There was a time when aged pensioners went to the bank on pension day, withdrew cash and then paid their bills. Today many companies would impose a penalty for offering cash !
If you are getting a monthly phone bill for a land line phone account through the post it would be a good idea to check the small print. You will find that you are being charged a two dollar " Account Processing Fee " and a fifty cent " Bill Payment Fee "!
In " Business speak " that $2 is for them having to post you a bill - and a lousy fifty cents because someone has to account for it within their computer system.
What they want you to do is to sign an " auto payment " advice to your bank, credit union or building society so that they simply dip into your funds and help themselves when an amount becomes due.
If you don't do that willingly, then " other methods " will come into play. They will simply hit you with added fees until you comply - and if they get the chance - they will make such a method of payment compulsory at the time you sign up for service - as the mobile phone people have already done.
A decade or so from now and direct payment will probably be the only option for paying regular bills. Even pensioners now have bank accounts. The days of the pension cheque coming through the mail and being cashed at the general store are long gone.
So - you have only two options. Keep paying by cash or cheque and accept their ever increasing penalties for doing so - or raise the white flag and surrender !
This used to be a free country !
No comments:
Post a Comment