post office budget card

Bubblegum.07

Hi there,
Hope i'v put this in the right place.

I have recently signed up for a post office budget card. I am hoping that I can put money into this every week and then pay towards bills.

I was wondering if anyone has one of these cards? And if so does it improve the way you budget your money?

My main worry with this card is that it may not allow me to pay some of the bills I need to pay for example, I pay my sons nursery bill to our council. The invoice I get does not have a barcode that the post office would scan. Does this matter? I'm hoping that I can still budget for the nursery by using this card...

Also I have would love to pay my council tax and last years arrears with scott & co with this card...again I dont think the bills the send have barcodes...so was wondering if this is possible.

I understand that this card is good for budgeting for car tax and elec bills, car tax is the least of my worries and I pay my gas and elec through pre paid meters.

Any advice would be great cheers.

sammi.jo

Does it specifically say on the budgeting card that your bills need to have barcodes on them?

The only reason I ask (and sorry, it's not that helpful) is that I've paid bills via the post office before that had no barcode on them.

JacksterD

I think you can pay any barcoded bill, magnetic card payment card, or any bill with a Transcash giro deposit slip at the bottom. However, the Post Office website doesn't mention paying the likes off Scott + Co, so I couldn't say for sure http://www2.postoffice.co.uk/counter-services/counter-money-services/budget-card/paying-bills

EDIT: I'll check the online help system at work tomorrow and see what it says

Bubblegum.07

Hi guys sorry the only reason I mentioned the barcode thing is because the person who gave me advice on the card @ the post office wasnt explaining it too well and kept going on about how you just bring the bill in and they scan it, which is why I am thinking its the barcode that they scan.

To be honest I have never really took bills into the post office to pay, I usually just pay over the phone with my debit card, but I am not budgeting very well and I'm now trying 2 get some sort of a plan in2 action.

cheers again.

patanne

I wonder if they mean that if they can scan it it is free to pay via the PO & if it doesn't scan they charge a fee. I paid a bill there last week & expected there to be a fee & the person behind the counter thought there would be a fee until she said "Oh it scanned - there is no fee payable then". Just a thought! But if you can pay another way without there being a fee, surely that would be better for you

JacksterD

patanne wrote: »

I wonder if they mean that if they can scan it it is free to pay via the PO & if it doesn't scan they charge a fee. I paid a bill there last week & expected there to be a fee & the person behind the counter thought there would be a fee until she said "Oh it scanned - there is no fee payable then". Just a thought! But if you can pay another way without there being a fee, surely that would be better for you

The only bills, as far as I know, which may cost extra to pay at the Post Office are bills with a tear off slip at the bottom. You'll be able to see just above the box with the amount payable it'll either say 'Standard fee payable at PO', in which case it's an extra £2.60, or it'll say 'No fee payable at PO', in which case there's no extra fee.

Bubblegum.07

thanx guys will keep that in mind. My best bet is prob to take my most regular bills that I struggle to budget to the PO and ask if these can be paid off of the budget card and check to see if there will be a fee that I have to pay.
I am going to put these in my bag just now as everytime i'm near the PO i'v never got them to hand, and dont wana start putting money on the budget card if its not going to suit me.

madgagoo

Google is your friend!

From post office website:

What can I use my Post Office® Budget Card for?

• car tax, and other vehicle tax
• gas bills
• electricity bills
• council tax and council rent payments
• telephone bills
• catalogue payments
• TV rental
• Post Office® Homephone & Broadband
• Post Office® Travel Insurance
• Post Office® Credit Card
• One4all™ Gift Cards

You can't use your Budget Card for travel money, travellers cheques, Postal Orders or Moneygram®.

So you won't be able to use it for nursery fees.

Full details at: http://www2.postoffice.co.uk/counter-services/counter-money-services/budget-card

marrbett

Hi, I have a budget card and I thought I'd mention that if you use it to pay a bill and if there is not enough money on the card to pay the bill completely, you can't then pay off the rest using another card(such as a debit card) as the system won't let you use two cards!!!
I think it's a real flaw in the system and I preferred the old saving stamp scheme where you could see immediately how much you had!!
Hope this is helpful.

Jennifer

We were not happy to change to the plastic card from PO savings stamps in the first place. We used them for car tax only.
We had the same problems as others when paying - No balance available at the counter; only one card accepted for the transaction.

Then our card started to play up - would not read the magnetic strip in the PO terminal so account had to be input manually.

Speaking to PO over the phone - they want to charge us £5.00 for a new card because non working card is our "own damage".

The card comes out of a drawer once a month - never had this problem before with many plastic cards over 30 years.

Now - we have £60 on the card and have changed our car. No tax to be paid on it so we want a refund of the £60.

PO wants to charge us £5.00 to withdraw our money!!!

We do not want to spend £60 in the post office and ALL our bills are done by Direct Debit.

We could buy a One4All card but need nothing from the listed outlets that this card can be used for.

Apparently we cannot pay our credit card bill over the counter with a bank giro credit slip.

SO - Are we really stuck with paying an over 8% charge, (£5), to get our own money back?

Suggestions will be gratefully received.

(yes we know it is in the T&Cs about the charges but did not forsee this situation)

J

melbell

Jennifer kinda answered your own question did you?