I have 2 department store cards that I regularly pay in person. Usually, this is because the bill arrived on a day when I was going to that store anyway, so I just pay at the customer service desk while I am there rather than later.
My mother pays most of her bills by mail. Usually before they’re due, but occasionally she still needs to be remined that the check has to physically arrive at the company by the due date, having the it postmarked the day it’s due (or the day before) doesn’t count. :smack: I also had to remind some of the bank’s customers of that too.
I pay most of the utilities in person, because I live in a shared house, and I’d rather not have all the money going out of my account, when I have to then reclaim it from my housemate, especially for bills where the amount varies a lot. It’s simpler for me to get it up front.
I also prefer it because it’s a rental house, and paying in cash means there’s no chance of getting charged bills in error after I move out.
If I was living alone, or with someone I shared finances with, I’d pay them all online, but I can pay the bills at a local shop, so it’s really not much hassle.
Poor people pay in person. You’d be surprised at how many people don’t have internet access/credit/bank accounts. Some people live a soley cash-based existence and have to pay everything in person.
Oh yes, I remember those days of being perpetually low on money and going to the drugstore that took PG&E payments in cash up to something like 6 PM.
Now, I see people running to my sister in law’s insurance office to make payments in person when they could just as easily call her to make a credit card payment, or call the actual insurance company or use their website. Some people just don’t trust computers, or this being “The South” they just want that in-person interaction rather than dealing with someone at an overseas call center.
It’s not quite in-person, but I think my city’s drop box for water bills is still pretty popular. It’s not that it’s a great convenience, but the city makes it hard enough to pay that if you’re headed that way, the drop box might actually be the most convenient.
Does the US not have direct debit? (ie where the payment is taken directly out of your bank account on a set day of the month). That’s how most people in the UK pay bills, although some older people like my parents are wary of it, and post off cheques.
I don’t even know where I would go to pay bills in person.
No, we have direct debit. When I switcher over years ago my credit rating really improved because I was paying all my bills on time. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the money, it was just that I was always forgetting to mail the checks on time.
I wouldn’t even know how to pay my bills in person. I tell my bank to send a check. It takes less time than writing a check. Everything else goes on the CCs.
That seems like a perfectly reasonable expectation on their part, because it assuredly does work that way for many other kinds of payments (rental properties I’m familiar with, for example).
If the recipient isn’t available on the appointed day, how can that be held against the payer who was?
I think a customer who was charged a late fee on the next business day after a nominal due date for which you, the bank,were absent ought to have a case against you under this law; you have effectively moved their due date earlier any time it fell on a day you didn’t feel like showing up.
I know lots of people who pay their bills in person. Mostly they are older, less sophisticated, and poor. Several of my patients have someone come get them and drive them around to pay their water bills, electric bills, cable bills. Some of them just have a checking account simply to receive their Social Security check and withdraw cash to pay the bill.
I don’t really get it, either. Seems so complicated to do it like that these days.
For me that would still be more trouble than it’s worth - even if I was at the store.
I think that’s what people mean when they say “auto pay.”
Myself, I don’t do this. I was on auto pay with my insurance company. I had a dispute with them. They said I owed them x amount of dollars I told them I didn’t. Well, since I was on auto pay they took my cash anyway and there wasn’t shit I could do about it.
Now, I just pay my bills online when they come due.
I also don’t get the paranoia over scammers and such. I’m like 98% sure the bank will refund your money should you get duped. I know I had a box of checks stolen from me out of the mail. The crooks got a good 2k out of my account before I knew what was going on. My bank put the money back into my account the very next day.
My mom is HORRIBLE with money, doesn’t have online access, and pays everything in person and in cash. It’s the only way she doesn’t overdraw her bank account time and time again.
Yes. If you’re on a low fixed income, and there’s no cushion, you’re less likely to mess with a checking account or a debit card. You’ll pay cash, in person, because you can’t afford any mix-ups.
Or you’ll pay by check in person, because mailing three or four checks a month is about $50 a year in postage.
You can cancel direct debits at any time. Plus there’s a guarantee that you will be refunded if an incorrect payment is made.
If they are in town, sure. It’s cheaper than mail, and we’re still in the dark ages when it comes to electronic payment–things constantly go wrong.
Out of town, mail is usually cheaper.
Yeah, but good luck getting your money back from the initial mistake. Remember, the first time you know about the mistake is after it happens.
I don’t have a cushion to go a couple weeks without the money. I make $8,000 a year.
Dude, time to get a bigger paper route.
Except like I said (& like was written on every billing statement) the bank always accepts payments 24 hours every day of the year by phone or online for free. The bank is only legally obligated to extend the grace period if the due date falls on a day it doesn’t accept payments. The bank is always available to recieve payment. It’s a moot point anyway since we basically waived the late fees on request (up to 5 fees in that last 12 months), but we still had to educate the cardholder on how to avoid late fees in the future & document the account before we did. We also weren’t allowed to waive late fees unless we’d actually recieved payment (even if it was still pending) or they payed over the phone (sometimes people would call in right after putting the check in the mail & ask for the fee to be waived).