Online Bill Pay

[Minerva Mouse]

Super frustrated. Paid my Brighthouse bill on 04/16/2013, using my online bill pay with my banking institution, who guaranteed payment by the 23rd. Received a late notice in the mail today. Apparently Brighthouse didn't receive my payment until the 29th, and the 28th was the "late" cut-off. Really?

The Brighthouse representative was all like "well mam, the mail can take up to two weeks to deliver, that's why we encourage to pay your bills at our website, blah, blah, blah". My reply was "well why are none of my "other" bills late? "well mam, blah, blah, blah."

I know banks are required to keep all envelopes for I believe 3 months. Do you think the same is true of Brighthouse? I'm just really, really, really having a a hard time believing that my payment took 13 days to travel from Orlando to Tampa. Even if my banking institution held it until the guaranteed payment date of the 23rd that's still 6 days.

Anyone traveled this road before? The late payment fee is only $5 but it's the principal, I don't pay my bills late!

 

[NaLisa]

Super frustrated. Paid my Brighthouse bill on 04/16/2013, using my online bill pay with my banking institution, who guaranteed payment by the 23rd. Received a late notice in the mail today. Apparently Brighthouse didn't receive my payment until the 29th, and the 28th was the "late" cut-off. Really?

The Brighthouse representative was all like "well mam, the mail can take up to two weeks to deliver, that's why we encourage to pay your bills at our website, blah, blah, blah". My reply was "well why are none of my "other" bills late? "well mam, blah, blah, blah."

I know banks are required to keep all envelopes for I believe 3 months. Do you think the same is true of Brighthouse? I'm just really, really, really having a a hard time believing that my payment took 13 days to travel from Orlando to Tampa. Even if my banking institution held it until the guaranteed payment date of the 23rd that's still 6 days.

Anyone traveled this road before? The late payment fee is only $5 but it's the principal, I don't pay my bills late!

It's been a few years since I used bill pay through my bank, but when I did, they would cut a check and mail it to the payee. Do they still do that? Didn't seem like much of a time or energy saver to me, and things could get stuck in the mail or there could be some other problem on the bank's end. Instead, I set up automatic payments online through the company to whom I owe the money (cable, electric, water, credit cards), and I never have a problem.

Sorry, OP; I know I hate the idea of a late payment, too.

 

[Albort]

im guessing ur using a credit union? They really could get up to speed like a bank and do direct deposit... Every time i pay my bills, it transfers money directly to the bank instead of cutting a check...

time to go complain to the bank!

 

[Minerva Mouse]

It's been a few years since I used bill pay through my bank, but when I did, they would cut a check and mail it to the payee. Do they still do that? Didn't seem like much of a time or energy saver to me, and things could get stuck in the mail or there could be some other problem on the bank's end. Instead, I set up automatic payments online through the company to whom I owe the money (cable, electric, water, credit cards), and I never have a problem.

Sorry, OP; I know I hate the idea of a late payment, too.

Yes, they still do it that way.

 

[FlyingDumbo]

I am going to go with NO on the keeping of the envelopes thing. Why on earth would they hold on to those? I would call and ask NICELY for a supervisor and if you have never been late before ask for an exception to be made. Have you called your bank? Do they deliver electronically or mail something? USPS is not exactly known for their speed, service, or accuracy these days. Perhaps yours just got lost in the mail.

 

[Minerva Mouse]

im guessing ur using a credit union? They really could get up to speed like a bank and do direct deposit... Every time i pay my bills, it transfers money directly to the bank instead of cutting a check...

time to go complain to the bank!

I just have this gut feeling that Brighthouse is sitting on the payments. I know payments can get lost in the mail, so maybe there was a delay with this one. But I've not had an issue with any of my other bills (that I pay with online bill pay) being late.

I trust my bank's reputation more than I do Brighthouse, lol.

 

[Minerva Mouse]

I am going to go with NO on the keeping of the envelopes thing. Why on earth would they hold on to those?.

Why? for exactly this reason. So a customer could see the postmark date. I'm pretty sure that banks keep them for this reason, so I just thought maybe, maybe they would also.

 

[novajeanjellybean]

I would call your financial institution and check the Brighthouse address that they are sending the payment to. Alot of the time, they have the return address from the payment envelope instead of the address payments should be mailed to. Good luck!

 

[kathie859]

Yes, they still do it that way.

That's not correct (at least at my bank).

If it's a large, well known company---like a utility or national credit card account (Macy's, Citibank, Chase--and many, many others) my bank will do an electronic fund transfer to the payee. If I'm paying a less known company that isn't set up for electronic transfer with my bank, my bank will then send a check--but that is very rare.

 

[akcire]

Super frustrated. Paid my Brighthouse bill on 04/16/2013, using my online bill pay with my banking institution, who guaranteed payment by the 23rd. Received a late notice in the mail today. Apparently Brighthouse didn't receive my payment until the 29th, and the 28th was the "late" cut-off. Really?

