Anybody do "auto-pay" for their bills??

[grahamsmom98]

My Dad is no longer doing a tolerable job of paying his bills. He is 87 and is having difficulties with them (among other things). He lives 90 miles away, alone and still in his own house, and will not agree to move closer to us. My Mom lives just 8 minutes away in a lovely Assisted Living complex.

When I called him yesterday, I reached, instead, a recorded message saying his line "has been disconnected or is no longer in service." I called the phone company and found out he hasn't paid his bill for 3 months and it was disconnected as of Monday (I'd talked to Dad on Saturday). As I am listed on his account, I was able to learn all this and then to pay his bill and have the service re-connected. This occurred today.

I called him this morning and he was unaware that the service had even been cut. He said he thought there was some kind of mistake as he said he'd never had a late bill in his life. This has been true up until now. My Dad has always been excellent with money and never, ever had problems with bills being paid on time.

So, I mentioned what little I know of automatic payments with him and he is agreeable to my setting this up for him. It would be for his phone service, utilities (electric), cable TV, newspaper and gasoline companies. My dh and I will now handle doing his income taxes (he always gets a refund so there will be nothing to pay) which will be easy as he has just 3 bank accounts, his retirement and no investments.

I handle Mom's misc small bills from her/my joint checking account, such as her cable and phone (from her Social Security and money Dad gives her). My Dad pays her monthly maintenance at the ALF (they are still married).

So, if you have auto-pay, where the "billing" goes through the bank and the charges are electronically paid from his checking, is this pretty easy to set-up??

The only alternate idea is to have me added to his bank accounts and I take care of all the billing/check writing. If this would be easier, please tell me!

He has allowed me to set-up auto-pay for his life insurance annuity payments and likes that I did so. He had over $5,000 in checks sitting on his kitchen table that he'd never deposited as he hates going to his bank!! Since I fixed this with auto-pay, that money is now in his bank and all future payments will go, as well.

So, any advice??

All this is such a learning experience for dh and myself. As a result, we will never put ds in our current position if, when we are old, we cannot handle things easily.

[Aufilia]

I'm sure it will vary depending on where you bank, but we use auto-pay through our credit union and it's really very easy. DH and I are both pretty disorganized but we're never, ever late on anything we can autopay. I keep one well-padded bank account for the predictable, auto-paid bills (mortgage, utilities), and one for non-predictable expenses (clothing, groceries, everything else).

[MissAnnThrope]

What about online banking? You can set up payments online as need be, and set up auto payments. You have to have the billing info for the company, but it is pretty easy to keep up with and what needs to be paid when.

[Tigerchild]

We auto-pay everything that's available to do so.

I think the only thing that we can't is the garbage collection bill.

And about half of our accounts we've been able to switch to e-statements only, so that's less paper waste too.

The one irritating thing is that many banks (ours doesn't, it's part of why we switched though) will charge you a fee for setting up auto payments. WHich is stupid because it's costing them and everyone else LESS. So double check that, just so you don't get a surprise fee.

[Ilaria]

We also auto-pay everything we can. Very convenient.

[siobhang]

love autopay. Love love love. I have never been late with a payment.

Watch the credit card companies, though. They do 28 day billing cycles just to f--k with online billing (since people usually set it up every 30 days or some such). To avoid this, I pay 2x a month.

[amyjeans]

I think you putting yourself on his accounts is a good idea. Perhaps speaking to an accountant, lawyer or his insurance agent about asset management and protection might be in order. There are lost of ways tp protect him and his money, like living trusts, or you becoming executor to his estate, that sort of thing. (I am not a professional by the way- just a retired banker)
Sometimes, parents get angry or feel ashamed because they still think they can control simple things like money and expenses, but for them to live the lifestyle they enjoy, some things need proper management- and its good you feel the need to help him.
Auto pay and deposit are very convienent, and most times- with the exception of mortgage companies- auto pay is free. Some banks will pay your bills for you- by sending money from the bank account, or the payee can draft from the account. It can go either way.
Best of luck.

[grahamsmom98]

I think you putting yourself on his accounts is a good idea. Perhaps speaking to an accountant, lawyer or his insurance agent about asset management and protection might be in order. There are lost of ways tp protect him and his money, like living trusts, or you becoming executor to his estate, that sort of thing. (I am not a professional by the way- just a retired banker)
Sometimes, parents get angry or feel ashamed because they still think they can control simple things like money and expenses, but for them to live the lifestyle they enjoy, some things need proper management- and its good you feel the need to help him.
Auto pay and deposit are very convienent, and most times- with the exception of mortgage companies- auto pay is free. Some banks will pay your bills for you- by sending money from the bank account, or the payee can draft from the account. It can go either way.
Best of luck.

Thanks to everyone!!

Amyjeans, I am already the executor of both Mom and Dad's estates. Their legal papers were drawn up just over a year ago naming me as their POA and executor, etc. There is no mortgage to worry about, no debts other than just the monthly bills. These have always been paid-in-full each month, never a carry-over.

I am going down to see him this weekend and we will sit down and talk about this. Tigerchild, I'd forgotten about the garbage company, thanks for that reminder!

I'm just glad that he is agreeable to all of this!!

[Mama Dragon]

I share an account with my dad (so does DH)...it's so much easier then anything else we tried.

[AprilDaisy]

I have several of my bills on auto-pay. It's easy to set up with those companies that do this.

siobhang, we had an auto insurance company that did that, had 22 day cycles and some months we were paying twice a month. We quickly changed companies upon realizing this.

[SquishyKitty]

I love auto pay because I can set it up and not think about it again.

