Online bill payment systems, sometimes they suck.
- Thread starter ed629
- Start date
That's what I'd think. Many small business owners who own consulting firms, repair services etc. in my experience accept either cash, checks and some have graduated to the 21st century and have and Iphone or IPad CC swiper but that's very "high tech," for some small business owners.
Perhaps things are different in Europe but here in the US many small business people are a primarily cash only business. And if they're going to get paid via an online payment the bank is mailing them a check I assure you.
ed629
Rear Admiral
Just had to go pay my electric bill in person, ask my name and it doesn't come up. So they try the address, nothing. I don't have a paper one since I get an e-bill for the electricity. So then they try my lot number (I know it because my sewer bill is charged this way), give it to them and it comes up. They had my last name first, and middle name as my last and first as middle. Basically if I was James Tiberius Kirk, the system should have me as Kirk, James Tiberius. They had me as Kirk James Tiberius, so the system has my first name as Kirk, last as Tiberius and Middle as James.
But they can't change it, I have to do it online. I can't access the payment or account system online because what I put in doesn't exist (the account number). They said I could cancel my account and start a new one, but that wold mean I could be without electricity for a day or so. Fuck.... so until I leave for a vacation or something, I'll just deal with it, then have the old account shut off and start a new one.
But they can't change it, I have to do it online. I can't access the payment or account system online because what I put in doesn't exist (the account number). They said I could cancel my account and start a new one, but that wold mean I could be without electricity for a day or so. Fuck.... so until I leave for a vacation or something, I'll just deal with it, then have the old account shut off and start a new one.
I also hate how each online bill pay system has different password requirement. Some require a character....some require a capital letter etc.
I have had to create a pass word cheat sheet for all of my different log on account information.
Try using 1Password. It's probably the most massively useful utility I've ever bought. Not only does it store all your passwords (securely), it helps you generate new, strong ones.
My car payment charges me an extra $5 Convenience Fee if I try to pay online.
You'd think, at this point, they'd charge me an Inconvenience Fee for having to process a check.
We refinanced our house to take advantage of the lower rates--and the mortgage company charges $15.00 for phone or epay!!! So we mail it. No e-reminders either. How stupidly backwards. Had I known, I might've gone with another lender since there were others with the same rates.
See, in the UK, if they have a bank account, they are set-up to receive electronic payments.
Still? Isn't there a new trend where some businesses stopped taking credit and debit cards because they cannot afford the fees behind the process of using these methods in this economy?
Absolutely nobody is cutting any cheques if make an on-line payment in the UK, the banks don't want to do it because of the economic cost and the time involved. If you make a payment between two UK based accounts, it's pretty much instant those days - as in transferred in seconds.
Yes, which is one of the reasons why Obama's Wall Street reform put an explicit cap on interchange fees. The banks were not happy about that at all.
Interesting. Having a business license in the UK and a bank account associated with that business must some how automatically link the two.
Not so here in the US. A bank must create an association with a vendor in order for that to happen separate from the business bank account. It's also possible that privacy laws here get in the way of that.
One of the few "vendors," that doesn't in my case is my home owners association. My HOA is a group of individuals that manage the ~100 homes in the community I live in and which I pay a quarterly fee to maintain the communal areas.
The board president and treasurer of my HOA refuses to establish a banking link and therefore my bank mails them a check. After several times of them doing so and the HOA holding the check for 30+ days I decided that a money order was a better way for me to pay that obligation. I don't like checks sitting unpaid for a long period and on the books.
Most other transactions through my bank however are paid electronically.
Believe it or not, in the UK there is no such thing as a business license (well if the Wikipedia article on the subject describes it correctly in regards to the US and I've understood it correctly), neither do you either need to be a business to accept electronic funds transfers. Let's say I was paying you as a individual to come and clean my pool, you'd give me your bank account details and I could set the transfer in a couple of seconds or I could set it up on a recurring basis**.
* Although depending on it's formation, you might need to register certain legal documents.
** It gets more complex than this when you get into the process of direct debits but let's not go there yet.
What ifI was a privacy freak and afraid that one of Rupert Murdoch's publications was stealing my bank account information [wink] and only accepted cash or a check - would your bank if you paid me online send a manual check? Or would they tell you you're shit out of luck to pay online?
All the information you need from a bank account to send people money is printed on the front of every cheque (Account code, Sort Code). So there is no difference in the amount of information you expose doing an electronic transfer as opposed to a bank transfer. So anyone glancing at a cheque gets the same amount of information they need for an electronic transfer.
No because the money is instantly transferred, there is no way to request that service.
I know, I was just being a smart ass towards Murdoch.
But in the UK you must still have 80 year old women who go to the grocery store who still write checks like we have in the US?
I have a terrible habit getting behind the person at the market that is still iving in 1955 check writing mode.
Easily one of my biggest shopping pet-peeves. Just get a frickin' debit card, grandma!I have a terrible habit getting behind the person at the market that is still iving in 1955 check writing mode.
But in the UK you must still have 80 year old women who go to the grocery store who still write checks like we have in the US?
I have a terrible habit getting behind the person at the market that is still iving in 1955 check writing mode.
Sort of, you can write a cheque but as far as I am aware, no major stores will accept them because of the processing cost. The small businesses that do will shortly be stopping because we have just phased out what was called the Cheque guaranteed scheme which meant that cheques upto £100 were covered by the banks if fraud occurred. So most of the small shops that still take them are unlikely to going forward because of the risk (and also the cost).
So in short, you can still write a cheque but you might spend nine or ten hours finding a shop that will accept it.
I still have to write checks to my landlord for rent. I wish he could set something up online. That would be very convenient.
I don't trust checks because there is absolutely nothing to back them up. I could write you a check right now for $100,000, but I guarantee you won't be able to cash it.
I don't trust checks because there is absolutely nothing to back them up. I could write you a check right now for $100,000, but I guarantee you won't be able to cash it.
Thanks for sharing that's really interesting to me. If they did the same thing here - you'd have grandma's in walkers marching on the US Capitol building.
Some older folks still insist on getting their social security monthly payment by check and any attempts by the US government to change over to direct deposit has been greeted with fierce opposition.
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