• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

National Debt Relief

National Debt Relief - A+ BBB Accredited Business - Get Relief From Credit Card Debt, Medical Bills And Unsecured Loans

Talk to a debt counselor toll free:

800-300-9550

Get Relief From Credit Card Debt

Medical Bills and Unsecured Loans

  • Apply Now
    • Qualifications
    • Is This Right For Me?
  • Proven Results
    • Debt Relief Benefits
    • Credit Card Debt Relief
  • Debt Relief
  • Credit Card Debt Relief
  • Debt Consolidation
  • Login
HomeBlog Financial LiteracyTrue Or False – You Should Auto Pay All Your Bills?
Video Transcript

Free Debt Consolidation Quote

By clicking "Get Free Quote", you agree that the phone number you are providing may be used to contact you by National Debt Relief (including autodialed and prerecorded calls, as well as text/SMS messages). Msg. and data rates apply, and your consent to such contact is not required for purchase.
  • National Debt Relief, LLC BBB Business Review
  • McAfee SECURE sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams

True Or False – You Should Auto Pay All Your Bills?

April 18, 2015 by National Debt Relief

If your goal is to simplify your finances one thing the experts tell you to auto pay all your bills. That way you’ll never have to remember your payment due dates, never have to mail a check and never have to remember whether you paid that utility bill or not. If you have online banking then putting your bills on auto pay should be a real snap. You might even be able to have your statements sent to you electronically so you would never again have to worry about filing them or ultimately shredding them. Putting your bills on auto pay would certainly help simplify your finances but should you really put all of them on auto pay?Manager working diligently on the computer

The pros

The biggest pro of putting your bills on auto pay is, of course, convenience. As noted above when your bills are on auto pay you’ll never have to wonder whether or not you’re late on a payment or when your bills are due. When you fully automate your bill paying you’ll had made sure that your bills will be paid when they’re due and in full – assuming, of course, that you have a sufficient amount of money in your checking account to cover them.

You might also earn some nice incentives by signing up for auto pay. This is because there are companies that will reward you for paying them automatically. As an example of this, Nelnet will cut the interest rate on your loans by 0.25% when you agree to pay it automatically. This may not seem like a lot but could actually add up to many thousands of dollars over the life of your loan.

Third, paying your bills automatically can help your credit score because it should mean you never miss a payment. And missed payments can hurt your credit score fairly seriously. In fact, missing a single payment could ding your credit score by 60 points. Miss two and your credit score could be reduced by 120 points, which could drop you from having a good credit score to a poor score. In either event this would ultimately cost you money because you’d end up paying higher interest rates. This might even increase the cost of your auto insurance premiums.

The cons

There’s no question but that automatic bill pay can make your financial life simpler. However, there are times when it might not make good sense.

One of these is if you need tight control over your monthly spending. If you’re living from paycheck to paycheck then paying your bills manually could make better sense as this would give you greater control over how you allocate your funds and keep you from going into overdraft in a tough month. This would also help you keep money available for crucial expenses such as food and rent.

A second type of bill you might not want to put on auto pay is one that varies monthly. An example of this might be your utility bill, which could vary considerably between winter and summer – especially if you have air conditioning. If you were to put it on auto pay and had a very hot June or July this could substantially mess up your monthly finances. On the other hand, if you have bills such as a cell phone bill or your rent that remain the same from month-to-month they would be great candidates for auto pay.

A third consideration is that if you’re not careful you could end up paying for things you didn’t intend to buy. For example, it’s never a good idea to set up auto pay for temporary services or memberships. There are instances where if you were to try to cancel or change the service you could end up in customer service hell. Suppose you were to sign up to try Amazon’s Prime Service free for a month. If you forget to cancel you could find yourself hit with an unpleasant surprise – a $99 yearly fee.

Some other things to consider

When you sign up with a company for auto-pay this tells your bank to automatically approve requests to withdraw money for that company. The Federal Trade Commission says that you should only do this with those companies you trust and know. If not, you could wind up paying for stuff you didn’t want. It’s also possible that automatically paying your bills would make you more susceptible to having your identity stolen. While this may or may not be true it’s always a good idea to carefully read the company’s privacy policy and make sure that it will encrypt all of your transactions digitally.

As we have seen from the data breaches that recently hit Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Target there is no such thing as a totally safe website. However, automatic bill payment is usually much safer than mailing your payments physically. This is due to the fact that the postal system is more vulnerable to tampering and interception.

Video thumbnail for youtube video 6 Tips For Simplifying Your Financial LifeThe net/net

Automatic bill payment may not be for everybody but it is a very convenient way to pay bills for many consumers – making sure their bills are paid in full and on time. It can save money as well as time. But most banks now allow you to set up your bills to be paid online but not automatically. While this puts the burden of paying your bills back on your shoulders it does provide the convenience of paying your bills electronically but allows you to keep control of how much money goes out of your of your account each month. We have a number of bills that vary from month to month. We have it set up with our bank so that we can pay them online. When one of these bills arrives in the mail we note its due date and then immediately go online to our checking account and arrange to pay the bill on that date. This eliminates the need for us to remember to make the payment as well as the annoyances of having to find a stamp and to get the bill in the mail in enough time for it to make its due date. We view this as sort of the best of both worlds.

Automate your saving, too

In addition to putting your bills on auto pay it’s also a good idea to automate your saving. This short video explains how to do this and why it makes really good sense.

Do you qualify for debt consolidation?