The only thing I would be wary about, if your dad is on a fixed income, are the bills that tend to fluctuate (Phone for one). Make sure that he has enough in his account to cover an inflated bill one month, kwim?

I think they're fantastic otherwise.

[xmysticprincessx]

my mom has been paying my grandparents' bills for a few years. i think it started when he forgot to pay his discover card (or thought he paid it) and yelled at the customer service rep for the late fee. they live 1/2 hour from mom, so that makes it easy for her to get the bills.

online banking and bill pay might be the easiest. if you get the passwords, you wouldnt have to change account numbers or anything. we have online banking and bill pay, and i love it. i know when my checks cleared, the last time i sent a payment to each payee, how much it was for, etc. we have our car payment set on autopay, and there's never been a problem. if the payment date falls on a weekend, they just debit it the next business day. (no late fee is charged.)

[HydeParkB]

I don't do auto-pay, except for the minimum payment on a couple credit cards. I do use online banking to pay bills.

Our bank has a limit of the number of online bill pay transactions you can do in a month (7 maybe?), so I have 5 set up with the bank. Then my credit cards are set up through the credit card websites, so it doesn't count against my online bill payment limit. Kind of goofy, but it saves me a couple bucks and I don't think I should have to pay for online bill pay services. So, you can set them up through the bank where you have an account, and/or through each utility.

I love that the bill paying history is right online and I don't have to look in the files to see if I paid a bill.

[nd_deadhead]

I do autopay for the following:
mortgage
insurance (life, homeowners, auto, health, disability)
utilities (gas and electric)
city utilities (water, sewer and garbage
phone/cable/internet
cell phone
newspaper subscription
church offering
kids' college accounts
our annuity accounts

We get paid twice a month, so the payments are set up so that some are taken out in the beginning of the month, others after the 15th.

The only thing I don't have on auto-pay is credit card bills.

[Sarah8Jane]

Auto-bill pay is great. I agree with op but want to add a few things.

One problem I saw with auto-bill pay when I worked for an insurance company is if you change accounts. You may need to notify companies/utilities that your father is changing bank accounts 30 days in advance. Too many people forget to change where to bill pulls from and end up with overdrafts. Another issue is the start up. The company I worked for allowed you to start auto-bill pay for the next bill - not the current one - so watch for that too.

Another idea - Some companies allow senior citizens to list an emergency contact person. Utility companies, for instance, will contact the emergency contact prior to shutting off services. You might see if the phone company, electric company etc where your dad lives has a similar policy just as a backup.

[PMolly]

I'll be the lone dissenter here. I have had trouble with auto-pay in the past. If, for example, an error is made on the bill, I wasn't able to correct it/dispute it before my account was charged. I once had a HUGE error on our internet bill (we were charged $400 something instead of $40 something) in December (Christmas, anyone?) and went through hours upon hours of customer service before they agreed to put money back into my account (a few weeks later). What they wanted to do was credit the account I had with them, so I wouldn't be charged for a few months. Grrr....Since then, I've always been leery of having things set up to come out automatically. There are lots of errors that can be made on the part of the billing company, and the way they want to correct them may or may not be satisfactory to you.

That said, we do use online banking. I pay almost all my bills online by going to the individual websites for each company and paying. I don't do it through my credit union because they charge a fee to do that.

Also, I wonder if you should have the bills come to your address instead of your dad's. That way, if there is some sort of error, you could check it and know right away.

[mightymoo]

There are two kinds of autopay in my mind.

There is online banking, where you log into your bank account online and set up a recurring payment to go out from your bank account. The advantage is you can log in and change and cancel it at any time. The drawback of this is that you have to set an amount in advance, it doesn't work as well for bills that change from month to month.

Then there is the type where you authorize the utility or whatever you are paying to just automatically take the money from your account once a month. The advantage of this is they will take the correct amount each month, the disadvantage is changing it is much more of a pain, as you have to go to each account and go through whatever process they have for change.

I prefer to do the first one when I can, so I have more easier control over where my money is going, however whenever it makes sense I do the latter, often I get a discount for doing it. I pay nearly all my bills online through my bank, just some I go in when the bill comes and set up the payment, rather than it being sent automatically.

Let me think:
Mortgage - recurring payment set up through my bank billpay
Auto Insurance - they automatically deduct
Car Payment - they automatically deduct
Cable/Phone/Internet - paid automatically on my credit card (for reduced hassle and reward points)

Credit Cards, Gas, Electricity, water, etc I pay online but I set it up each month

I think its a good idea for you to be on all his accounts anyway, but setting up as much autopay as you feel you can safely set up without worrying something will bounce. I generally don't withdraw money for spending from the accounts I use for autopay, too risky I might take money out that would cause something to bounce. So you may want to set up a seperate account for spending money if you do that.

[mumkenna&lucas]

Originally Posted by MissAnnThrope

What about online banking? You can set up payments online as need be, and set up auto payments. You have to have the billing info for the company, but it is pretty easy to keep up with and what needs to be paid when.

This is what we do..I don't do automatic payments because I would forget to write them down in my check register, and would totally screw myself up
But paying them online is sooo easy for me! Love it!

[mnnice]

I think auto pay of some form would be a good idea, but I think you dad's problems with bills could a sign of larger problem with his physical and/or mental health.

Are you parents in two locations because of your mother's physical needs or because they don't want to live in the same place? If it's the first, maybe he need to move in with her and get some more support.

[ChattyCat]

I use autopay for our cell bill, because it comes at a weird time of the month, when nothing else is due. Both of our newspapers are also on autopay, as is my gym membership. Everything else I pay manually using my bank's online bill pay service.

I would worry about your father's mental health though. This could signal a larger problem and declining health. You may want to discuss these issues with him and his doctor.