Over Charges On Bills.

[OldCoyote]

Am I the only one that going thru my bills and statements find that I am being overcharged or payments not applied.   theres almost not month goes by that a cell phone, landline, bank, cable, and other

company that I find a overcharge on a bill,  never in my favor,  Which leds to believe that it is done on purpose if you don't catch it just free money. 


Just did battle with Chase over a payment not applied to right account,  According to the branch manager it was my fault because my wife didn't check the receipt.

Not the teller for applying the money to the wrong account,  even though it was marked on the slip, we were paying more to the principle.

Wells Fargo, I made a deposit, not only did they fail to credit the deposit, they debited the account by the same amount.

Well fargo again,  Made a $10,000 deposit I was told there would be a hold put on the deposit,  OK, I already had $6000 in the account, no problem.  Yea Right!

Headed to Colorado on a personal trip, I always take cash, At the end of the week, out of cash in Colorado Springs, At midnight, on Friday  I find my debit card does not work.

It seems that the bank software also put a $10000 hold on the account, overdrawing me $4000,  even though $16000 in the account.  

I had to borrow money from a friend to get home!  

[trippypea]

I use Virgin Mobile for my cell phone plan and have a card set up for automatic payment. Seems like every other month, a couple days past the invoice date I will be out of town and notice I don't have service (I'm usually on Wifi, so don't notice there is no actual service) and it wants me to pay! When I check the online account, it shows the card is set up, but there was an error processing the payment. A simple click of the 'try again' button and it immediately goes through. However, they never credit me back for those couple days I went without service, it always resets for the same due dates. I think they do it on purpose...

[Deleted]

I have a mortgage with Wells Fargo and they've been fine; also have had credit cards with Chase for years and all is well.  I should mention that there's not much W-F can mess up since we pay our own taxes and insurance.  My checking account is with USAA (got one back when they were offering them to people who had no military connections) and I really like them.

I think I'd close the Wells Fargo account.  Leaving you stranded on vacation with no access to your own money is inexcusable, and the amounts you keep in your account (judging from the figures you mentioned) should be enough that they'll notice.

[alabamagal]

I am in battle with cell phone providers.  We are with a small provider that just got bought out.  I had 5 lines but only want 4 with new provider, since DD has her own account.  So I cut off her old line 5 days before end of contract so it wouldn't be transferred, got approval to not be charged early termination fee.  Get my bill it has $200 ETF on it.  Had to call again, the guy said that it was in the notes not to charge it, and would take 2 days to get it reversed, and it did.

Now DS has a non-working phone and I can't upgrade with the old company because it is past the cutoff date, and we are not getting new phones for 4 more weeks.  So I sent DS my 6 year old flip phone with broken buttons - I'm sure that is pretty cool to have on a college campus.  My goal today is to try to get him his new phone early, not sure if I can.

[Deleted]

can't say I've had that problem....I have to ask how paying your bill by check versus going online and paying will avoid the overcharging on the bill?

[sesfw]

I have to ask how paying your bill by check versus going online and paying will avoid the overcharging on the bill?

Proof of payment date by when the check cleared your account.  DH does bill pay online and it gives me the willies.  I'm used to paying the bill when I receive it, not when it's due.

So far we haven't had any problems of late fees.

[Deleted]

Nov 3, 2014 9:20:37 GMT -5 sesfw said:

I have to ask how paying your bill by check versus going online and paying will avoid the overcharging on the bill?

Proof of payment date by when the check cleared your account.  DH does bill pay online and it gives me the willies.  I'm used to paying the bill when I receive it, not when it's due.

So far we haven't had any problems of late fees.

that still doesn't address how that prevents overcharging (a late fee that's incorrect would be an incorrect charge, not an overcharge).  also, you get proof of payment when you pay electronically.  I've had more problems when I used to pay by check than I've ever had with electronic payments.

[Deleted]

Nov 3, 2014 9:20:37 GMT -5 sesfw said:

I have to ask how paying your bill by check versus going online and paying will avoid the overcharging on the bill?

Proof of payment date by when the check cleared your account.  DH does bill pay online and it gives me the willies.  I'm used to paying the bill when I receive it, not when it's due.

So far we haven't had any problems of late fees.

You can still pay online when you get the bill, you don't have to wait until it's due. 

It seems a lot safer to me than dropping a check in the mail and hoping it makes it.  My credit union keeps a record of every payment, the date they sent it and when it actually goes through (although they debit my account immediately).  If anyone says they didn't get paid, the CU deals with it, not me.  They also will pay any fines or late charges if a payment that said it went on a certain date didn't.  So far, I've never had an issue in many years of online paying. 

