Strange Ad from CC

[SWharton]

"Adjust your autopay settings to avoid paying off your Equal Pay 0% promo APR balance before it's due"

I wonder what they were really trying to say??

[Barbaraok]

Read the fine print in your contract for the 0% promo - - something sounds fishy.   

[SWharton]

I did and it looks OK. It's from Amazon, never saw anything like it before. Just received another one. I guess I need to make a call.

[richfaa]

We never use auto pay on anything.

[chirakawa]

2 hours ago, richfaa said:

We never use auto pay on anything.

Me neither.  I've come close, there's a few things which that's the only way you can get a particular service.  Latest example is in my newer truck.  I'd like to have Sirius/XM, but they insist on a credit card autopay.  I've heard that it's really difficult to stop the service when you decide to.  So, I just listen to other music.

[Barbaraok]

Not hard to change autopay at all.  Just cancel the service, following the steps on their website (they all have the steps even if they don't like it) and if they don't follow through, contest it with your credit card issuer and let them fight it out.    Another way, get the card company to issue a new card and cancel the old one.   Then when the firm emails you that you need to give them a new card, tell them no.  

Our electric bill for our park model is on autopay, as are our phone charges, things that are always the same and thus I don't have to go online to pay each month.   BTW - we did have Sirius for several years and then when our unit for the car (wasn't built in) stopped working, I cancelled the service without any problems and it was on autopay.  

[SWharton]

We have everything on autopay. Just simplifies life. We have had autopay since the early 90's on various things and have never had any problems. Never need to worry about a late payment, remembering a payment etc.

I called them and the note wasn't meant for me since it would be paid off in 6 months. Worst case is I would have just paid it off now.

I do prefer autopay to a credit card vs. the checking account though.

[chirakawa]

3 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

BTW - we did have Sirius for several years and then when our unit for the car (wasn't built in) stopped working, I cancelled the service without any problems and it was on autopay.  

That's good to hear.  Was that recently, since the XM merger?  I had it once about seven years ago and had a hard time getting them to stop the service.  I've talked to others with the same experience.  You can't do it online, it's in their terms of service that you have to call them.  When you do, they don't want to stop service.  They argue about it, etc.  I agree, you can just change credit card numbers, but I don't care to go through all that hassle.

SiriusXM is on the way out, there's too many music services that we can use through our phone and integrate into the car audio.  They're struggling to stay in business.

[Ronbo]

If you have satellite radio it has been activated for the holidays. It also gives you weather and traffic,

[Jaydrvr]

I had an absolutely brutal time cancelling Sirius autopay, but that was a long time ago, before the merger. The people were just horrible. Cured me pretty much of all autopay. Jay

[Ray,IN]

Back to basics, just what is CC? Consumer Cellular? I have that on autopay.

[LarryN]

Thanks for asking that question. Had no idea was CC meant. Too ashamed to ask.

as for Sirius, love it. Have never listened to music on it however. Too much other stuff i like. 

[chirakawa]

19 minutes ago, LarryN said:

Thanks for asking that question. Had no idea was CC meant. Too ashamed to ask.

as for Sirius, love it. Have never listened to music on it however. Too much other stuff i like. 

I think Howard Stern is keeping them afloat.  He has a pretty big audience.

[Barbaraok]

I believe CC in this case is credit card, but could be wrong.

We have Sirius in the car and listen to smooth jazz when we are driving.   Use to have a lot of smooth Jazz FM stations, but not anymore, so we listen to Water Colors on Sirius  (channel 66) in the car, and Channel 851 on Direct TV for our Smooth Jazz when at home.

 

[SWharton]

Yes, credit card. What would Amazon have to do with Consumer Cellular?

[Pappy Yokum]

Sirius XM:

Seriously, (pun) *If* you enjoy Sirius,  and prefer *not* to "play THEIR game"........

One year of Sirius - ON or BEFORE the expiration date of your existing service - call the number (you must *CALL*),  and cancel.  They will try to sell you a new service.  Insist on a one year special rate.  They have it, they will (eventually) offer it.  For me (music only) it's $60.  for one year of service.

Mark the new expiration "call before" date on your calendar to repeat the process.

Another alternate:  Simply cancel.  Sirius will send you a renewal offer in the mail a month or two after you cancel.  Haven't done that one in a while - but it was about $25 for a year's service.

The "catch" is always the same......If you fail to cancel before the expiration of your service, it automatically renews at an increased fee of what you were paying previously.

Of course - there are other choices / alternatives.

BTW - Sirius has been financially in "the red" for lots of years!  No clue why it's still "alive".

