quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I usually leave a small (<$50) on the NFCU card.

I don't understand this. If you're not paying off entirely, doesn't that cause interest to be computed on average monthly balance? That will be for the prior month and the next month for any new spends?

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I usually leave a small (<$50) on the NFCU card.

I don't understand this. If you're not paying off entirely, doesn't that cause interest to be computed on average monthly balance? That will be for the prior month and the next month for any new spends?

Ya know, I'm not sure. My suspicion is that if I pay it off every month and they don't make ANY interest off me, it will affect my credit limit.

On my Chase (Amazon) card, I've been paying it off every month since I got it, started out with a $6000 limit and now it's like $3500. Not that it matters, I'd never charge that much barring some sort of financial disaster and it'd be last resort then.

Or I could be completely full of shit...

As said I'm an old fart and this does NOT please me!

I have an account that charges me a $2.99 monthly fee for a paper invoice. Like you, this frosts my butt. As soon as I get a replacement for this service, I'm switching over! No respect for the customers any more!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
I’m ok with it. I keep a .xls for bill paying where I list each bill I have. On or before the 1st and 15th, when I pay my bills, I peruse each digital bill to make sure no funny business. Been in this habit for many years now as each, one by one, went and pushed digital only to save some pennies on paper bills. The good side is I don’t check my snail mail often. Only shit in there is spam to recycle.

I am approaching old fart status, but I like paperless. I look at the statements, and make sure they are accurate, and then pay them on line. I do keep a spreadsheet on which I keep track of the payments made, just as a backup, even though my bank will have a record of the payment. The spreadsheet also helps ensure I don't overlook a payment. I am glad to not have to get paper out of the mailbox, store it, open it, write checks, and then store the statements for some period of time.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I usually leave a small (<$50) on the NFCU card.

I don't understand this. If you're not paying off entirely, doesn't that cause interest to be computed on average monthly balance? That will be for the prior month and the next month for any new spends?

I don't know, but I'd be surprised to learn you can be charged interest on an averaged balance. But I really don't know. I bet your CC agreement tells you, if you care to read that miserable thing.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
On my Chase (Amazon) card, I've been paying it off every month since I got it, started out with a $6000 limit and now it's like $3500.

Interesting. Mine started out at $2000 and stayed there forever, despite my paying it full every month (when I used it). One month, no idea why, I only paid half of the balance for some reason. Shortly thereafter they bumped me up to $5000. Like you, not that I'd ever use it, barring a legit emergency, I just found that odd. You'd think a multiple year history of paying it off promptly would be better for the credit, but apparently not.

Lowe’s credit card company sent a notification related to this exact issue.

$1.99 a month service fee for paper bill or free for paperless. I called and said I have been a member in good standing for 27 years and asked that they wave the monthly fee - their reply was - Sorry we cannot do that.

My reply - cancel my Lowe’s CC - and they did right then and there. That was five months ago and I have not spent a penny with them since. Home Depot gets all of my business now. Lowe’s has gone downhill in the last five + years IMO, at least the local store has.

About six years ago, as I was planning to temporarily live overseas, I switched to all digital. It's been convenient enough for me.

HOWEVER, I realized recently that this move to going digital for everything has a possible implication for mind control and not in the weird way. Here are the facts that I realized:

1) From time to time previously, I used to pull up the Youtube video clip of Rachel Maddow going on just before the 2016 election about how even if Trump did this or that, there was no way he was going to win. Watching it was always good for a laugh. But for a while now, I can't pull it up in the searches.

2) I saw a video on North Korea and how the newspapers are posted up in key places that people can go up and read. But it's not like anyone can have a subscription so they can keep a copy. The documentary mentions that the newspaper gets replaced everyday and copies of the newspaper are controlled so that no one can reference back what was reported in the past. It's like that scene in 1984 where news reports can edited to say the latest harvest is a bumper crop even when it's short of what was projected in the past.

Conclusion: I see the digital age where all the information is mostly coming through as the better way of manipulating information.

What if I told you...

that if you want more trees, use more paper?

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:

if you want more trees, use more paper?

