Although autopay might help you avoid late fees, it may cause more harm than good when it comes to these particular payments.
We could all benefit from a more straightforward, effective approach to budgeting and saving money.
Putting your accounts on autopay ensures that you never miss a payment deadline, reducing the possibility of late fees and credit report blemishes.
However, while automatic payments can save you time and help you organise your finances, they aren’t appropriate for all expenses.
Autopay is perfect for monthly payments that don’t change, such as your mortgage and car payments. It’s easier to plan and budget for automatic draughts when you know what to expect from these expenses each month. This isn’t the case with variable monthly expenses.
Before you get too enthusiastic and set your entire financial life on autopilot, there are a few expenses that should never be paid on autopay.
Bill for Cellphones
Autopay is a time-saving approach for managing payments if you have an unlimited telephone plan and your bill never changes.
A non-unlimited mobile plan also has the option of setting up automatic payments. However, depending on your data usage, the amount you owe can fluctuate from month to month.
In addition, if you forget to read your cellphone statement in months when you owe more than normal, the additional funds taken from your bank account could result in an overdraft and bank costs.
Some mobile plans may not bill on the same day each month. While you may have a specific day, such as the 15th, others follow a monthly cycle that varies depending on the month’s number of days.
This doesn’t ensure a regular payment date each month, and you can be caught off guard — and out of money — if a payment arrives when you least expect it.
You’re less likely to scrutinise your mobile bill after setting up monthly payments because autopay is a hands-off way to paying bills.
That means you can miss billing problems and end up paying more than you should.
Bill on Utilities
Your water, gas, and electric bills will fluctuate every month unless you’re on a budget plan with your utility company that allows you to pay a predetermined amount every month. As a result, it’s generally a good idea to avoid setting electric bills on autopilot.
Signing into your accounts each month to start one-time payments is required. You’re more likely to study statements before making a payment in this instance. It’s also easier to spot odd price rises if you analyse your statements on a frequent basis.
A larger water bill, for example, may signal a water leak in your home. If you have this bill set up on auto-draft and never check your statements, a leak might go unnoticed for months, causing significant damage to your house — and your wallet.
Membership in a gym
A gym membership might assist you in becoming in shape and losing weight. However, you could lose a lot more.
If you’re serious about going to the gym on a regular basis, setting up autopay for your monthly membership price is a fantastic idea.
However, despite your best efforts, you may find that you spend significantly less time at the gym than you planned – to the point where it is no longer economical to pay for a membership.
Some invoices get out of sight and out of mind as a result of autopay. As a result, there’s a chance you’ll lose track of how much money is being withdrawn from your account.
Alternatively, you may acquire accustomed to paying certain charges so you end up paying for a membership that you never use.
If you pay monthly, on the other hand, you’re more likely to analyse your gym usage on a regular basis and cancel your membership if you’re not utilising it.
Satellite and Cable Service
Your cable and satellite fees might vary significantly, especially if you watch a lot of on-demand movies.
You may never control the amount you spend on supplementary services if your cable bill is automatic and payments are debited from your bank account.
Cable and satellite companies also appear to raise their charges every year, including costs for additional services you don’t use, such as regional sports networks.
Paying your account the old fashioned manner, by check or making a one-time payment online, allows you to check for price hikes and all the features you may not be using.
Examining your cable or satellite bill will also alert you to the expiration of any promotional deals you signed up for.
It may also encourage you to contact the company and request a re-negotiation of your services.
Video Streaming Services
Netflix and Hulu are convenient streaming services because they allow you to view whatever you want, whenever you want. However, before you sign up for these services, consider twice.
Some of the shows and movies available on streaming platforms are also accessible on demand through your cable provider if you have cable.
If you become accustomed to monthly streaming costs being deducted from your bank account or charged to your credit card, you may continue to pay these fees month after month without questioning whether you require the services.
You’re simply dumping money down the toilet if you sign up for streaming but don’t use it to its full potential.
Streaming music
Spotify and Apple Music, for example, allow you to listen to almost any song by any artist. The disadvantage is that before you can listen to music, you must first provide a credit card or bank account information.
The monthly fee is automatically charged to your account by the music service.
Streaming music is a nice perk, but only if you get your money’s value out of it. If your consumption reduces and you stream less music (or no music at all), the corporation will continue to deduct money from your account until you terminate your subscription.
If you forget to cancel, you will be charged for a service you no longer use.
Boxes of Cosmetics
Several cosmetic firms provide beauty box subscriptions, in which customers receive a box of products to try at home each month.
This is a clever marketing strategy for cosmetic businesses, and it’s a simple method for you to try out different beauty brands without having to pay full retail price.
Because these memberships are often affordable — starting as low as $10 per month — they may appear to be a tiny monthly expense.
The cost of a beauty box subscription, on the other hand, mounts up over the course of a year. You might forget to break down the cost and compute its worth if you set up automatic payments for this subscription.
You may spend more than $100 a year on your subscription boxes, but only use a small portion of the items.
Subscriptions to newspapers
Subscribing to a print or digital edition of a newspaper puts the newest headlines at your fingertips if you prefer reading the news to viewing it.
Subscribers to several newspapers have the option of setting up automatic payments. If you read your subscription, this isn’t a bad deal. Life, on the other hand, might turn busy at any time.
You’ll spend money buying for a subscription you won’t use if you get busy and pile the newspapers in the corner without reading them.
If you make one-time payments every month, on the other hand, you’re more likely to cancel the subscription once you’re no longer using it.
Subscriptions for the year
If you have annual subscriptions or services, don’t set up automatic payments for these charges.
Annual expenses might catch you off guard, even if you’re a well-organized person with a good memory and a flair for writing everything down on the calendar.
You might forget the next due date if you don’t receive a reminder because you don’t think about these invoices on a frequent basis.
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When you auto-renew an annual membership, you authorise the company or merchant to charge your credit card or draught funds from your bank account on the following payment due date.
If you don’t budget for this expense, the corporation may draught your bank account when there aren’t enough money in the account, resulting in an overdraft fee.
