Bill Paying, What Is Your Preference

[Whitewashed in '05]

Pay by credit for the most part. That way I can dispute it if need be.

 

I don't like the idea of a company auto-withdrawing money from my bank. I only have two auto debits and those are my gym membership and car payments which shouldn't fluctuate...and I keep an eye on them to make sure they don't.

[SuperSteve]

This is the way I set it up. Have to manually pay a couple of bills through the bank website, but almost everything is auto.

+1

[scenario]

Everything onto a credit card. Credit cards paid in full once a month from bank account online.

 

 

This + PayPal

 

 

[StrangeSox]

Seeing this thread reminded me to pay my water bill! Thanks, SoxTalk!

[lostfan]

I don't really like auto-debits except for the big ones. I only physically paid my car note twice, I think. But everything else I would rather pay. Even though I make the exact same amount of money every month I'd rather have a pair of hands on my cash flow. Just feels like I'm more in control.

[southsider2k5]

I don't really like auto-debits except for the big ones. I only physically paid my car note twice, I think. But everything else I would rather pay. Even though I make the exact same amount of money every month I'd rather have a pair of hands on my cash flow. Just feels like I'm more in control.

 

I feel the same as you do. It is a comfort factor. I pay by electronic means, but I still like to do everything.

[bigruss]

My roommates won't set up online payments for rent, I just don't get this. One guy is scared that if the leasing company gets hacked then the hacker could take money out of his funds, but that doesn't make sense to me since the ACH is set up by a third party vendor anyways.

 

So instead they are writing checks every month and dropping them off, seems silly to me, especially when I've had to cover for them a few times because they've forgotten to pay. One roommate currently owes me $1200, and yet they don't ever listen to me....(I told them I won't cover for them anymore, they either need to sign up for the automatic monthly payment or deal with the late fees).

[Iwritecode]

We use a website called mycheckfree.com for a lot of our bills and have never had a problem.

 

For some reason my wife still insists on writing a check for our mortgage and our two major credit cards (Discover and Chase).

 

The funny thing is we bank at Chase and they also have our mortgage. So we literally pay our Chase mortgage and our Chase credit card with physical checks out of our Chase bank account. I've tried to convince her to just do it all online but she refuses. The Discover bill we pay at Sears.

 

We have one bill that comes out automatically from our checking account but that should be going away real soon.

 

We also pay our sewer bill with a check but that's only once every 3 months.

 

 

[StrangeSox]

PNC bought out National City three years ago. I had originally opened by NC account in the summer of 2007. I still have my original NC checkbook, that's how infrequently I write checks.

[farmteam]

PNC bought out National City three years ago. I had originally opened by NC account in the summer of 2007. I still have my original NC checkbook, that's how infrequently I write checks.

 

Judging by the number I'm on, I've written fewer than 20 checks in about 4.5 years.

[iamshack]

So I just got off the phone with Wells Fargo. When I moved to Vegas 3.5 years ago, I was a Chase banker, and Chase did not have branches out here yet. So I opened an account with Wells Fargo just so I would have a checking account I could deposit checks into. Well, then about 2 years ago Chase bought out WaMu and took over all their Vegas branches, at which point I went back to exclusively banking with Chase. Unfortunately, I did not close out my Wells Fargo account, but rather reduced the balance to mere pennies. I figured I would leave it open as long as there were no fees associated with it that would cause the account to be overdrawn. Bad mistake.

 

In November, I went to pay my Amex bill. Unfortunately, in the drop down menu, I selected the Wells Fargo account instead of the Chase account. Thus, Amex tried to pull the money from my Wells Fargo account (in which there was no money) three separate times. Wells Fargo, rather than call me to alert me to this, instead charges me three separate overdraft fees of $35.00 each. They took no other action than to leave my account overdrawn at $104.83. They did not place a courtesy call, they did not send me a letter, etc. So today, some 2 full months later, I get a letter from Wells Fargo stating that my account has been closed due to its "prolonged overdraft status" and that I can call to resolve the overdraft at such and such a number.

