Being charged extra because of your method of payment?

I just think that logging into my auto loan site and giving them and extra $10 because I am using a method of payment "they" set up is ridiculous. Again, if you send them a check then they'll probably figure out how to charge you because now someone has to drive to a bank and make a deposit. We now live in the age of convenience but should we be charged to use that convenience?

You’ve been given sensible suggestions on how to avoid such fees, and each time you've come up with bizarre excuses why you won’t take advice.

I think you don’t want to be tied down to regular payments, I get the feeling you’d rather juggle with your payments, pay at the end, or even later, and that’s why you get charged extra.

1. I think that is the very point the OP is making.

2. The OP can correct me if I am wrong.

3. I think the OP was providing real examples where he was not given any
options of avoiding these specific charges he has spelled out.

4. There may be some available options to avoid these charges for some of his bills.

5. But, it also seems there may be no available options to avoid these charges for some of his bills.

6. So, if you were in the shoes of the OP, I guess you would be upset Max.

7. I guess you can feel grateful that you are not in the OP shoes.

I don't mind making payments. That's not what I'm talking about. I drive a car and I want to keep a car so I will pay for the car. I use lights, water, etc. I live in a rental home so again, making payments is not the problem. I just don't want each utility to charge me extra simply because I make the payment. Mailing a check or money order is probably one solution but now you're talking about travel time via USPS, or going somewhere and actually getting a money order. That on top of "who still writes checks these days? Most of these places have PO boxes for that stuff but you can't be certain they check them on the regular so your payment may be sitting in a post office box and they check it past your due date so now you have a late fee. I do not pay my bills late but when I call you to make a payment or log into your site to process it I don't feel as if I should be charged a convenience fee or processing fee on top of the regular payment.

I think several of us are questioning whether the OP is being sincere. I have never been forced to pay a finance charge with "no way to avoid the charge". Apparently neither has anyone else here.

If there was one business with this rather unfriendly business practice, that might be believable. The fact that the OP has this problem with every business suggests that maybe the problem isn't with the businesses.

It costs less for me to pay using direct payment from my bank account. So I want this savings given to me. That will mean that people who insist on paying with credit cards (or any other more costly means) should pay more.

In my experience, I have always been able to avoid finance charges if I choose to (there were a few times when these extra charges were worth it). What has been your experience RealMusic?

You're right, In speaking with my bill people they are not giving me any options to avoid those fees. In the case of my car loan, the closest office is some 20+ miles away in the next city. I can't really just take my lunch break and drive over there to avoid a fee. The time and gas I'd spend would eat that up. Even with my property management company, who is right in our city, they have a rental portal to make rent payments but they charge you a technology fee on top of your regular rent because you choose to use their portal. If I'm late on a payment then by all means, tack on something for late fees. But if I'm making my payment before or even on the day it's due by a method you set up then why do you feel it necessary to charge extra to use that feature?

It's not a finance charge but a convenience or processing fee. They tack on $8 or $10 because you may be calling in a payment or processing it online. And no, this is not on a credit card. I'm strictly using my debit card which means once they process it those funds are immediately drawn from my account. Maybe I'm the only one here on this board who is affected by it but I assure you I'm not the only person who is being charged extra to use their services. I'm not the only one my finance company is charging to make a payment. And I assure you, with my property management, everyone they manage a rental for has to pay that technology fee. It's written in the lease. And no, not's not every bill I have, just a few.

1. I have not written a paper check for anything in probably 20 years.

2. I generally pay bills over the phone and I also pay some type of small fee for each time I pay over the phone.

3. I am fine with paying the small convenient fee.

4. The convenient fee is usually only around $2 for each payment.

5. The convenient fee is always very small.

6. I believe if I were to mail in a paper check, there probably would not be any fees.

7. Being that I haven't written a check for anything in over twenty years, I don't know for sure if there are fees when writing checks.

8. As long as the convenient over-the-phone fees remain low, I have no plans on ever writing a paper check again.

Sure, that is bogus. I would want some way to avoid paying the fee that didn't involve me physically traveling somewhere.

I pay rent, and several types insurance, and a car loan, and electricity and gas... I don't have this problem with any of these businesses.

If both your car financing and rental company are screwing you this way, maybe you are unlucky, or maybe you are doing something wrong. Are you sure you aren't missing something?

You can always refinance your car loan, and then check the fine print to make sure that the new company doesn't have this fee.

I am curious RealMusic, why don't you pay over the internet?

Generally this is both convenient and free. Better yet, most of my bills I set up to be paid automatically, I don't even need to think about it.