~

[chirakawa]

6 hours ago, SWharton said:

Yes, credit card. What would Amazon have to do with Consumer Cellular?

You mean besides the fact that Amazon sells Consumer Cellular phones and sim cards?  Just kidding, I didn't know what you meant either. 

[Ray,IN]

22 minutes ago, chirakawa said:

You mean besides the fact that Amazon sells Consumer Cellular phones and sim cards?  Just kidding, I didn't know what you meant either. 

👍 I just did(new CC phone) that last month, thus my question. It's kinda hard to  read intent.

[remoandiris]

On 12/4/2019 at 10:54 PM, Barbaraok said:

We have Sirius in the car and listen to smooth jazz when we are driving.   Use to have a lot of smooth Jazz FM stations, but not anymore, so we listen to Water Colors on Sirius  (channel 66) 

I listen to Watercolors a lot, too.  Spa is just a few stations away from Watercolors.  It is very relaxing.  Sometimes I flip to a more modern jazz station for a bit.  Maybe check out some of the Laugh USA comedians once in a while.  Wife and I sometimes play name that tune on various music channels.

I had SiriusXM on my motorcycle, but the reception is not as good and I had a harder time changing channels.  On the bike I just listen to music on my phone thru bluetooth.  Still have Sirius in the truck.  I call them every 5 months to get the same rate instead of them bumping me up to their "regular" monthly rates. 

[Friz]

0% interest? That is strange. You would think that someone who lent you money at 0% interest would encourage early payoff. 

Auto pay - no no. Actually it is auto access to your bank account. You may believe you are giving the vendor permission to withdraw a set amount from your bank account but actually you are giving them an open door to withdraw whatever amount they please. Normally not an issue but if there are objectionable charges you pay first then try to recoup your money. 

[SWharton]

15 minutes ago, Friz said:

 

Auto pay - no no. Actually it is auto access to your bank account. You may believe you are giving the vendor permission to withdraw a set amount from your bank account but actually you are giving them an open door to withdraw whatever amount they please. Normally not an issue but if there are objectionable charges you pay first then try to recoup your money. 

And in 28 years of using auto-pay we have never had this occur. I don't consider this an issue and the amount of time auto-pay saves is huge.

[Barbaraok]

That's one reason why we set our auto-pay for things that are the same each month,  quarter, annual.   Don't do it for credit cards because I may make payments half way through the month depending upon how much I have charged on a particular card during that month.   But phone bill, health insurance, etc. are reoccurring charges that I now are coming and are always the same (or within a few pennies) each payment date.

BTW, did you ever get an explanation from Amazon about their notification about not paying off early?

 

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, Barbaraok said:

That's one reason why we set our auto-pay for things that are the same each month,  quarter, annual.  

That is exactly what we do also. And like you, we have never had any of the auto pay authorized places abuse that privilege but most of my auto pay accounts go to a credit card that isn't auto pay. I do that because the card I have them billed to refunds 2% of the total billed. I also have things like utilities and phone on auto pay as well as health insurance. The electric supplier to our home-base actually gives a small discount in return for your bill being on auto pay & electronic billing. 

[Lou Schneider]

I would never give anyone access to my bank accounts via a debit card.  Instead I use three cash back credit cards.   

The first card is used exclusively to auto pay recurring expenses like my phone, Internet hotspot, health insurance, etc.  I don't auto pay my car and RV insurance because I like to see what I'm charged before I pay the twice annual bills.  If I had a car or RV payment it would also go on this card. 

The second card is used for online purchases and I use a third card for normal purchases.  The third card is the only one I carry in my wallet while the other two remain hidden in my RV.  If something happens to my daily card, I can use one of the other two in it's place until a replacement card reaches me.

I review the monthly statements of all 3 cards online, then pay them in full using manually initiated electronic transfers from my checking account.  This keeps the purchases isolated from my bank account.  I've never found any discrepancies, if I did find a questionable charge I would dispute it and let the CC company work it out.

For cash, I either get cash from Walmart on my normal purchase card or I make an ATM withdrawal ... a bank ATM is the only place where I use my debit card.

This way I get the convenience of auto pay and cash back without giving anyone access to my bank accounts - the only links are the manual electronic transfers I initiate each month.  

Edited December 9, 2019 by Lou Schneider

[Barbaraok]

Most of our auto-pays are also to rewards credit cards.   Our electricity for the Park Model is a direct one to the checking account as there is a charge for using credit cards with the electric company.   Same with Estimated Tax Payments.    Our other auto-pay is an automatic deposit into our money market account from our checking account for annual charges - that way we earn a little money on those deposits before making our annual payment, not a huge amount, but better than them sitting in a checking account for the year.