(OT) "Paperless" Billing

On Sep 19, 12:35*pm, Yowie wrote:
I have to borrow money from friends and family, and get
charged a whole heap of overdue/overdrawn fees in the process. No thanks!



They should refund those if it's their mistake over here the banks are
signed to a direct debit guarantee scheme that covers that.

The worse one I've ever had from a credit card was years ago when I
was young and foolish and did get cash advances on them- I got £7 and
someone moved the decimal point and made it £7,000. I had to point
out the card didn't have that kind of limit and luckily I did have the
receipt clearly showing £7 but it was still a battle to get the
interest and late payment charges back.

I still think the all time winner though was a friend of a friend who
got a gas bill for £90,000 and when he queried it the person in the
call centre suggested it would be easier for them if he just paid it
then he'd be massively in credit and never have to find the money for
another gas bill......He said "Only two problems one I don't have
£90,000 lying around and two I'm all electric"

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
/begin minor rant

I'm all for paperless billing. I got tired of shredding anything with an
account number on it. I don't live to shred paper. Paperless billing
makes sense if you have a computer.

I consider myself a responsible person. When a bill is due I pay it. But
like anyone else who isn't getting any younger I do need a reminder So
this one particular credit card company ticked me off. I'd signed up to
receive email notifications rather than paper bills. I just closed my
account with them and cut up the card. Why? Because I wasn't getting
emails telling me when the bill was due. I WAS, however, getting emails
telling me the bill was *past due*. Of course they tacked on exhorbitant
late fees and penalties which made the balance go up even though I hadn't
used the card all year.

When I called to complain about this the person I spoke with said, "You
should still have gotten a paper bill." Sorry, but I didn't get a paper
bill, and isn't that the point of paperless billing?! He said, "There's
nothing I can do about it." Sure there is! You're going to take my
payment for the entire balance over the phone, without charging me extra
for doing so, then you're going to close my account. AFAIC this
particular institution is using paperless billing as a way to scam
customers out of late fees.

end minor rant//


Can you pay them monthly by direct debit? That's what I do. The utility
companies estimate what you will use over a year and you pay a monthly
amount straight from your bank account. At the end of a year it can be
adjusted up or down if necessary.
I pay all my bills like that, gas, electricity, phone, council tax.
Tweed

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


jmcquown wrote:
/begin minor rant

I consider myself a responsible person. When a bill is due I pay it.
But like anyone else who isn't getting any younger I do need a reminder
So this one particular credit card company ticked me off. I'd signed
up to receive email notifications rather than paper bills. I just closed
my account with them and cut up the card. Why? Because I wasn't getting
emails telling me when the bill was due. I WAS, however, getting emails
telling me the bill was *past due*. Of course they tacked on exhorbitant
late fees and penalties which made the balance go up even though I hadn't
used the card all year.

That's why I refuse to use "paperless billing" or charge things via
"debit" card! I'm all for automatic deposits of my income checks, but
there is too much margin for error with getting bills via E-mail, and I'm
not ABOUT to let anyone charge my bank account directly, without my
examining the bill first.

I get tired of shredding everything that has even a partial account number
on it. (I've still got about 20 years worth of my parents' cancelled checks
and bank statements that need shredding.) I don't do automatic bank drafts.
My situation is probably a little different than most in that I have
multiple bank accounts. One holds the principle of my readily available
funds (a money market account with a nice interest rate). The other is a
checking account (which now also earns interest since I'm over 50). I
transfer money from one to the other to pay my monthly bills and misc.
monthly expenses as needed. I'm sure as hell not giving anyone free access
to the MM account number! Lord knows the people who work at these companies
earn little more than minimum wage. They do *not* need that information! I
can still view the bill details via email, this particular credit card
company simply wasn't sending me the bills. As I stated, they seemed to be
using "paperless billing" in a shady manner.

Jill

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
/begin minor rant

I'm all for paperless billing. I got tired of shredding anything with an
account number on it. I don't live to shred paper. Paperless billing
makes sense if you have a computer.

I consider myself a responsible person. When a bill is due I pay it.
But like anyone else who isn't getting any younger I do need a reminder
So this one particular credit card company ticked me off. I'd signed
up to receive email notifications rather than paper bills. I just closed
my account with them and cut up the card. Why? Because I wasn't getting
emails telling me when the bill was due. I WAS, however, getting emails
telling me the bill was *past due*. Of course they tacked on exhorbitant
late fees and penalties which made the balance go up even though I hadn't
used the card all year.