The Brighthouse representative was all like "well mam, the mail can take up to two weeks to deliver, that's why we encourage to pay your bills at our website, blah, blah, blah". My reply was "well why are none of my "other" bills late? "well mam, blah, blah, blah."

I know banks are required to keep all envelopes for I believe 3 months. Do you think the same is true of Brighthouse? I'm just really, really, really having a a hard time believing that my payment took 13 days to travel from Orlando to Tampa. Even if my banking institution held it until the guaranteed payment date of the 23rd that's still 6 days.

Anyone traveled this road before? The late payment fee is only $5 but it's the principal, I don't pay my bills late!

Call your bank

The service they use either check free/fiserv or medavante will cover the fee if you had all your info properly imputed. If you didn't they still maybe able to get it waived and more importantly you will have it correct for next month.

 

[SandrA9810]

That's not correct (at least at my bank).

If it's a large, well known company---like a utility or national credit card account (Macy's, Citibank, Chase--and many, many others) my bank will do an electronic fund transfer to the payee. If I'm paying a less known company that isn't set up for electronic transfer with my bank, my bank will then send a check--but that is very rare.

Same with my credit union. If it's not in their database, then they get sent a paper check till an electronic funds transfer can be set up. It tells me when a paper check will be sent and the date the payment should be posted.

Never had a problem paying bills with the bank to any of the utility companies or credit cards.

 

[lynxstch]

Can't you pay your bill directly on the Brighthouse site? I am assuming this is an cable co. (though I never heard of them in our area). If you paid on their site , the payment wouldn't have to 'travel' anywhere and you wouldn't be late and getting a late fee.

 

[tvguy]

Can you find out when the check was cashed?

I had an issue with Comcast, they said my payment was late, this was a personal check I mailed. Problem is, checking the scan of the check on my bank online website, the processing center stamp showed it was cashed the day BEFORE the due date.

As I understand it, some payment centers, the process is, they open payments, verify the check is in the amount the bill is for, the check goes in one bin, the payment voucher in another. The company may deposit checks as frequently as every hour during the day, but it can take several days for workers to catchup and enter the payment from the voucher.
Comcast danced around a bit, and I had to go through a few supervisors asking who to send a copy of my canceled check to to prove I had paid it on time, and it had been received on time, before they took off the late fee.

Having a similar issue right now with United Healthcare. I pay premiums 3 months at a time, send in 3 coupons with my check, but somehow they only credited 1 months payment. I sent them a copy of EVERY check I have ever written them since I got this policy, still waiting to hear how they will resolve that.

 

[msjprincess]

That's not correct (at least at my bank).

If it's a large, well known company---like a utility or national credit card account (Macy's, Citibank, Chase--and many, many others) my bank will do an electronic fund transfer to the payee. If I'm paying a less known company that isn't set up for electronic transfer with my bank, my bank will then send a check--but that is very rare.

Same with my bank. Everything is done electronically. The only time they would cut a check and mail it was when I used it to pay for daycare.

 

[vicki_c]

Most banks have a guarantee that as long as you schedule within the windows they publish on their website, they guarantee to get the payment there on time or pay any fees. You need to speak to the bank first. I had this problem with a water bill in the past where the bank had to send a physical check vs EFT. The bank paid my late charge. I be surprised if they were sending paper checks to a company as large as Brighthouse unless your bank is very very small or technologically behind.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I have Bright House charge my monthly bill to my American Express account. That way it is always on time and I get my Membership Rewards. And BH sends me a monthly statement.

 

[FireDancer]

It's been a few years since I used bill pay through my bank, but when I did, they would cut a check and mail it to the payee. Do they still do that? Didn't seem like much of a time or energy saver to me, and things could get stuck in the mail or there could be some other problem on the bank's end. Instead, I set up automatic payments online through the company to whom I owe the money (cable, electric, water, credit cards), and I never have a problem.

Sorry, OP; I know I hate the idea of a late payment, too.

A properly configured online bill pay product will try to send all payments via EFT and only revert to check if the payee will not take the EFT payment. If your financial institution defaults to check I'd find a new one. There is really no good reason for it.

I just have this gut feeling that Brighthouse is sitting on the payments. I know payments can get lost in the mail, so maybe there was a delay with this one. But I've not had an issue with any of my other bills (that I pay with online bill pay) being late.

I trust my bank's reputation more than I do Brighthouse, lol.

Your financial institution should have a record of when the check was cut and when it was mailed by their bill pay service. It can't tell you when it was received by Brighthouse but it should give you an idea of the time line.

 

[phorsenuf]

I usually pay Brighthouse via their website but I had thought about just setting up all my bills through the bank this month and be done with it. I don't know what bank you use II have regions) but mine has 2 date boxes. A send on date and a deliver by date. Is it possible you were looking at the wrong box and used the send on instead of the deliver by?

As for the mail, it once took almost 3 weeks for something to go from Tampa to Orlando. It was just floating out there in limbo. But check your bank dates first.