I know the YouTube glitterati are hyperventilating that the banks are going to crash "any minute now," and have been for years (decades), but something really strange happened to me today and just thought I'd ask if anyone else had things going a little weird.
I use online bill pay, have done so ever since my bank came out with it decades ago. I have never had a problem with it. But you know how sometimes you add a new bill to the system and it tells you that they have to cut a physical check and mail it? I guess that's understandable when it's a smaller business or something.
Today I was paying my list of bills, entered them all into the form (there were only five of them), and when I submitted it, I got an error message that four of the five bills were rejected because I had submitted incorrect calendar dates. (The fifth bill was to the same bank, since it was a credit card payment.) I went in and changed the dates to the new suggested arrival date, which was 3 days later than the original. When I submitted again, all of these listed their delivery method as "mail physical check."
I pulled out the last few months payment printouts, and the same payees had delivery method listed as "Electronic Payment" (average arrival 1-2 days), have now changed to "Mail" (average arrival 3-5 days). That makes a big difference on whether or not your bills are paid on time, especially since often these companies hold a physical check for 10 days to make sure it clears. These are not small local businesses... it's Cox Communications, Bank of America, AT&T, etc., who have been on my billing list for years and have always accepted electronic payments.
I spent 30+ minutes on the phone with them (being transferred twice) and the answer was that the Bank does not determine the delivery methods for each company, the payment system—FiServe—does. Well I looked up FiServ and they are an electronic billing and payment service. The CSR told me they have used FiServ for many years (she didn't know how long, but in other words, it's not "new.") If they are an electronic billing system, why are they cutting paper checks and mailing them like it is 1998? She had no answer, but kindly provided me with the FiServ CS number, and now it is too late to call them. She told me that sometimes this happens when addresses or marital status changes, but nothing in my profile has changed.
I just know through reading and podcasts that there are whacky things anticipated via the electronic payment systems. Is anyone else starting to notice cracks in the foundation? Because if this is how they are going to do things, I could just write all those checks myself, or switch banks to one that is living in the modern world.
I expect the mailed check to be late, so now I'll have to make an on-line payment on the due date to cover my bases. Luckily for me it's just this one bill.
I have no way to know what the actual situation is, but we all know that paper cheques take longer to process once you request them, but my guess is that FiServe takes your cash right away. FiServe may be wanting to hang on to your money for as long as they can to improve their own cash flow. If they’re on the verge of insolvency, or are otherwise having financial problems, you might be wise to make your payments with your own cheques so you don’t inadvertently get caught up in their troubles.
Regarding banks and e-checks versus physical checks, It is the receiving entity that decides how to deal with payments. And there must be some minuscule amount of money to be saved by using the physical payment method over pure electronic payment. The local power company here does their billing through a third party that required a check be drawn, so I have to pay a few days earlier than I would to get that payment there on time.
There’s also that “float” period - the money can be drawn from your account and not make it to the payee for a few days. Who is drawing interest on YOUR money during that time frame?
I got messed up a couple of months ago with this scheme, and as a result, I’ve started sending my payment electronically (to me, electronically, but apparently not to them) 3 or 4 days earlier because of that float period on some payees. It’s frustrating and annoying.
My biggest banking issue now has been moving - this new bank has literally thrown up multiple roadblocks to my banking despite my being a really nice guy. :) Seriously, they wouldn’t let me add “payees” to my account for a couple of weeks after starting the account. Then, after a couple of months, they finally let me link my credit union account to this one so that I can continue the task of moving funds from my old banking entity to the new one - only to turn that feature off also (for about 10 days). And that transfer is not without the 3-5 business day “float” either. Money drawn from old bank, wait 3-5 days, finally shows up in new account.
In my opinion, electronic payments ought to be as fast as wiring the money - that is, almost instant.