National Debt Relief
National Debt Relief

National Debt Relief is one of the largest and best-rated debt settlement companies in the country. In addition to providing excellent, 5-star services to our clients, we also focus on educating consumers across America on how to best manage their money. Our posts cover topics around personal finance, saving tips, and much more. We’ve served thousands of clients, settled over $1 billion in consumer debt, and our services have been featured on sites like NerdWallet, Mashable, HuffPost, and Glamour.

Follow National Debt Relief: Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin

Primary Sidebar

Consolidate Your Debt!
Find out how NDR could help.
  • Get one low monthly payment
  • Avoid bankruptcy
  • Get out of debt in 24-48 months
Get Your Free evaluation
Free Debt Consolidation Quote
By clicking "Get Free Quote", you agree that the phone number you are providing may be used to contact you by National Debt Relief (including autodialed and prerecorded calls, as well as text/SMS messages). Msg. and data rates apply, and your consent to such contact is not required for purchase.
 Trusted By Our Clients

"..."

Easy National Debt Relief Caller: April Transcribed WE 1/17/2021 April: Our call may get recorded. What financial concerns had led you to seek out National Debt Relief's services? RILEY: I guess just not being able to pay my debt. April: What had you choose National Debt Relief over other companies that provide the same service? RILEY: Really just researching online. Everything that I had read about them seemed pretty positive. April: What service or program did National Debt Relief help you to get through? Like a payment or consolidation program, anything like that? RILEY: I just do bi-monthly payment to them, and then they reach out to my debt account, I guess, that negotiated everything for me. So, it’s pretty easy. April: Can you walk me through the process of what you went through to enroll for the services? RILEY: God, it's been like two years, so I kinda don't really remember. I just had to fill out some stuff online and then talk to them on the phone. I had to give them all my account information and everything. And then they worked out a payment plan for me. And they communicate with me like once a month with my statement. And whenever they have communication with my accounts, they have called me and had me verify before they've done anything and whatnot. April: That sounds like a really good service there. RILEY: Yeah. April: At this point, are you still in the program or have you completed it at this point? RILEY: I'm almost done. It was, I think, a two-year plan. So, yeah, I think I just have one other account that I'm paying on. April: How about any interactions with the negotiators? You said they will call you at any time that there was maybe an account activity that they want to confirm with you first. RILEY: Uh-huh [yes]. April: So, how is the interaction with them when they reach out to you and you're able to discuss with them? How is that interaction? RILEY: It's been super easy and positive for me and relieves a lot of stress and anxiety. So, yeah, it’s been very easy. April: And then how has National Debt Relief been able to work with you in terms of your payment plan? RILEY: I basically just told them what I could afford, and they figured it out. And they have offered COVID relief if I need to stop payment for the time being or whatever. Fortunately, I haven't had to do that. So, I don't really know how that would have worked, but that was an option. But they're always like, “Call us if you can't make payment, and we'll figure something out for you.” April: What are your thoughts about the cost in relation to the quality of the service you received? RILEY: I'm really happy with the program. [unclear 0:04:22] as far as I know. I don't have any complaints. April: Has working with National Debt Relief impacted your life? RILEY: Yeah. April: How would you say that it's impacted your life at this point? RILEY: It just has relieved a ton of pressure and stress, financial stress, anxiety. I'm not living paycheck to paycheck now to pay my interest, so that’s been nice. April: Have you had other experiences to National Debt Relief that perhaps you want to share with us in regards to your experience with them? RILEY: No. I think that’s it. April: On a scale of 1 to 5, where would you rate National Debt Relief, if 5 stars is that you recommend to your friends and 1 star is you're very dissatisfied? RILEY: I would say 5. April: In a few words, how would you summarize overall the National Debt Relief in your experience with them? RILEY: Just easy and stress-free. April: Would it be okay for us to also utilize your commentary as a review that we can publish for National Debt Relief? And that would go to public webpage here, but that's to help other consumers make good choices if they're also in the same market. RILEY: I guess. Would it have my first and last name? I don’t— April: Only the first name. And if that's an issue, we do the first letter. RILEY: [unclear 0:06:03] you want my full name. April: Not at all. So, we only do the first name as an option. We can also do the first letter. So, it's really up to you on which option you prefer. But just the first name. We don't do last name. We don't post anything personal like your phone number. RILEY: Yeah. I think you can use my first name. April: I do offer a link that we can also send you with a direct link to your review. So, once it's published, you also get to see directly. Is that something you would like to have sent to your email? RILEY: No.

Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating Trustpilot star rating

Riley Barker
ConsumerAffairs Reviews

Latest Financial Literacy Posts

  • How To Make Sure An Allowance Teaches Smart Money Skills
  • 6 Ways For Your Pre-teen To Make Money This Summer
  • When Is It Time To Talk To Your Kids About Money?
  • 4 Easy Ways To Reach Financial Maturity
  • Important Financial Lessons Your Kids Can Bring To Adulthood
National Debt Relief, LLC BBB Business Review AFCC Top Ten Reviews Gold Top Consumer Reviews Consumers Advocate Trust Pilot
Company
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Blog
  • Careers
  • Corporate
  • Privacy Policies
  • Terms Of Site
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap
Products
  • Debt Relief
  • Credit Card Debt Relief
  • Debt Consolidation
  • Debt Settlement
  • Calculators
  • FAQs
Debt Resources
  • Credit Card Debt
  • Medical Debt
  • Personal Loan Debt
  • Unemployment
  • Divorce Debt
  • Retiree Debt
  • Veteran Debt
  • Business Debt
  • Personal Finance
Follow Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

© 2021, National Debt Relief, All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer
Disclaimer
Disclaimer