receipts. The transactions are assigned categories - much of it automatically based on history - and that’s how I end up with detailed spending information in Quicken. I can easily see YTD spending categorized, any year or month spending, easily drill down to individual transactions if needed.

So anyway I’m definitely paying attention to the statements as I reconcile them plus I have to update each scheduled payment with the new amount due.

 

[marko]

Easier to list what isn't on autopay: credit card, landscaper, pool guy, taxes.

Gas and electric are on autopay with an addition of a flat, monthly budget amount. Same amount every month. Avoids the sticker shock mid-winter on the gas bill.

 

[Car-Guy]

No. I pay most all bills on line, but only one is on auto pay.

 

[W2R]

Yes!

Since April of 2000, I have been paying electricity, natural gas, water, sewer, trash, cell phone, cable internet, credit card, and so on, by automatic deduction of whatever is owed from my checking account.

There has never once been an error. Doing this has actually saved me money, because my payments are never late so no late fees, and also paying all bills on time for 23 years has helped my credit score.

Auto pay doesn’t mean blind to the cost. You still see a notice of the bill or a statement, usually days or weeks prior to being due. You just don’t need to do anything.

Right. When I get the notice of the amount to be billed, I enter it into my Excel "spending" spreadsheet for that month. Then later I enter the date when it cleared the bank. Quick and easy.

 

[Ronstar]

Yes to gas, electric, cable. I pay credit cards online but not automatic. I only pay real estate taxes by check and this year quarterlies.

 

[MC Rider]

I download transactions into Quicken and that’s where I reconcile the statements against receipts. The transactions are assigned categories - much of it automatically based on history - and that’s how I end up with detailed spending information in Quicken. I can easily see YTD spending categorized, any year or month spending, easily drill down to individual transactions if needed.

So anyway I’m definitely paying attention to the statements as I reconcile them plus I have to update each scheduled payment with the new amount due.

I should probably get back with Quicken, or something. It's likely better than Quicken 98 or whatever my last version was.

 

[2017ish]

I should probably get back with Quicken, or something. It's likely better than Quicken 98 or whatever my last version was.

I've been on quicken since DOS. It makes life easier, for sure.

Like audreyh1, I closely track/examine all our credit card transactions--although I do it nightly when I have internet access. Given that our credit card bills can vary by 5 figures from one month to the next, I like to keep abreast of them.

Another advantage of autopay comes into play if you travel to places off the grid. It is nice to know that if you have no internet access for 3 weeks or more, the bills still get paid.

 

[W2R]

Another advantage of autopay comes into play if you travel to places off the grid. It is nice to know that if you have no internet access for 3 weeks or more, the bills still get paid.

A couple of years ago I had to spend 3 weeks in the ICU with severe Covid double pneumonia, half conscious (if that). It was very comforting to know that my bills were getting paid at a time like that.

 

[badatmath]

Only health insurance

 

[pb4uski]

Auto pay doesn’t mean blind to the cost. You still see a notice of the bill or a statement, usually days or weeks prior to being due. You just don’t need to do anything.

Exactly. Same diligence as before but I just don't need to do anything other than file it after I decide the bill is right.

 

[jollystomper]

Most of our bills we push. Part of the reason is that DW wants to understand what the bills are and get a feel for their "normal" range. I created a spreadsheet for her showing each bill, its method of payment, and the due date in the month when it is due (some bills are quarterly or less). Once a month we sit down and push the vast majority of them. Only the cable bill is autopay, due to a deal/discount for the next 12 months.

If we do further autopay it will be via CC. Some of our billers will only pull autopay from bank accounts, which I am reluctant to do. HI do need to review this periodically, as some might change their policy over time.

 

[calmloki]

We've been autopay for as many bills as possible for years - several years ago instituted the "desk" credit card for making autopayments per a suggestion here. We also have our credit cards set to pull the statement balance each month, which has worked great with Fidelity, Chase, Discover, AmEx, PenFed, Citi and I'm sure some others.

Notably BofA, which was very tough to setup for an external bank card autopayment, bollixed our card autopay 7 months in a row, repeatedly pulling double payments from our external bank (very exciting when we had a $14k bill one month x 2) and charging and reversing late payment fees. Spent hours with them trying really hard to keep and use a BofA card that would pay 2.62% - finally admitted defeat and dumped BofA in favor of Fidelity and their 2% back card - and never an issue.

I'm hoping Navy FCU will soon allow their 2% card to be autopaid via external bank - I've had several encouraging messages from them to that effect and have nothing but praise for their responsiveness.

We do camp out on Quicken daily and keep very close track of the income and outgo, but autopay? dam betcha!

 

[teej1985]

We've been autopay for as many bills as possible for years - several years ago instituted the "desk" credit card for making autopayments per a suggestion here. We also have our credit cards set to pull the statement balance each month, which has worked great with Fidelity, Chase, Discover, AmEx, PenFed, Citi and I'm sure some others.

Notably BofA, which was very tough to setup for an external bank card autopayment, bollixed our card autopay 7 months in a row, repeatedly pulling double payments from our external bank (very exciting when we had a $14k bill one month x 2) and charging and reversing late payment fees. Spent hours with them trying really hard to keep and use a BofA card that would pay 2.62% - finally admitted defeat and dumped BofA in favor of Fidelity and their 2% back card - and never an issue.

I'm hoping Navy FCU will soon allow their 2% card to be autopaid via external bank - I've had several encouraging messages from them to that effect and have nothing but praise for their responsiveness.

We do camp out on Quicken daily and keep very close track of the income and outgo, but autopay? dam betcha!

I thought Navy FCU's card was 1.75%, not 2% ?

 

[calmloki]

I thought Navy FCU's card was 1.75%, not 2% ?

Navy Flagship - worth it to us as they have kicked $135 toward our Amazon Prime membership the last couple years.

 

[teej1985]

Navy Flagship - worth it to us as they have kicked $135 toward our Amazon Prime membership the last couple years.

I thought the free Amazon prime was just the first year?