I’m paperless with Farmers insurance. Auto, home, and umbrella. Works out OK, because I have the excellent Farmers app on my iPhone.

I don’t think I’d be charged a fee for paper billing, but I like paperless. My bank accounts are paperless too. An excellent iPhone there as well.

the only hiccup I see with paperless billings and auto-pay is the ability for agencies to tinker and manipulate the fees and charges slowly increasing them and unless you pay absolute attention you'll not notice that your bill creeps up every month

Many moons ago I had a Sunoco credit card that changed the billing due date on me several time and since then I have opted out of paperless billing. I can count on one hand how many times I have had a credit card late fee. I would say 3 of them were from that Sunoco card and the other two were my fault.

My health insurance has recently went to paperless explanation of benefits and I get an email when a new statement is sent. It’s only a web link and you have to log in to any information.

Is it not appropriate for those demanding a more expensive item to pay more?

Envelope. Paper. Stamp. Machinery to mail. Separating those who prefer paper from those who do not. Labor costs.

Privileges require payment.

Funny, but not surprising, that we've come full circle. Years ago my mortgage company wanted and extra $8 a month if I paid the bill online. So I sent a check for years until they changed their policy.

I am Not interested in getting any additional mail to my house. My email for billing works just fine then I can go back and pull up the image of the bill. Also bank and stock accounts since I do that all online as well. Only hitch in this is tax time. Just a week or so ago I had to go on every website I deal with, save their 1099/1098 etc as a .pdf then combine it all into one big .pdf and get it printed this ended up being 180 pages. ( each brokerage account full 1098 is 20 pages +)
Plus the handful of random charities and donated thrift store receipts that are still paper mailed that’s fine I guess.
Then I spend a while tabbing all those by section of the tax return they sit in sched A,D etc. and then taking that small phone book size package to my CPA. Then like magic he will call my in a month and tell me the damage.

I have reluctantly switched many of our bills to paperless, since yes, they started applying a charge for paper bills. But, I do my best to monitor the costs. I pay thru my credit union, so the only one that gets paid automatically is the T-Mobile internet, but again, I watch.
Like Henryaz, I also have/had CenturyLink, but they changed to Brightspeed. Same thing, I never got the email notification of the bill, so they tried to charge me late fees. They did remove the late fees when I called and explained I never got the email. Now I watch and I’ll go to their website if I don’t get the email when I think I should to make sure it’s paid. Century link has a bad habit of sending emails to spam too, so I watch that as well.
Mostly it’s me trying to watch end of month to make sure all our bills have been paid currently and the amount too.

I pay all my bills online, but I still want paper bills sent to my house. If something happens, I want me or someone else to be able to pay the bills. Otherwise without access to my computer at home, I can't pay them online. And there's way too many things that could make that possible.

I don't like mandates of any kind. That said, most of my billing and payments are done electronically now, after having identity theft issues because creeps stole my mail. I've been angry about mandates since the mid 80's when my employer (the US Govt) decided I could only be paid by direct deposit and I MUST have a bank account.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I usually leave a small (<$50) on the NFCU card.

I don't understand this. If you're not paying off entirely, doesn't that cause interest to be computed on average monthly balance? That will be for the prior month and the next month for any new spends?

Ya know, I'm not sure. My suspicion is that if I pay it off every month and they don't make ANY interest off me, it will affect my credit limit.

Yeah, pay that sucker off, and pay it in full every month if you actually use it. If you do, there's no interest on new purchases.

I've never purposely paid interest on any credit card usage over 40 years and never had any reduce my credit limits.

Banks decisions on credit limits have many inputs and how much you use it is one of them. Changes in credit history, changes in income, etc. also matter. I don't believe the variable 'does he pay the card off every month' is a big factor or they'd all have dumped me and run screaming decades ago. They make their money from a piece of my spending, and seem to be happy with their 2-3-4% of that.

RE: the thread topic, there is some slight justification of giving a break to the customer base who doesn't require envelopes, printing, paper and postage expenses. But for companies that have been doing paper transactions for years to force a transition and just stop is pathetic.