[Deleted]

Nov 3, 2014 9:03:08 GMT -5 @wxyz said:

Exactly why I still pay all monthly bills with checks.  It only takes me about 30 minutes on the first day of the month.  The rest of the month I use mostly debit or AM Ex for gas and grocery store.

I prefer to have some level of control over who, what, and when something is being taken out of my account.  And this avoids the inevitable screw ups when you are issued a new credit card with a new number and/or a new expiration date.  Also avoids the turmoil of stopping the payments from being withdrawn when service is terminated and the company simply continues to take out payments for a month or two while you make numerous calls to customer service to try to get them to stop.

I've been paying on-line for years and the only problem I had was once when instead of sending $X to the gas company and $Y to the electric company I sent $X and $Y to the gas company.

Only one company pulls straight from my checking account and that's the health insurance because they wouldn't do it any other way.  Only one payment is automatic and that's the mortgage (I set that up from the checking account and can terminate it at any time).  I control the rest, and when I change checking accounts (rare), it probably doesn't take me any more time to set up the new payees than it takes you to write out a month's worth of bills.

[Deleted]

I honestly haven't noticed any mess-ups.  Like Athena, I don't have many companies who pull from my checking although I do have a few automatic payments like the mortgage, Roth, and insurance.  The only one who pulls is Alfa twice a year to pay car insurance, and they send me a notice of the amount a week before.

However, I quit using Merrill Lynch because they messed up a lot.  The guy once sold my entire portfolio once!    So mistakes do happen.  I think Murphy's Law comes into play.  When something messes up, it messes up repeatedly.

[gooddecisions]

Any issues I've ever had have been my own error, like when I sent $456 to At&t instead of 45.60. Fortunately, I had the money in my account and just kept the credit rather than fighting to get it back. I didn't have to pay my cell phone bill for 10 months. Or when I sent $1500 to a closed citi card account instead of the active one. Citi was unfortunately not very easy to work with, but my bank was great. No fees have ever resulted from my errors. I've been using online bill pay since it started, but I don't set up automatic payment. I manually enter the amount and date I want to pay every month.

Never had an issue with deposits, but I use the ATM to deposit checks.

[Gardening Grandma]

Remind me not to bank with Wells Fargo!

I also don't see how the method of payment will prevent overcharges.  I keep a close eye on our cc transactions (last week caught a fradulent charge of $2.17 - Cap One dealt with it promptly and professionally).

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Nov 3, 2014 9:20:37 GMT -5 sesfw said:

I have to ask how paying your bill by check versus going online and paying will avoid the overcharging on the bill?

Proof of payment date by when the check cleared your account.  DH does bill pay online and it gives me the willies.  I'm used to paying the bill when I receive it, not when it's due.

So far we haven't had any problems of late fees.

The only problem is that you do not.

i had this problem paying my Discover card by check.  I know I sent the check with the bill, it cleared my account and I had an ach debit in my bank statement.  Discover destroys paper checks after they do an ach debit, so no check cleared my account.  The rep I spoke to there wanted a copy of the canceled check, and I had to keep reminding her that DISCOVER destroyed it.

I don't remember how many copies of my bank statement I sent them, showing the debit for that check, but it never got credited to my account.  I had to make an online payment to get the account current ASAP.  I'm guessing it got applied to someone else's account, but they definitely got my money....twice.

After that, I pay all bills online and get a tracking number.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Nov 3, 2014 9:28:08 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Nov 3, 2014 9:03:08 GMT -5 @wxyz said:

Exactly why I still pay all monthly bills with checks.  It only takes me about 30 minutes on the first day of the month.  The rest of the month I use mostly debit or AM Ex for gas and grocery store.

I prefer to have some level of control over who, what, and when something is being taken out of my account.  And this avoids the inevitable screw ups when you are issued a new credit card with a new number and/or a new expiration date.  Also avoids the turmoil of stopping the payments from being withdrawn when service is terminated and the company simply continues to take out payments for a month or two while you make numerous calls to customer service to try to get them to stop.

I've been paying on-line for years and the only problem I had was once when instead of sending $X to the gas company and $Y to the electric company I sent $X and $Y to the gas company.

