Do you set any of your bills to auto-pay?

Question

I've heard pros and cons to setting bills to auto-pay. Pros include saving time and stamps, not having to worry about forgetting to pay it, etc. Cons include having trouble getting them to undo the auto-pay set up (maybe that's only with private companies?), running into trouble when you change an account or something else changes, etc.

So I'm curious what fellow landlords do. We own our house plus 4 rentals, so I pay a lot of bills. Do you set up all bills to auto-pay if possible? Only certain types of bills? Why/why not?

So I'm curious what fellow landlords do.  We own our house plus 4 rentals, so I pay a lot of bills.  Do you set up all bills to auto-pay if possible?  Only certain types of bills?  Why/why not?

Account Closed · Answer

My personal choice is to go with Auto-pay. Makes absolute sense for Utilities and  Mortgage payments.  Personally, I don't prefer auto debit but schedule automatic bill payment through Bank. This way i have control to make changes or cancel any payments, if needed. Having direct debit through bank accounts or charge to credit cards, takes longer,  if any cancellation or changes required.

Radhika M. · Answer

@Kimberly T.

I manage our finances for our rental and my husband does for our personal. For the rental I have auto pay for everything except contractor and repairs. For the personal my husband does not use checks but he pays through bill pay from online bank but he has to initiate the payment. He does this as he feels he has better control this way.

You could try the second option if you are not comfortable doing auto pay for everything.

Kimberly T. · Answer

Thanks guys!  Just wanted to see if maybe there were some cons to doing auto-pay that I wasn't aware of.  I do have some bills set to auto-pay, just not all of them.

@George P. LOL, well I'm a pretty old-fashioned type.  Which you probably wouldn't guess, since I just turned 31 recently. :)

George P. · Answer

i am shocked that someone in 2015 that's a landlord would NOT use auto pay. i pay by check only contractors and i hate even that.

Rob Beland · Answer

I do as much as possible. @Kimberly T.  To give you an example, National Grid is the utility provider for electric and natural gas. I have 11 accounts with them. Thats a lot of checks. If I cant set up a bill for auto pay I use my local banks online banking feature. I probably only write 2-3 actual checks per month with 25 rental units.