Why don't companies offer you a discount to pay bills electronically?

[techs]

Seems like every type of company now has the option to pay recurring bills electronically, and are pushing it on me.

Seems they would be saving money if I pay electronically, so why don't companies offer a discount for online bill paying?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i don't know, why wouldn't they want to take less money from you?

 

[darkxshade]

i don't know, why wouldn't they want to take less money from you?

The argument is that they make more money if they can successfully convince me to pay electronically by offering me some of the savings. It wouldn't be much anyway. :\

 

[Zee]

that's a tough one. their number one goal might be profit. i wonder what they are possibly thinking??

 

[pontifex]

i don't know, why wouldn't they want to take less money from you?

exactly, if they can get you to pay electronically which saves them money, why would they want to take less money from you?

 

[Jzero]

Some do...I get a discount on my insurance if I pay online.

 

[SunnyD]

Normally they do... just in reverse. They are now starting to tack on "fees" for paper processing. Electronic payment price hasn't changed, they're just "faking" the discount for doing it by jacking up paper bill rates.

 

[oogabooga]

I'd imagine it's cause it did cost them something to put all that infrastructure in place and maintain it still. And in a lot of cases they still have the old bill processing (paper) in place as well so it's not like they've fully transition yet.

That and the above mentioned : why would they want less money anyway, although this is one place I don't mind companies not 'sharing' the savings, I like the benefit of being able to pay online.

 

[pontifex]

Some do...I get a discount on my insurance if I pay online.

but with insurance the chances of you needing are usually pretty slim, so it's not like it's a product you're actually using and can be counted/monitored. insurance is just like free money to them. ^_^

 

[FeuerFrei]

They really should offer a discount as they save all kinds of money when you pay electronically.
However, they think you'll pay extra for the convenience, so they demand more.

Just last week I went and renewed my auto registration in person, just to avoid paying more by doing it online or mailing it in. To renew online, not only do they charge you the $1.20 'mail-in' fee (makes no sense) they also throw in a $2 fee for the online transaction. Ugh. Screw you guys, I'm going in.

 

[techs]

They really should offer a discount as they save all kinds of money when you pay electronically.
However, they think you'll pay extra for the convenience, so they demand more.

Just last week I went and renewed my auto registration in person, just to avoid paying more by doing it online or mailing it in. To renew online, not only do they charge you the $1.20 'mail-in' fee (makes no sense) they also throw in a $2 fee for the online transaction. Ugh. Screw you guys, I'm going in.

I just renewed my auto registration online in Vermont and they didn't have an extra charge.
Though, apparently to save money, they used to give you a sticker for your front and rear plate. Now they just give you one for the rear plate.
Interesting, because they still included a second sticker that just said "void".

 

[Gibson486]

LOL....one of my CC companies charge you 12.50 to do online transactions and 35.00 to do rushed transactions online. They can go screw.

 

[techs]

LOL....one of my CC companies charge you 12.50 to do online transactions and 35.00 to do rushed transactions online. They can go screw.

Under the new CC law they can't charge more for paying online anymore.

 

[MJinZ]

Some do, insurance companies I know will usually give a 10% discount for setting up a quarterly/monthly whatever payments.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I don't see how it's cheaper for the co. if you pay online. If you pay online it's usually done by credit card and they pay 3-6% in credit card fees (my guesstimate) and if I send in a check there are no such fees.

 

[RoloMather]

LOL

I guess these companies are NON-PROFIT? HAHAAH

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

some do. i got $5 back for going paperless with one bank and $1 off my monthly cable bill.

 

[Koing]

They do in England I think...or rather make you pay more if you get a paper bill...

Koing

 

[FeuerFrei]

I just renewed my auto registration online in Vermont and they didn't have an extra charge.
Though, apparently to save money, they used to give you a sticker for your front and rear plate. Now they just give you one for the rear plate.
Interesting, because they still included a second sticker that just said "void".

haha
Here in Texas we have no plate stickers, just a windshield sticker. However they print you a fancy reflective plate sticker that says 'VOID' for you to throw away. What a waste of money.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

I don't know about any of you but I save 44 cents every time I pay a bill online! That's like $25 a year! Can you believe it?!

 

[Razgriz]

even better are the companies that charge you more to pay electronically vs mailing it in.

 

[kranky]

They allow you to take all the credit for "going green".

 

[techs]

I just renewed my auto registration online in Vermont and they didn't have an extra charge.
Though, apparently to save money, they used to give you a sticker for your front and rear plate. Now they just give you one for the rear plate.
Interesting, because they still included a second sticker that just said "void".

haha
Here in Texas we have no plate stickers, just a windshield sticker. However they print you a fancy reflective plate sticker that says 'VOID' for you to throw away. What a waste of money.

Yeah, I thought maybe they printed the second one with the void on it, so people wouldn't start calling and asking where is the second sticker.
Weird they do it in Texas too, though.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

you should go back to paying by snail mail and stick it to the man. I'm sure they'll give you a discount then.

 

[nickbits]

once they get most people to pay online, they start charing a fee for not being online