Only one company pulls straight from my checking account and that's the health insurance because they wouldn't do it any other way.  Only one payment is automatic and that's the mortgage (I set that up from the checking account and can terminate it at any time).  I control the rest, and when I change checking accounts (rare), it probably doesn't take me any more time to set up the new payees than it takes you to write out a month's worth of bills.

The only thing I have automatically pulled from my checking account is my USAA car insurance payment from my USAA account.  I don't get charged a service fee for that, and it is under $50.  

[Tiny]

I haven't had any mess ups that caused me headaches. I do alot of on-line banking. The only problem I had that was quickly corrected (no fees - one phone call) was when I paid the wrong credit card account. Basically, I sent my 'payment in full' for Chase CC A to Chase CC B (which had a 0 balance). I realized the problem 2 days later when I was checking that my payments/etc went thru correctly and immediately called Chase - the Customer Service Rep moved my payment to the correct account and all was right with the world.

FWIW: I generally make sure all of my 'electronic' or 'automatic' payments happen atleast 5 business days before the "Due Date" AND I usually sign in and verify that every thing went thru correctly a couple days after I put thru the payment.

I've got a handful of monthly pulls from my checking accounts (mortgages, savings transfers, car loan) and then I've got all my bills I push from my checking accounts. I have one set of transactions that 'happen' by the 10th of the month and then another set that happen by 20th of the month. So basically I need to do 'banking' online stuff a minimum of 2 times a month. I generally check my bank accounts/CC accounts weekly all at once.


I ran into alot of inconvenience a bunch of years ago when transfering a large sum of money between accounts - because I thought it would happen quicker. So, now, I assume that any large amounts of $$ will take a solid 10 business days to become available - and I plan accordingly and I've never had a problem.

I guess I just ignore all the 'hype' about how fast and wonderful electronic anything is - and assume it's all still going at the snail pace of the past...

[bookkeeper]

My last job, I worked for a farm family that had a commercial cattle feed yard and a hay hauling business as well as 2500 acres of farm land.  I paid a lot of bills for a lot of feed stuffs and farm equipment and crop inputs.

As is my nature, I questioned every bill that came across my desk.  I earned my salary every year for 12 years in the first three months of the year.  My employer was overbilled for corn, fuel, cattle feed, grain storage, and other ordinary expenses at an alarming rate.

Somebody needs to match up each load ticket with each invoice or no one will ever know they are being overcharged.

[teen persuasion]

Nov 3, 2014 9:22:21 GMT -5 @singlemominmd said:

Nov 3, 2014 9:20:37 GMT -5 sesfw said:

I have to ask how paying your bill by check versus going online and paying will avoid the overcharging on the bill?

Proof of payment date by when the check cleared your account.  DH does bill pay online and it gives me the willies.  I'm used to paying the bill when I receive it, not when it's due.

So far we haven't had any problems of late fees.

that still doesn't address how that prevents overcharging (a late fee that's incorrect would be an incorrect charge, not an overcharge).  also, you get proof of payment when you pay electronically.  I've had more problems when I used to pay by check than I've ever had with electronic payments.

Me, too.  Citi card lost our payments made by check more than one time.  I switched to paying online, and haven't had a problem with a lost payment with them since.

[TheOtherMe]

At the last two homes I owned, the very first payment got lost in the mail.  That is a great start.  At this house, I had the canceled check online.  Seems it had not gotten applied, so that was easy to straighten out.  The other house payment never did hit the bank account.  I did set up ACH payments and they waived the penalty.

I have refinanced this house and bank at the same bank as where I have the mortgage.  The mortgage is paid on the date that I selected on the day we closed on loan.  I receive my pension no later than the 3rd of the month, depending on holidays, so it is paid on the 4th.

Other than that, problems have been created by me.

[8 Bit WWBG]

"Paying online" can mean two things: using YOUR bank's "online bill pay" features, or paying directly via the merchant's website.  I strongly prefer the latter as it removes the possibility of a third entity to blame.

NOBODY gets direct automatic billing privileges to my checking account.  I manually administer each payment, directly via the merchant's site.  I get a confirmation number which I keep (sometimes I also do a screen capture).  I have never had a problem in those arenas.

But yes, it is amazing how easy it is to get into an oblivious hazy rush and miss so many little mistakes -- almost ALWAYS in the merchant's favor.  Vigilance is draining, but extremely profitable!

[andi9899]

I have TWC for cable/internet/phone. I used to round the payment up to the nearest $10 until I realized that they invented charges to account for the extra money. I stopped doing that and the reasons I owed them the money never showed up again.