I noticed that when I pay my bills through Electric Orange I end up losing a little bit of interest. ING takes the money out of my account on the day I request the check to be sent to the creditor.
The paper checks (and the electronic ones too!!) take a couple of days to process but that money has already been taken out of my account by ING. Now this is okay for the most part if this was a non-interest bearing account. The fact that my money is not gaining interest for those few days and the bill is also not paid (and is therefore racking up interest charges) makes me a little bit upset.
Ok it makes me more than a little upset. I decided to go into Chase and see if I could pay the card from inside the account. Chase let me set up the ING account as a payment account and then I could pay from directly inside the account.
What made it even better was that if I made the payment before 2pm on a weekday the payment would go through that very evening. What this means in terms of me saving money is that I can now pay the credit card from Chase even closer to the date. I can pay about four days before the payment is due because the money will go through that same day. This means I can keep my cash in my ING account for a few more days to get the benefit of the interest calculations. yippee!!!
That’s how I pay mine too. But I’ll tell you, I am really beginning to question my decision to give a credit card company direct access to my checking account.
Nothing bad has happened, it’s just that I don’t trust them.
Every little penny counts. Over the course of years it will make a difference!
Great tip! I’ve always used online banking, now I will have to consider this …
@ glblguy – I feel the same way! I protect myself by giving out a basic savings account that doesn’t have more than I need to pay all of my bills.
Swapping those cards around with interest free deals is always good. I know though the long term solution is to pay them off. I got some good credit card tips at:-
http://www.savemoneyplease.co.uk
Hope it helps
Good advice to not lose out on earning interest while you are simultaneously being charged interest on the card.
You mentioned you can now pay the card closer to the due date and earn interest on your money longer. Are you earning more in the savings account than you are charged on the card? If the money is earmarked for the credit card payment anyway, how come you don’t make the payment sooner? Just wondering; keep up the good work
I do not have much money in the account so I just like to see the money in my account. I do not make more in interest than I get charged in interest on the card…but …oh I have no excuse.
Thanks for pointing that out.