 

So I call and ask the woman if she can explain what happened for me to accrue an overdraft of $105 at which point she looks at my account and explains to me the issue with Amex. At that point I say oh, alright, well can I pay for the one overdraft fee and have the two others waived? This was obviously a simple mistake and certainly there is no need for three separate overdraft charges. She then says no, she cannot offer to waive any charges, but she can offer me a settlement of 25% off of the charges of $105. I asked to speak to her supervisor. She refused. I asked again, and she refused. She then mentioned that "no one is going to offer to waive these fees for you." I said how can you possibly determine what someone else is going to do?

 

Anyways, to make a long story short, she refused to do anything for me other than offer me 25% off, and would not allow me to speak to anyone else. I said "Do you really think it is worth $100 to Wells Fargo to lose a potential customer for life? Do you think I will EVER purchase a Wells Fargo financial product after the way you have treated me?" She said "We are not liable for your online banking errors, sir." I said "You are probably correct. However, this is perhaps the most terrible example of customer service I can ever recall being the recipient of. I am certain this phone call will be used for training purposes. I hope you enjoy your 15 minutes of fame."

 

I then called Amex, who, unsolicited, offered to refund the late charge and the insufficient funds charge they assessed to my account back in November. A lot of companies could learn from their example of customer service.

 

I understand I am not without blame here, which is why I was willing to pay for ONE insufficient funds charge. What I was unwilling to do was to pay for more, or to be treated like a piece of s***. Now I am going to have to go in and sit down with someone at a branch and resolve this. Ridiculous.

Edited January 26, 2012 by iamshack

[knightni]

PNC bought out National City three years ago. I had originally opened by NC account in the summer of 2007. I still have my original NC checkbook, that's how infrequently I write checks.

 

 

Judging by the number I'm on, I've written fewer than 20 checks in about 4.5 years.

I actually ordered new checks from a 3rd party company and had them start at 1500 on the numbering so that way it looked like I had written a lot of checks. I'd say that I only write maybe 12 a year at maximum.

[StrangeSox]

So I just got off the phone with Wells Fargo. When I moved to Vegas 3.5 years ago, I was a Chase banker, and Chase did not have branches out here yet. So I opened an account with Wells Fargo just so I would have a checking account I could deposit checks into. Well, then about 2 years ago Chase bought out WaMu and took over all their Vegas branches, at which point I went back to exclusively banking with Chase. Unfortunately, I did not close out my Wells Fargo account, but rather reduced the balance to mere pennies. I figured I would leave it open as long as there were no fees associated with it that would cause the account to be overdrawn. Bad mistake.

 

In November, I went to pay my Amex bill. Unfortunately, in the drop down menu, I selected the Wells Fargo account instead of the Chase account. Thus, Amex tried to pull the money from my Wells Fargo account (in which there was no money) three separate times. Wells Fargo, rather than call me to alert me to this, instead charges me three separate overdraft fees of $35.00 each. They took no other action than to leave my account overdrawn at $134.83. They did not place a courtesy call, they did not send me a letter, etc. So today, some 2 full months later, I get a letter from Wells Fargo stating that my account has been closed due to its "prolonged overdraft status" and that I can call to resolve the overdraft at such and such a number.

 

So I call and ask the woman if she can explain what happened for me to accrue an overdraft of $135 at which point she looks at my account and explains to me the issue with Amex. At that point I say oh, alright, well can I pay for the one overdraft fee and have the two others waived? This was obviously a simple mistake and certainly there is no need for three separate overdraft charges. She then says no, she cannot offer to waive any charges, but she can offer me a settlement of 25% off of the charges of $105. I asked to speak to her supervisor. She refused. I asked again, and she refused. She then mentioned that "no one is going to offer to waive these fees for you." I said how can you possibly determine what someone else is going to do?

