How Many DA Readers Actually Use Checks To Pay Bills?

Bozo
  |     |   1,375 posts since 2011

A recent thread over on the blog got me to thinking. Are those of us who use checks to pay bills a dying breed?

Background: My wife has always paid the bills, She reviews each monthly bill with an eagle eye, and often spots errors (just this month, a bill from a medical provider, another from our gardener). She refuses to allow direct withdrawals from our checking account for any bill, period. She reviews each bill, personally, and then (if the amount is correct) writes a check. We have a grandfathered account for checks at our bank, and pay no service charge for the checks, just the cost to the printer.

Thoughts: Our kids pay all their bills by a method I think is essentially something which permits providers (from utilities to doctors to the credit card company) to just deduct money from their account. How does this work? Do you get a chance to review the bill?

Issues: What happens if you dispute a bill after the money has been withdrawn from your account? Do you get copies of the underlying bills? This is all very mysterious to me. As noted, my wife wants nothing to do with any of this, but I thought I could explain why others seem to like it.




Ally6770
  |     |   4,307 posts since 2010
I only write checks for property tax and when I get my hair cut and the person who does my yard work. My electric, and gas for heating the house is put on my credit card but I am sent the bill. I put the Comcast bill, groceries, house and car insurance and actually everything else on my cash back credit card which is debited from my reward checking account on the day I chose when I opened the account. I am sent the balance of my credit card daily so I know no one has been using my card. The card has a virtual number you can use when ordering on line. It also doubles the warranty on most things and has a price guarantee. I also write checks for all birthday, Christmas and gifting to my children on Jan 1. I like being able to go to my credit card bill (which is mailed to me) to double check that a bill is paid and I like that all the charges are sorted at the end of the year for tax purposes.
Sylvia
  |     |   389 posts since 2012
Bozo, you're usually given the option of automatic payment (withdrawal) when due or month-by-month upon review. Some also allow choice of credit card or bank account. Typically, you get email notice when bill has been generated. In all cases, you should be able to log into your account to see current and prior bills at any time. My preferences are month-by-month with credit card, followed by checking account. Less desirable is automatic deduction from bank account, I find. This can take a few billing cycles to unwind when you're canceling service or disputing charges. Minimally, you save postage and worry over possibility of paper check not reaching destination. It's a convenience I highly recommend.
klink
  |     |   202 posts since 2012
2 checks a year (property tax on house and bike) and only because the fee to pay with the credit card is way to much. All else is paid with credit cards (cash back type) which along with the mortgage payment gets satisfied with bank bill pay.
midas89
  |     |   1,020 posts since 2017
I cannot remember the last time I wrote a check. Heck, even when I give money to family members as birthday or holiday presents I send them the money electronically.
gbtexas
  |     |   78 posts since 2013
I still use checks to pay bills, but only when I can't pay online. Checks aren't yet obsolete, but they're clearly headed in that direction. Debit card use is done very thoughtfully and rarely by me and never by my wife.
carly
  |     |   43 posts since 2011
I write a check for property tax and to the gardener. Everything else is auto-pay. I do feel bad for the companies that continue to advertise all the pretty checks available--who's buying them?
Kaight
  |     |   1,192 posts since 2011
Checks are today merely a vestigial flicker of the twentieth century. I can recall back in the 1970's and early 1980's, when I was doing "bank stuff", visiting the back offices of various large banks to view among other things their astonishing check processing machinery. One I recall in particular was in Chicago. The machine was gargantuan, with paper checks flying through so fast it was all just a blur. The machine read the MICR and then sorted the checks accordingly. I watched in awe without the slightest inkling what I was seeing was headed shortly for history's scrap heap.

Time marches on. Paper checks are wonderfully, adorably, retro. Forced to guess, though, I would opine they are not coming back.  As for myself personally, I have for many years written as few checks as circumstances would allow.  I use Alliant's bill pay system which has always served very well indeed.  But I am not at all keen on providing my account number to a payee and authorizing withdrawals.  That never has struck me as a prudent approach.  
Bozo
  |     |   1,375 posts since 2011
Kaight, your prose never ceases to amaze. "Vestigial flicker of the twentieth century", well, I had to write that down. We mere mortals, incapable of such antics of phrase, salute you.
CTM
  |     |   179 posts since 2010
The answer to your first question is an emphatic YES!

If the per check cost for “grandfathered” check printing at your bank is more than $ 0.025 - $ 0.03, you are paying too much.

The link below has a very concise explanation of “Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment”, commonly called “Presentment”.

http://www.finweb.com/banking-credit/overview-of-ebpp-electronic-bill-presentment-and-payment.html

In a given month, we might pay 30 to 40 recurring bills. The vast majority are paid through biller initiated ACH pulls from our checking accounts. Only three are initiated from our bank’s bill-pay function – the gardener, a city water department and an H.O.A. Property taxes get paid from the taxing authority’s web portal which performs the same ACH pull from various checking accounts.

We do not allow any automated medical billing or “one-time” bills.

A bill may be presented electronically or mailed, but you always have 10 to 20 days to review the bill.

The advantages of automated billing and payment are many. First, you might save $ 150 - $200 just on postage. In our experience, when the biller initiates the ACH pull, they perform the pull on the due date. A couple of credit cards, Discover and Alliant CU, perform the pull 2 or 3 days before the due date. All electronic billers guarantee timely credit of the payment. The same is true of a bank’s bill-pay feature – if you schedule the transaction according to the rules, they guarantee delivery by the date you specify. For bill-pay payments sent as checks, they are much more secure than a personal check as your account number does not appear. The paper check references the bank’s routing & account number dedicated to handling bill payments.


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