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It's dependent on your bank and it's policies as well as how you setup the automatic payment to begin with in the US. To avoid what happened in the article you
by pmorici 17y ago
It's dependent on your bank and it's policies as well as how you setup the automatic payment to begin with in the US. To avoid what happened in the article you can use your banks automated bill pay instead of signing up for the vendors auto mated payment program. That way you have full control over when to start and stop payments. Of course that only works for fix monthly payments for things that fluctuate like water and electric you really have little choice.
- sokoloff 17y agoI can't get water bills electronically, but my bank gets e-bills for my cable/internet, electric and gas providers so I can easily pay those variable amount bills. In fact, they're completely on auto-pilot. I get notified when the bill is posted and the amount; if I do nothing (the normal case), the bill gets paid from my bank's auto-bill pay system automatically.
- viraptor 17y agoActually direct debit works on any amount - it's ok to pay fixed or variable amounts. Some companies do it differently (like my electricity supplier) and charge me a fixed amount monthly and then send in the balance every year and adjust the payments.
- pmorici 17y agoDirect debit is when the vendor pulls the money from your account automatically. Paperless checking is when you setup with your bank to send / push the payment to the vendor. You have much less control over the former than the latter in my experience.