 

Anyways, to make a long story short, she refused to do anything for me other than offer me 25% off, and would not allow me to speak to anyone else. I said "Do you really think it is worth $100 to Wells Fargo to lose a potential customer for life? Do you think I will EVER purchase a Wells Fargo financial product after the way you have treated me?" She said "We are not liable for your online banking errors, sir." I said "You are probably correct. However, this is perhaps the most terrible example of customer service I can ever recall being the recipient of. I am certain this phone call will be used for training purposes. I hope you enjoy your 15 minutes of fame."

 

I then called Amex, who, unsolicited, offered to refund the late charge and the insufficient funds charge they assessed to my account back in November. A lot of companies could learn from their example of customer service.

 

I understand I am not without blame here, which is why I was willing to pay for ONE insufficient funds charge. What I was unwilling to do was to pay for more, or to be treated like a piece of s***. Now I am going to have to go in and sit down with someone at a branch and resolve this. Ridiculous.

 

Find and email someone high on the chain at Wells Fargo, preferably the CEO. A nicely worded letter explaining the situation and your frustration in a calm, rational manner can get a good response.

[iamshack]

Find and email someone high on the chain at Wells Fargo, preferably the CEO. A nicely worded letter explaining the situation and your frustration in a calm, rational manner can get a good response.

Yeah, once I am completely cooled down, I will figure out something.

 

One of my questions to the woman was "What if it would have been an American Express' policy to just keep trying to withdrawal the funds, one time after another after another? What if they would have tried 20 times? Would you have charged me 20 insufficient funds charges? Where do you draw the line? Where does it end? I only tried to pay the bill one time. How can I control how many times a third party tries to carry out that request?"

 

She was like "There are costs associated with a third party trying to draw funds on an account without the funds."

 

I said "Oh and I am certain it is thirty-five dollars, too."

 

She admitted "Of course not, but that is our policy."

 

I swear, I would pay the $105 at this point if they would furnish me a copy of the recording. It must be priceless.

[StrangeSox]

How much does it cost to run a bank algorithm? $00.00000000001?

[southsider2k5]

PNC bought out National City three years ago. I had originally opened by NC account in the summer of 2007. I still have my original NC checkbook, that's how infrequently I write checks.

 

I still have some National City checks left too.

[southsider2k5]

So I just got off the phone with Wells Fargo. When I moved to Vegas 3.5 years ago, I was a Chase banker, and Chase did not have branches out here yet. So I opened an account with Wells Fargo just so I would have a checking account I could deposit checks into. Well, then about 2 years ago Chase bought out WaMu and took over all their Vegas branches, at which point I went back to exclusively banking with Chase. Unfortunately, I did not close out my Wells Fargo account, but rather reduced the balance to mere pennies. I figured I would leave it open as long as there were no fees associated with it that would cause the account to be overdrawn. Bad mistake.

 

In November, I went to pay my Amex bill. Unfortunately, in the drop down menu, I selected the Wells Fargo account instead of the Chase account. Thus, Amex tried to pull the money from my Wells Fargo account (in which there was no money) three separate times. Wells Fargo, rather than call me to alert me to this, instead charges me three separate overdraft fees of $35.00 each. They took no other action than to leave my account overdrawn at $104.83. They did not place a courtesy call, they did not send me a letter, etc. So today, some 2 full months later, I get a letter from Wells Fargo stating that my account has been closed due to its "prolonged overdraft status" and that I can call to resolve the overdraft at such and such a number.

 

So I call and ask the woman if she can explain what happened for me to accrue an overdraft of $105 at which point she looks at my account and explains to me the issue with Amex. At that point I say oh, alright, well can I pay for the one overdraft fee and have the two others waived? This was obviously a simple mistake and certainly there is no need for three separate overdraft charges. She then says no, she cannot offer to waive any charges, but she can offer me a settlement of 25% off of the charges of $105. I asked to speak to her supervisor. She refused. I asked again, and she refused. She then mentioned that "no one is going to offer to waive these fees for you." I said how can you possibly determine what someone else is going to do?