1. My personal preference is to pay over the phone using the automatic telephone prompts.

2. I simply feel uneasy about paying bills on-line.

3. The only time I will ever allow automatic payments is for loans, such as car loans or mortgage loans.

A $2 fee I'm not going to concern myself with. But that's not my case. I'm being charged $8+ or more to make a payment over the phone or using their website. Hey, I would welcome a $2 convenience fee. And please do not think that because your people only charge you $2 that everyone only charges $2. $2 x 12 months in a year is only $24. Do the math on $8 or $10 fee over a 12 month period.

I can understand certain fees. It honestly is hard for me to tell if what you are quoting are unusually high fees or not without really knowing what is going.

Basically if this is a smaller outfit, they may be paying a company to process these fees. A landlord is not in the business of having a payment system and it would be costly for them to have someone come in and set up their own processing system. Most of the smaller outfits have a company take care of this so it costs them money. Even my town to pay say my water bill charges me a fee to pay online. Why? Because the town using someone else for all this processing and it costs them money.

Another thing that places charge more fees for is if you use a credit card. Why? Because each credit card transaction that you make - the business receiving that payment must pay a fee to the credit card company.

Now what about small businesses that don't charge a fee - why can they do it? Well simply they increase their prices to compensate for these fees. So you end up paying for it one way or another.

I know the place I go to get my nails done - they will take a credit card (without additional fees) but they do ask if you pay by check or cash as it keeps their costs down. I usually am prepared and pay cash to help them out - also I like their lower prices so I try to accommodate them.

Now that is not to say - that some places may take advantage of this by making the fees even higher -- you could always ask them why the fee is so high? Maybe it is because of years of giving it to you for free they are trying to catch up.

Depending on how their payment system works it more than likely works like a credit card. Do you input your pin when you make the payment? If not, it works just like a credit card and costs the business for each transaction - even though you may not see it different on their side it would be a credit card transaction.

They are paying for a company to process this - they probably hire an outside company that handles payments like this - it is not unusual.

One thought - usually you have an option to instead of using your debit card (which would likely work similar to a credit card) - you can enter your bank account number and routing number - then the transaction works similar to writing a check. It costs less money to process so usually the fees are less as a result - for my town - the difference is 0.50 cents vs. several dollars (maybe even like $10 you quote) - I always use the bank account method as it is significantly less.

Another thing is - just pay via online banking - the bank sends a "check" to your payer usually there is no additional fee associated with it -you just need to plan a head as it takes longer (some as much as a week).

Yes, I do pay $1.50 or so to pay my water bill online because most city entities they farm those things out to processing places the manage their payments. That's I'm fine with. Maybe I would wish that say my finance company or rental office hide those fees in the paperwork. Instead of saying your car note is $405 a month, just say your car note is $415 a month instead of taking $405 then adding an additional $10 on the back end simply because you choose to make the payment online or with your debit card.

Some suggested setting up automatic withdrawals each month from your bank account - great idea - some places even give you discounts for doing this or eliminate extra fees. My daughter's tuition - I can pay monthly without any interest or fees by having this automatically withdrawn each month from my bank account. Verizon gives me $5 off my monthly bill for doing the same. Companies do this because it ensures they are more likely to get paid when it is due. Now the negative side is - you have to make sure you have that money in your bank account!

We pay all our bills online through the bank. It costs nothing. We still have checks because Motor Vehicle office doesn't charge for payment for parking tickets with checks, but actually, now you can pay online and it's free, too. Actually, my husband just paid for 3 at the one time (he's so bad about paying for parking). I don't think we have ever been charged fees for anything. Just set up your bill payments through interac through your bank. Free!

But I get your frustration at the expensive fees you're paying. Lots of suggestions here - pick one!

That amount does seem very high for a processing fee - curious where you had your car financed with? Most larger financing companies (those that typically are in the business of car loans) do not charge a processing fee - the only thing I can think of is you financed with a small outfit - not with a bank or larger car financing like Honda financing - and/or because of the debit card which may make charges similar to a credit card. I pay my car loan via my online banking - there is no fee and I'd never heard of one for a car loan, but then again I don't use a card payment to pay my car loan.

Today I just paid a small business for work that they had done in my basement - they sent the bill via this billing software.

I went to pay the bill with the expectation if I use my credit card there would be a charge - I was given three options to buy - debit, checking account or credit card - and also I was given the option to mail in a check. I selected credit card (as this was my preferred method depending on the charge) - no extra charge!