Paying Cash? That'll Cost Extra

Only keep enough money in the bank every month to pay bills. Any extra money you have in savings etc., take it out soon. Many banks will be closing by 2010. FDIC doesn't mean anything if the government cannot (or will not) pay what is owed to you.

appaling. here's one that I think can top it though, my college is charging a 2.5% convenience fee for credit card use. If you're paying 10k (which would be less than the majority of the students pay), you're paying $250 extra. At least they can cite credit card use fees though, cash is legal tender for all debts public and private, NO ONE has the right to charge you to take it.

Here in my part of North Georgia there are several services that do not provide a local office to make your payment in at all. So you are forced to either use a checking/debit account , mail in a money order, or go to a bill payment location and pay extra to pay your bills. I haven't trusted a bank in years now, I learned my lesson after getting ripped off (by forgery) for every dime I had saved and never getting a dime back from FDIC. So I pay extra every month to pay my bills at a payment location. I live just below the town in the OP's story.

You know, I could understand the local General Electric wanting to charge their $3.95 if I sat on the phone with an hourly-paid rep and read off checking and routing numbers for ten minutes.
But not going to their website, and making the payment on debit card, in their automated system, within my own few minutes.

I THOUGHT, taking up no time or resources of theirs, but get the damn inconvenience fee of paying online.. Because my payment inconvenienced them that much, apparently.

Everyone else is dealing with the same thing, it sounds like. Glad I am not the only one upset by it. When you are struggling to make the payments as it is, and making the minimum you can every month, you just wish that $4 charged for inconveniencing them could go toward your balance..

EDITED TO ADD: HAHA!! The title of this thread SHOULD be called "Paying Us? That'll Cost Extra!"


[edit on 26-4-2008 by LostNemesis]

i always subtract the fees they dont tell you about and refuse to pay them. there is always an alternative,in most cases. also find i get more positive responses if i ask for a name and tell them "you're company is fired". then you ask them who you can talk to that cares. i know it sounds weak, but i do usually get results with this tactic.

i also use their terms,like"well thats not my policy"etc.etc.
next thing is, if i do wind up having to pay,i make it worth my while. i ask every stupid question i can,and when i run out i ask to see a manager, then i ask them again. most of the time you even get to argue about that because they always claim there are no managers available.
never accept this,because no large corp. leaves multiple employees alone.
try it its wort the $2
they have a lot of policies. the best one you can use is to make them moan when you walk in
so far my record is over $400 in credits from verizon fios, and untold money from sprint.( sprint was all overcharges though)

have fun...you're paying for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND ONE MORE THOUGHT. MAKE THEM SHOW YOU IN YOUR ORIGINAL CONTRACT WHERE IT SAYS THEY CAN CHARGE YOU EXTRA. AND DONT TAKE A COPY OF A STANDARD CONTRACT, ASK THEM FOR A COPY OF THE ONE YOU SIGNED. DEMAND IT. IF THEY CANT PRODUCE IT YOU CAN CANCEL!
[edit on 26-4-2008 by Spectre0o0]

[edit on 26-4-2008 by Spectre0o0]

[edit on 26-4-2008 by Spectre0o0]

reply to post by jbondo


i was a salesman, then a manager for comcast. if their records only go back six months,why did they always turn our sales down for people who owe money from 15 years ago? believe someone who had access to their computers it comes right up too. you have to use a different name, a different social(which you absolutely do NOT have to give) and a different phone number. if any one of these math up to you and you owe money,you're bagged. they did flat out lie to you . publicity and court are their MAJOR WEAKNESSES. USE EITHER ONE AND 99 OUT OF 100 TIMES THEY WILL BUCKLE

[edit on 26-4-2008 by Spectre0o0]

[edit on 26-4-2008 by Spectre0o0]

Their seems to be an dishonest economic demand for all of us to convert to credit cards, so we pay high interest rates on purchasing a simple newspaper or bag og potato chips. Thiers an art gallery here in my city, that got rennovated... I was reading about it in our local paper 2 days ago.. They are now charging those who walk in,$5 more IF paying by cash..
Green used to make the world go round, now its plastic interest rate cards; ( It all sounds like scandal to me. Costs money, to spend money? Rubbish. Buisness is NOT honest. They know they can get away with it, becuase no one will or would question it.

Originally posted by Spectre0o0
have fun...you're paying for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAKE THEM SHOW YOU IN YOUR ORIGINAL CONTRACT WHERE IT SAYS THEY CAN CHARGE YOU EXTRA. AND DONT TAKE A COPY OF A STANDARD CONTRACT, ASK THEM FOR A COPY OF THE ONE YOU SIGNED. DEMAND IT. IF THEY CANT PRODUCE IT YOU CAN CANCEL!

Too right

The only contractual conditions that you and the company are bound to are the ones stated in the duplicate copies that both you and they hold, if your copy doesn't stste anywhere about the extra admin/payment charges being levied, then they are later applied, then the company is in breach of contract, and therefore have NO legal right to demand extra.

What I have noticed is that some service-providers, especially banks, will change their 'policy' and send out a letter informing you of the changes, technically this is still a breach of the original contract, as they are saying that by you recieving the letter, you are agreeing to an amendment in your contract with them, whether you accept those changes or not.

Sorry if this has been posted...

But this reminds me of Ticketek/Ticketmaster/etc.

8 buck booking and handling fee if they mail you the tickets.
8 buck booking and handling fee if you choose to print your own ticket.
8 buck booking and handling fee if you pick up the tickets in person.

