Comments on: Online bill pay represents a huge cost, that will drive irrational Bank behaviour

By: Lillian

Lillian — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:31:42 +0000

In response to the post of September 9, 2008, I have run into the same situation. Money was debited from my account yet my payee was not paid. This “corporate check” mthod of payment for bill-pay rhis results in an interest-free loan, without consent or knowledge, to BofA from me, the consumer. I am planning a lawsuit and would like to know more of your situation.

By: April

April — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:11:02 +0000

I use Bank of America and could not believe their bill pay practices. On the day I schedule my payments, Bank of America automatically takes the funds from my account, regardless of if the payee has actually received payment. I have five payees that never received their payments, yet those funds were not available to me because Bank of America took that money on the scheduled payment date. When I asked for verification that the checks were sent (ie. a copy of the check, signature, ect) I was told that the funds were drawn off Bank of Americas corporate account and the check copies were their property. So I found myself with no money, a good portion my bills weren’t paid, I no longer have proof of processed checks, and more insulting was that I had to pay stop payment fees to get the funds credited back to my account just to re-issue payment to my creditors along with their late fees. Don’t be a victim of your banking institute,work with your creditors and the payment options they offer.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:43:00 +0000

@Thomas

Actually the banks have identified that the users of pervasive online bill payment are by far the most valuable clients to the bank. They have higher balances, hold more bank products, and show the lowest churn in their customer base.

They don’t want to send the bill payers to the biller sites because then they disintermediate themselves from the relationship between those payers and payees.

Banks are looking for least-cost payment routing and are trying to make the billpay service cheaper, but they want to keep those users on their sites as much as possible

By: Tropical Financial Credit Union

Tropical Financial Credit Union — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:20:38 +0000

I have been banking with Tropical Financial Credit Union for some time now and I have been using their online bill pay program. I have never been charged a fee by my credit union and would be appalled if they ever asked me to pay a fee.

By: Thomas Purves

Thomas Purves — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:11:09 +0000

Smart banks should realize that many of them could do a lot better by encouraging the customer to go to the merchant directly for billing and enroll in pre-authorized billing to their (interchange bearing) credit or debit cards. Trying to own the bill pay experience with consumers themselves really doesn’t gain the bank a lot anything, other than little revenue and more customer support. But then the online banking channel and the cards group are often managed on far opposite sides of the bank…