When I called to complain about this the person I spoke with said, "You
should still have gotten a paper bill." Sorry, but I didn't get a paper
bill, and isn't that the point of paperless billing?! He said, "There's
nothing I can do about it." Sure there is! You're going to take my
payment for the entire balance over the phone, without charging me extra
for doing so, then you're going to close my account. AFAIC this
particular institution is using paperless billing as a way to scam
customers out of late fees.

end minor rant//


Can you pay them monthly by direct debit? That's what I do. The utility
companies estimate what you will use over a year and you pay a monthly
amount straight from your bank account. At the end of a year it can be
adjusted up or down if necessary.
I pay all my bills like that, gas, electricity, phone, council tax.
Tweed


I won't do direct debit. I don't keep all my eggs in one basket I pay
all my bills out of the checking account; I transfer money from the other
account (which earns a nice rate of interest) into checking as needed to pay
my monthly bills (IF I receive a bill, and this is the *only* company from
which I wasn't getting an email). Once I know what's owed (and the emails
tell me that) I transfer the appropriate amount to checking. Then I log
into the individual web sites to pay the bills from that account and print
my receipt. I also save all the emails stating I've paid my bill. I have
had no problems (for years) paying the monthly electric, water, etc. in this
manner. I don't keep a lot of money in that account so no, I won't do
direct debit.

Jill

"hopitus" wrote in message
...
On Sep 18, 8:02 am, "jmcquown" wrote:
/begin minor rant

I'm all for paperless billing. I got tired of shredding anything with an
account number on it. I don't live to shred paper. Paperless billing
makes
sense if you have a computer.

I consider myself a responsible person. When a bill is due I pay it.
But
like anyone else who isn't getting any younger I do need a reminder
So
this one particular credit card company ticked me off. I'd signed up to
receive email notifications rather than paper bills. I just closed my
account with them and cut up the card. Why? Because I wasn't getting
emails telling me when the bill was due. I WAS, however, getting emails
telling me the bill was *past due*. Of course they tacked on exhorbitant
late fees and penalties which made the balance go up even though I hadn't
used the card all year.

When I called to complain about this the person I spoke with said, "You
should still have gotten a paper bill." Sorry, but I didn't get a paper
bill, and isn't that the point of paperless billing?! He said, "There's
nothing I can do about it." Sure there is! You're going to take my
payment
for the entire balance over the phone, without charging me extra for
doing
so, then you're going to close my account. AFAIC this particular
institution is using paperless billing as a way to scam customers out of
late fees.

end minor rant//

Jill

Customer service rep you talked to is the usual cretin.

http://sn141w.snt141.mail.live.com/d...3-00237de39d2a

Possible explanation with no explanation for nor excuse for creditors,
etc. method of "reminders" re paperless billing;
AND no criticism nor other fault of your transmission cell problems
where you live or inclination to not answer your
landline for indefinite periods of time:

Hop, I have no idea what this has to do with my telephone (cell or
otherwise). I was talking about email.

I have for some time (several years) paid almost all my bills by
phone, saving postage costs; a very few remain that
must be mailed as they do not offer this payment option.

I prefer email reminders. I haven't had any problems in going on 4 years
receiving bills via email. Just from this one particular company.

All my reminders of bills due are sent to me by text messages per my
phone
(cell)

Probably not, but again, I don't get cell phone reception on the island.
Receiving text message bill reminders on my phone wouldn't do me a fat lot
of good, would it? What, I'm supposed to drive off the island every day
just to see if I got a text message about a bill? Sorry, I don't think so.

on this. There was some sort of paperwork involved when I transferred
billing on each creditor/service that clearly
indicated how reminders would be sent by paperless methods and if I
recall correctly a verifying phone # to transfer
billing to this method.

I've had no experience with paying bills via phone other than "past due
bills". And that was when I was transitioning between my address in TN and
the one in SC. For a few months technically I had two email addresses (and
was paying bills in two states). That has long since changed. I *can* tell
you most of them tried to charge fees for taking payment over the phone. I
told them no way, if you want your money you will take it now and you will
absolutely *not* charge me a fee for doing paying this bill.

Since you have already disposed of this particular paperless culprit,
if you have chosen paperless billing for any other
regular payment sources, a phone call to their customer service would
probably reveal all.

Reveal what?! I don't know what you're talking about.