 

Anyways, to make a long story short, she refused to do anything for me other than offer me 25% off, and would not allow me to speak to anyone else. I said "Do you really think it is worth $100 to Wells Fargo to lose a potential customer for life? Do you think I will EVER purchase a Wells Fargo financial product after the way you have treated me?" She said "We are not liable for your online banking errors, sir." I said "You are probably correct. However, this is perhaps the most terrible example of customer service I can ever recall being the recipient of. I am certain this phone call will be used for training purposes. I hope you enjoy your 15 minutes of fame."

 

I then called Amex, who, unsolicited, offered to refund the late charge and the insufficient funds charge they assessed to my account back in November. A lot of companies could learn from their example of customer service.

 

I understand I am not without blame here, which is why I was willing to pay for ONE insufficient funds charge. What I was unwilling to do was to pay for more, or to be treated like a piece of s***. Now I am going to have to go in and sit down with someone at a branch and resolve this. Ridiculous.

 

Actually you might have an out. Did you ever agree to overdraft coverage at WF? A while banks had to send all of their customers a form and you had agree for them to overdraft you if you went past $0. If you did not fill it out, they can't overdraft you.

[lostfan]

b****ing about a large company on Twitter sometimes will get their attention too.

[iamshack]

Actually you might have an out. Did you ever agree to overdraft coverage at WF? A while banks had to send all of their customers a form and you had agree for them to overdraft you if you went past $0. If you did not fill it out, they can't overdraft you.

I did not fill it out. But I think that is protection from other creditors or payees being able to cause an overdraft (by being paid when there are no funds in the account). So that is exactly what happened here. They requested funds, were denied, but then Wells Fargo assessed fees to the account in the form of insufficient funds charges. I believe the bank is allowed to cause overdrafts, just not another party.

 

What even made me angrier was the woman was like "if you would have chosen overdraft protection you wouldn't have been assessed these fees." I said "Are you serious? You're really going to now bring up other services you offered me and tell me in hindsight that I should have chosen them to protect me from your bank?"

 

 

[southsider2k5]

I did not fill it out. But I think that is protection from other creditors or payees being able to cause an overdraft (by being paid when there are no funds in the account). So that is exactly what happened here. They requested funds, were denied, but then Wells Fargo assessed fees to the account in the form of insufficient funds charges. I believe the bank is allowed to cause overdrafts, just not another party.

 

What even made me angrier was the woman was like "if you would have chosen overdraft protection you wouldn't have been assessed these fees." I said "Are you serious? You're really going to now bring up other services you offered me and tell me in hindsight that I should have chosen them to protect me from your bank?"

 

I am about 95% sure they changed the law. I think they have to flat out just reject the charge if you did not opt in.

 

 

[StrangeSox]

I still have some National City checks left too.

 

I probably have several checkbooks worth in a drawer somewhere. They still take them FYI.

[southsider2k5]

I probably have several checkbooks worth in a drawer somewhere. They still take them FYI.

 

Yep. I called and asked it when the merger was going on.

[iamshack]

I am about 95% sure they changed the law. I think they have to flat out just reject the charge if you did not opt in.

So they can't assess overdraft charges themselves?

[StrangeSox]

I am about 95% sure they changed the law. I think they have to flat out just reject the charge if you did not opt in.

 

My brother was hassled endlessly when he tried to decline the coverage when opening a new account. "But don't you want to avoid the embarrassment of being denied?!" "yeah, but I'd rather not pay $40 for a cup of coffee as an alternative"

[southsider2k5]

So they can't assess overdraft charges themselves?

 

I believe they are supposed to reject the charge, and then Amex could have come after you for the "bounced check" fee so to speak.