One time I took a car in to have brake pads, tune-up, and oil change done. They did work I didn't authorize, charged way more for parts than what should have been, and charged ten bucks just to print out the bill. I had to pay it because I needed my car, but it was very expensive. They charged I think $18 per spark plug? I don't take my cars to that place anymore.

The problem is that corporate lobbyists rig the system to rip off consumers. Listen to Ralph Nader addresses this stuff.

This is one of the reasons I'm planning on dumping AT@T.

Digital Reality

TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE!

I definitely agree with this..

But, there are work arounds, you just have to look for them.

What do I do? I've been using online bill pay with my bank. (which itself is free) It cost me not one red cent, not even a stamp. Bill pay also seems to pay quickly so I have not had any problems with timeliness. Also, most of the payments that are made by bill pay are ironically done electronically. As far as cash? I keep it in a safe at home and if I need to put any in the bank I just go make a deposit. Sometimes if I need to make a deposit after hours I do it at my banks cash machine. (This is rare because I have direct deposit.) Also, I have a credit card that I use for daily expenses and I ALWAYS pay it off every month. If you are not paying your daily use cards off every month you need to get things under control. I occasionally roll a balance but it's rare and only when it's like a 12 months no interest type deal. (I just did that with a washing machine I bought, got 10 percent off to boot for using the specific stores card)

In the case presented by the OP, I would have immediately set up a new account and just bill paid AT@T from that.. there is NO WAY I would pay them 2 bucks to take my payment. I feel for anyone that has to go through that but it's easy to set up new accounts at the bank so that you can hit the ground running again and you don't have to wait to do this while you straighten out the other stuff.

In other words, centralize your cash by either keeping it at home, deposit it in the bank and do everything else electronically. Don't fret on where you can spend cash. I usually only keep about 100 bucks on me (unless I'm traveling) and only use it when I can't purchase something on credit card which is rare.

Theres still plenty of places to spend cash if you are trying to get rid of it but bottom line? As long as the bank will take cash as a deposit you shouldn't have any problems.

I spend nothing in fees for deposits, credit card purchases OR paying my bills. You can do the same, you just have to do your homework and know all or you options.

I can't say that this will be the same in the possibly near future.

Also, people who can't get credit cards and bank accounts, that's another story entirely but still doable.

What is this? The local news? Crap news like this is why I stopped watching tv everday. Get with the freakin times, pay your bill online through your bank, ITS FREE!!!

Don't be so quick there Wise.. if cash is ever completely phased out, you will regret your current thought process.



[edit on 26-4-2008 by ViewFromTheStars]

What really annoys me is that if you have ever been in a position of 'temporary poverty' (in my case bankrupcy) then you are denied access to facilities such as bank-accounts that offer electronic payment services such as Direct Debit, and on top of that, utility companies who will switch your meters to pre-pay cash-bought tokens which will cost you an estimated £100 extra per year on top of of your bill (which doesn't include the increased debt-interest collected through the pre-pay meter on an unpaid bill compared to a 'standard' outstanding payment, owing to a downturn in a person's financial situation) whereas an identically charged bill for a customer with access to Direct Debit facilities recieves a discount on their bill for paying that way

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
-D.H. Lawrence

"You mean if I pay you with these 5 bags of coins, you're going to charge me more because you have to sit there counting them instead of spending time dealing with the customer behind me? What are these 'Checks' you speak of?! Blasphemy!"

They should charge everyone extra when they pay in cash. It slows down infrastructure and wastes employee productivity.

Soon, they will be. Cash is old. It's out. It's over. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

The way of life you are grasping at is slowly slipping through your oily mits.

I made a huge scene and told all customers waiting in line they should switch to satellite and the company responded by calling the police -

Good Job.

Do what i do.

When ever they send any advertising stuff with a pre-paid envelope, i fill it up with other junk mail and send it back to them (making sure that anything with your name and address is removed of course).

They only pay for the postage when the envelope is returned to them so make them pay for it. It also helps you get rid of all your unwanted junk mail, they end up getting charged for recieving your unwanted mail at the same time

Who knows it may also teach them a lesson if enough people do this..... may stop them sending unwanted crap through the post to us !

with regard to the changes to pay you bills ... its the same here in the UK. I'm with the mobile telephone operator Orange. if i choose to pay over the phone by card they chage me an extra £3 ..... but i also get my own back with the junk mail



[edit on 26-4-2008 by scepticsRus]

Originally posted by scepticsRus
Do what i do.

When ever they send any advertising stuff with a pre-paid envelope, i fill it up with other junk mail and send it back to them (making sure that anything with your name and address is removed of course).

They only pay for the postage when the envelope is returned to them so make them pay for it. It also helps you get rid of all your unwanted junk mail, they end up getting charged for recieving your unwanted mail at the same time

Who knows it may also teach them a lesson if enough people do this..... may stop them sending unwanted crap through the post to us !

with regard to the changes to pay you bills ... its the same here in the UK. I'm with the mobile telephone operator Orange. if i choose to pay over the phone by card they chage me an extra £3 ..... but i also get my own back with the junk mail

[edit on 26-4-2008 by scepticsRus]

You need to make sure you remove any bar codes as well. Some junk mail (including ANONYMOUS surveys) has bar codes which track you. A company just has to scan the bar code to find out who it was sent to.

reply to post by Jessicamsa


Yes good point, although we dont have many here in the UK that do have a bar code on. I mainly send back old pizza menus etc.... that we tend to get.

Originally posted by scepticsRus
When ever they send any advertising stuff with a pre-paid envelope, i fill it up with other junk mail and send it back to them (making sure that anything with your name and address is removed of course).

Of course if you REALLY want to kick up a 'stink' the best thing to mail back is dog poop, vomit, or the goo from the bottom of a wheelie bin