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

Can you pay them monthly by direct debit? That's what I do. The
utility companies estimate what you will use over a year and you pay a
monthly amount straight from your bank account. At the end of a year it
can be adjusted up or down if necessary.
I pay all my bills like that, gas, electricity, phone, council tax.
Tweed


I won't do direct debit. I don't keep all my eggs in one basket I pay
all my bills out of the checking account; I transfer money from the other
account (which earns a nice rate of interest) into checking as needed to
pay my monthly bills (IF I receive a bill, and this is the *only* company
from which I wasn't getting an email). Once I know what's owed (and the
emails tell me that) I transfer the appropriate amount to checking. Then
I log into the individual web sites to pay the bills from that account and
print my receipt. I also save all the emails stating I've paid my bill.
I have had no problems (for years) paying the monthly electric, water,
etc. in this manner. I don't keep a lot of money in that account so no, I
won't do direct debit.

It's up to you, it works well for me. I don't need to keep a lot of money
in my checking account, it replenishes itself
from my savings account if necessary.
Tweed

"jmcquown" wrote in message ...

/begin minor rant

I'm all for paperless billing. I got tired of shredding anything with an
account number on it. I don't live to shred paper. Paperless billing makes
sense if you have a computer.

I consider myself a responsible person. When a bill is due I pay it. But
like anyone else who isn't getting any younger I do need a reminder So
this one particular credit card company ticked me off. I'd signed up to
receive email notifications rather than paper bills. I just closed my
account with them and cut up the card. Why? Because I wasn't getting
emails telling me when the bill was due. I WAS, however, getting emails
telling me the bill was *past due*. Of course they tacked on exhorbitant
late fees and penalties which made the balance go up even though I hadn't
used the card all year.

When I called to complain about this the person I spoke with said, "You
should still have gotten a paper bill." Sorry, but I didn't get a paper
bill, and isn't that the point of paperless billing?! He said, "There's
nothing I can do about it." Sure there is! You're going to take my payment
for the entire balance over the phone, without charging me extra for doing
so, then you're going to close my account. AFAIC this particular
institution is using paperless billing as a way to scam customers out of
late fees.

end minor rant//

Jill

- - - - - - - - - -

Most (possibly all) online credit card accounts have have a setting where
you can select your own options--for example, you may want to be notified if
an expenditure over a certain amount is charged. You might find a
"notification" setting in that location. I have been able to set mine to be
notified within a certain number of days of the due date.

MaryL

On 2011-09-22, Christina Websell wrote:

It's up to you, it works well for me. I don't need to keep a lot of money
in my checking account, it replenishes itself
from my savings account if necessary.
Tweed

I'd like one that replenished itself, like a magic purse.

Bud

"U-m757\bud" wrote in message
m...
On 2011-09-22, Christina Websell
wrote:

It's up to you, it works well for me. I don't need to keep a lot of
money
in my checking account, it replenishes itself
from my savings account if necessary.
Tweed

I'd like one that replenished itself, like a magic purse.

Bud

I'd like one that replenished itself from nowhere too, but it just takes the
money from my savings.
Once upon a time when I was working it would work the opposite way - if I
didn't spend what I earned the remainder would go into my savings and I am
using it now.
Tweed

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
/begin minor rant

I'm all for paperless billing. I got tired of shredding anything with an
account number on it. I don't live to shred paper. Paperless billing
makes sense if you have a computer.

I consider myself a responsible person. When a bill is due I pay it. But
like anyone else who isn't getting any younger I do need a reminder So
this one particular credit card company ticked me off. I'd signed up to
receive email notifications rather than paper bills. I just closed my
account with them and cut up the card. Why? Because I wasn't getting
emails telling me when the bill was due. I WAS, however, getting emails
telling me the bill was *past due*. Of course they tacked on exhorbitant
late fees and penalties which made the balance go up even though I hadn't
used the card all year.

When I called to complain about this the person I spoke with said, "You
should still have gotten a paper bill." Sorry, but I didn't get a paper
bill, and isn't that the point of paperless billing?! He said, "There's
nothing I can do about it." Sure there is! You're going to take my
payment for the entire balance over the phone, without charging me extra
for doing so, then you're going to close my account. AFAIC this
particular institution is using paperless billing as a way to scam
customers out of late fees.

end minor rant//

Jill

You were really ripped off. I don't blame you for ranting. If I were you,
I'd broadcast that company's name all over the place, with your story.

A couple of times I've had a late charge I didn't think I deserved. I
called, and they took off the charge.

Joy