Autopay is a great and ideal way to make payments that don’t fluctuate every month, such as your mortgage and car payments. However, this is not the case with expenses that are in continuous fluctuation.
besides, although putting your bills on Autopay is a simpler and efficient way that will help you manage your expenses and paying your bills on time and so saving money by preventing late fees and dinging on your credit report, it is not the right choice for every expense and it can do more harm than good for the following specific bills.
Cellphone Bill
In case you either have an unlimited or non-unlimited cellphone plan and your bill does not change, autopay is a time-saving strategy to manage your payments. However, the problem is that according to your use of data, the amount you owe can change from month to month. And if you forget to read your cellphone statement in months that you owe more than usual, the additional funds taken from your bank account could trigger an overdraft and extra bank fees.
In addition, some cellphone plans don’t have the same billing date every month. For example, while you might have a set date of the day 15th, others might have a monthly cycle that changes depending on the number of days the month. Therefore, this way doesn’t guarantee a consistent payment date each month, and you might be annoyed if payments are done while you weren’t expecting it, and consequently, you run out of funds.
Considering autopay as a hands-off way to paying bills, you are also more likely to forget about inspecting your cellphone bill after setting up automatic payments. That means you might not find out billing errors and will end up paying more than required.
Utilities Bill
As long as your water, gas, and electric bills are fluctuating every month, it is generally safer not to set utility bills on autopilot, unless you’re on a budget plan through your utility company, which allows you to pay a set amount of money every month.
Besides, since initiating one-time payments every month involves signing into your accounts, you’re more likely to review statements before making a payment. And when you regularly review your statements, it becomes easier for you to control and identify unusual price increases.
For instance, a higher water bill may mean that there is a water leak in your house. So, if you set up auto-draft for this bill and never review your statements, you may not notice the leak for months, the thing that can cause great damage to your home and your wallet.
Gym Membership
Although a gym membership helps you get into shape and lose weight, you could lose more than that when it comes to your money.
Putting the monthly gym membership fee on autopay would be a good idea, in case you are committed to visiting the gym regularly. However, regardless of your intentions and dedications, the actual time you will spend at the gym could be far less than you might think.
On the other hand, if you pay monthly, you will be conscious about your gym usage occasionally and you can cancel the membership anytime you feel that you are not going to the gym more often.
Cable and Satellite Service
Your cable and satellite bills are more than likely to vary according to what you watch, particularly if you watch a lot of movies on demand. By using the autopay approach to pay your cable and satellite bills, you might never be able to monitor the amount you spend on extra services.
Usually, cable and satellite companies increase their rates every year and include new fees for new offerings, such as regional sports networks, which you may not be fond of watching. However, paying through the traditional way, by check, or by making a one-time payment online, gives you the ability to review and monitor your bill for any undesirable increase in price and all the options you might not be using.
In addition, reviewing your cable or satellite bill will allow you to know when all those promotional offers you have signed up for have expired. It also could push you to call the company and ask to renegotiate your subscription.
Streaming Video Services
Although streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu are convenient since you can entertain yourself by watching whatever you want and whenever you want, you should think twice before signing up for these services. In case you have cable, some of the shows and movies that streaming services offer are also available through your cable provider on demand.
If you have the habit of automatically paying for the streaming every month, you might pay these fees month after month without thinking whether you really need the services or not. When you sign up for streaming but don’t take full advantage of the service, you’re actually wasting your money.
Music Streaming
what is good about music services such as Spotify and Apple Music is that they allow you to stream just about any song from any artist. However, the downside is that you have to provide a credit card or bank account number before getting access to songs in order to automatically charge the monthly fee to your account.
Actually, streaming music is a fun luxury, but only if you’re getting worth of your money. If you don’t regularly use the streaming music services or you stop streaming altogether, the company continues to withdraw money from your account until you cancel your subscription. In case you forget to cancel, you end up paying for a service you don’t use anymore.