(OT) "Paperless" Billing

/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

ALL my bills including my credit card are paid automatically by debiting
my bank account. I still get paper statements but they say "do not pay"
and they give the date and amount that will be taken out of my checking
account. No stamps, no late fees and no problems (so far).

---MIKE---

In the White Mountains of New Hampshire
(44� 15' N - Elevation 1580')

On Sep 18, 7:02*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 still get my credit card bills in the post- when I get them I shove
them inside my diary next to the date I get paid- this means I open my
diary on the day in question and they are sitting there reminding me
to log on and pay them- otherwise I'd forget since the bill would come
on email before I get paid and I might forget them on pay day

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

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.

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.

---MIKE--- wrote:
ALL my bills including my credit card are paid automatically by debiting
my bank account. I still get paper statements but they say "do not pay"
and they give the date and amount that will be taken out of my checking
account. No stamps, no late fees and no problems (so far).

Clearly you trust the accuracy of your credit card comany's employees
more than I do!

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//

This is a well-known practice of banks and credit card companies. Well-
known among the people who write articles about the tricks banks play to
bring in extra money, not necessarily known among the general public -
which is why it works for them, right? It has nothing to do with paperless
billing, as this has happened to plenty of people who receive their bills
in the traditional way. The bank will change the due date so that even
if you're very organized and you know exactly when you need to pay the
bill, you'll be late. And then they get to charge the (huge) fee.

I think banks got into some legal trouble over that and aren't doing it
anymore. However, they still have some victims among their paperless
billing customers. Different strategy. Instead of changing the due date,
they simply "forget" to send you an email. I imagine that would be harder
to prove - they can blame it on clerical error, or on the vagaries of
Internet communications (ie, "it got lost in cyberspace"). But eventually,
evidence will be gathered of a pattern, and then they'll have to find
a new way to screw their customers.

Good for you for closing that account.

Joyce

--
Loneliness is comforted by the closeness and touch of fur to fur,
skin to skin, or -- skin to fur. -- Paul Gallico

18.9.2011 17:02, jmcquown kirjoitti:
/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

We get the option to receive bills themselves electronically, as
pdf-documents, instead of in paper format. I save the bills on the
computer, and if needed, I can also print it out. The document looks
just like the paper bill, so all the payment info is where one's used to
finding it. Easy peasy.

--
Christine in Finland
christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com

"jmcquown" wrote in
:

/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



What bugs me is the same credit card company that keeps begging me to
save the planet by forgoing the one mailing a month of my bill sends me
one mailing per week trying to sell me something I don't want. I
collected them for a while and, yes, it was one a week.
I won't name this company but the phrase citi does appear somewhere on
each card and bill.

Andy

On 19/09/2011 6:00 PM, hopitus wrote:
On Sep 19, 1:42 am, Christine wrote:
18.9.2011 17:02, jmcquown kirjoitti:





/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

We get the option to receive bills themselves electronically, as
pdf-documents, instead of in paper format. I save the bills on the
computer, and if needed, I can also print it out. The document looks
just like the paper bill, so all the payment info is where one's used to
finding it. Easy peasy.

--
Christine in Finland
christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com

Couole of mine come in that way to me, too, on the PC, appearing like
tiny little copies
of a paper bill.

It costs nothing to send an automatic e-mail to remind customers that
their bill is now due once the system is set up.

Both my cell phone and my ISP send e-mails to remind me that the bill
cycle has come around again. In the e-mail they send a link, but I never
use it, just in case. I just go to the web page, log in, and there's my
'paperless' bill, ready to print out (or not, as the case may be). As I
pay automatically anyway, I just need to check occasionally to see if
the balance hasn't got too out of control either way.

Don't get me started on direct debits. I HATE direct debits, and will
never let one into my savings account (ie, my every day I need cash
account) ever again. One decimal place error on their part, and they
wipe out all my money. Oh, sure, they'll refund their error. Eventually.
Mean time, I have to borrow money from friends and family, and get
charged a whole heap of overdue/overdrawn fees in the process. No thanks!

Yowie

On 2011-09-19 9:05 AM, Yowie wrote:


It costs nothing to send an automatic e-mail to remind customers that
their bill is now due once the system is set up.

Both my cell phone and my ISP send e-mails to remind me that the bill
cycle has come around again. In the e-mail they send a link, but I never
use it, just in case. I just go to the web page, log in, and there's my
'paperless' bill, ready to print out (or not, as the case may be). As I
pay automatically anyway, I just need to check occasionally to see if
the balance hasn't got too out of control either way.

Don't get me started on direct debits. I HATE direct debits, and will
never let one into my savings account (ie, my every day I need cash
account) ever again. One decimal place error on their part, and they
wipe out all my money. Oh, sure, they'll refund their error. Eventually.
Mean time, I have to borrow money from friends and family, and get
charged a whole heap of overdue/overdrawn fees in the process. No thanks!

I only do automatic debit where I must have the service and they won't
do it any other way - that is, the mortgage and the insurance, although
insurance is often done by payroll deduction if you are working. Too
much risk of a mistake in my opinion, although lots of people get lots
of stuff paid that way. That's part of the reason you hear from time to
time of people who die alone at home not being missed because everything
is paid for automatically.

I do pay almost all my bills online, getting and keeping electronic
copies. There is a service that coordinates them for you and sends you
emails, but not all businesses participate and their website is very
slow. Some businesses send out their own emails - BEFORE the due date,
unlike in Jill's case!

Even the local public library sends out emails saying something like
'Your materials are due back soon. Please renew them online or by
calling us if you're not finished with them.'

--
Cheryl