1. If you have a credit card with a bank in which you also have a checking and/or savings account close your checking/savings accounts and open those accounts at a different bank. 2. Never sign up for automatic payments (initiated by companies) with anyone, not your phone, garbage, water companies, credit card companies, or other loans. By giving these companies your banking information they can rob you blind. Remember most of those payment processing clerks are being paid minimum wage and any dishonest one can steal your identity. 3. Do not fall for your bank's "bill payment service". This service is nothing more than your bank sending out their own checks - which they send first class mail. You can do the same thing. 4. If you do make online payments and get a receipt/or once it's posted, immediately delete your banking information.
Thanks greg none of my credit cards are with my bank because i work there and don't want them to bug me
I've had bank accounts and credit cards at the same institutions (several) for many years and not one problem. I LIVE by automatic payments. It guarantees I'll never be late. Not a single problem in the ten or so years I've been doing it. You say they can rob you blind, but the transactions can easily be reversed. Most of these institutions are subject to some pretty strict laws. The exception may be the CA or JDB who will try to process additional payments. You identity can actually be more easily stolen by stealing your bank statement from your mailbox. In this case, they not only have your bank information, but account numbers from all of the accounts you've paid along with numerous examples of your signature. More ID theft is perpetrated by stealing mail than just about anything else. As far as your bank's bill pay, I seldom use that, but not for the reasons you state. I normally have the account debit my bank, that way they do it on the due date or date I specify, and I don't have to rely on the bank doing it possibly a different date, especially where the due date may change every month. In other words, a credit card may bill around the 15th, but maybe one month it's the 14th. If I used the bank bill pay and set it up for the 15th, it would be late. If I told the credit card company to take it on the due date, it would be on time and save me the late fee and the hit on my credit report. And, contrary to what you said, most of the payments are not sent by the bank with a first-class stamp through the mail. Most transactions are ACH transfers. The only time the bank will go to the trouble and expense of printing a check and mailing it is in cases where the receipent is not an ACH member. There's no reason to delete your banking information every time you do a transfer. The sites are secure. And, as I said before, most creditors (especially banks) have very stringent controls and oversights. There's no reason to go around fearmongering and trying to scare people away from using the current, secure, online methods of conducting business for the most part.
greg, i am curious what your reasonings are behind your warnings. can you share? i also live by automatic payments and have no problems with having a credit card issued by the bank where i also have a checking or savings account.
I agree. I have used auto bill pay since it became available years ago and I feel it is more secure than writing a check and putting it out in the mail box to sit till the postman comes by. We also have a credit card from the same bank we have our primary savings/checkings with. We have NEVER had any issues. Check your bank or credit union's rating on bankrate.com. If you have a "good" bank that is FDIC insured, there shouldn't be any issues. They can't just come in and take your money without authorization.
Actually, most "ABP" services use electronic transfers *IF* your payee supports ETs. If the payee is listed in their own system, chances are that payee is paid by ETs. Even if the payee doesn't support ETs, you still have more 'protection' by having an unbiased third-party mailing the check, then you personally mailing the check at your post office via FCM. This is akin to why CAs can typically use their own company's mailing logs, unless you can prove a discrepancy in their company's mailing logs, because their computer systems are designed specifically to mail and log mailings. ABP systems likewise record the check # and mailing information in their specially designed databases. The reason behind #1 is that most CC agreements and bank account agreements allow them to use accounts with themselves as security in the event of default. So, if you have a billing dispute that goes nasty, or if their system goes screwy and their computer even 'thinks' that you've DEFAULTED, you could end up with a frozen account, and any checks you wrote being returned as being drafted on a frozen account.
You should always be at several banks to diversify your assets. Only $100K is insured, never go above that. This isn't hard. That's silly. You should, however, protect yourself by setting up an account that is just for paying bills. This account won't have your millions in it, it will just have enough to pay that month and a little bit. Of course you won't give anyone the account that holds your life's savings. Duh. This can happen with any check you write too, they include your account number printed every single time. This is why intelligent people have checks and credit cards specifically for dodgy establishments. Again, duh. It amazes me that there are people who don't know this. By spending forty something cents. I'm going to get them to do this every single day. There's nothing wrong with bill pay. I don't have a clue what this means.
Aren't you the same guy who posted the dire warnings about the alleged evils of paperless statements? http://consumers.creditnet.com/Discussions/credit-talk/t-lol-what-joke-68271.html I still don't get why you keep ranting about this stuff. Did one of your creditors steal all the money from your bank account?
