I spent a good 90 minutes last night taking care of nitpicky little financial to-dos, including paying and reviewing bills.
While I pay most bills online, I don't use auto-bill pay much. Let's have reader Brian explain why:
Amen, Brian. As I was going over my credit card bill last night, I noticed that the Wi-Fi service I paid for at the airport on the way back from a weekend wedding was charged to my card twice. It's not like paying $7.95 twice is going to bury me. But as we all know, it all adds up, especially if we're talking about an erroneous recurring charge.
So keep your eyes open. Automatic bill-pay is convenient, but it tends to make us complacent. And that's when dollars start to slip through our fingers.
The dispute charge function is one reason why I like charging all of my purchases to a credit card. I've only used the service once for a $10 renewal fee for a domain name that I didn't remember authorizing. But the process was painless and it felt good knowing that my credit card company does have my back when it comes to my purchases. If only I felt so warm and fuzzy about their fee and interest rate policies.
