How do you all pay your bill each month?

Paul_Herring

parallax_20 wrote: »

I generally avoid setting up any DD if I can, as I hate money being taken out of my account without my knowledge.

Since the DD Guarantee ensures that money should not be taken out of your account without your knowledge (the bank should put you in the position you should have been if this doesn't happen) I'm failing to see the problem...

lisyloo

Since the DD Guarantee ensures that money should not be taken out of your account without your knowledge[?QUOTE]

Agree with you Paul.
But I prefer to be in control of when it's going.
I know it often says on letter/statements, but personally I prefer to know exactly when they are going, rather than waiting a week or two for the day to arrive (which does vary).

If you are disciplined it's better to be in control.
If you are the sort of person that checks accounts daily then it's frustrating not knowing or having to keep long lists of DD dates.
If you aren't disciplined and for the majority I'd say DD is safe/better.

chattychappy

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Since the DD Guarantee ensures that money should not be taken out of your account without your knowledge (the bank should put you in the position you should have been if this doesn't happen) I'm failing to see the problem...

Yeah, but guarantee or not, you're still left chasing it up. In the meantime other payments may have been refused causing other knock on effects.

Add to that the occasions when the DD has been taken (or not) within the agreement, but just not as people expected.

nearlyrich

scottishblondie wrote: »

Full balance by direct debit. I check my CC accounts online each day just in case of anything untoward.

Me too anything disputed is taken off until proven correct:money:

chattychappy

lisyloo wrote: »

If you aren't disciplined and for the majority I'd say DD is safe/better.

Problem is that the undiscplined people run into trouble anyway - usually just further down the line. Eg they "notice" that they've been paying interest for 6 months when they thought they were on a 0% deal. Or that their balance is hardly going down because the minimum only just covers interest + charges. Without DD at least they'd be forced to look at a statement from time to time!

Jigga

As with Parallax, Chatty and Lisyloo, I’m a guy that likes control over when and what money goes out so it’s Internet banking and an Excel spreadsheet of statement dates for cards all the way for me.

As mentioned, horses for course I guess on payment methods, but being disciplined about finances, this one works for me.

SuiDreams

I pay all my credit cards in full be DD, is so much easier check all accounts regularly (almost every day) on line to check transactions, and have text message banking or alerts set up on all accounts that allow it (just in case).

I have a friend who pays her card in full by online banking every month, but every now and then she gets a late payment as the due date has been moved and she didn't notice, DD would definately solve that problem.

parallax_20

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Since the DD Guarantee ensures that money should not be taken out of your account without your knowledge (the bank should put you in the position you should have been if this doesn't happen) I'm failing to see the problem...

Perhaps "without my knowledge" was wrongly used. I do know the DD will be taken each month regardless which is often dictated by working days, public holidays etc as well, so you don't know when exactly. Its the lack of control and the mess DD can create if it goes wrong that I try to avoid.

If my CC was used fraudulently, and the full balance was taken by DD to clear it each month. That itself could leave me overdrawn and charges incurred for miss payments from my other financial commitments that rely on the funds in my current account. As ChattyChappy says, I'm then left to clean up the mess its created. If different organisations are involved, you may not even get your money back regardless of who is to blame. Its not their problem you didn't have enough funds in your account to cover the payments regardless of reason. They just won't be interested, its a business and you've failed to meet your contractual obligations.

I'd much prefer to try and keep things as separate as possible, so you don't get these cascading problems. If the CC is at fault. It should simply stop there. Not everyone checks over their bills before payment, and its worst with eBilling. I get an email in my inbox to say my bills are ready to view. And sometimes I just forget or there can be days I'm not online so may not even see it at all.

But I do agree, one needs to be disciplined to manage their finances efficiently.

Any

I pay any 0% cards by DD minimum amount and my other cards I pay manually via online banking the moment I get a statement.

Even if I was on holiday when the statement comes I will still have 3 weeks from the moment the statement comes so I don't worry about missing a payment.

If the staments wouldn't come (lost in post) - I would know. I know exactly when they are due to be printed.

But then I am one of those highly money disciplined people... it's not for everyone.

It is not bullet proof like DD, but it hasn't failed me so far. I also pay the bill from 2 different current accounts (my own and family one) so DD would leave one of the accounts short.

Any

Paul_Herring wrote: »

Since the DD Guarantee ensures that money should not be taken out of your account without your knowledge (the bank should put you in the position you should have been if this doesn't happen) I'm failing to see the problem...

But it is the control thing.... I know exactly what the balance is in my current account in any point of time.. I hate DDs in my own account.

We have family account for all the household DDs and then our own accounts to exactly know how much we can thrift away at any point of time...