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I was in the middle of my new juggling act, balancing my baby girl with working from home when my cell went off. I saw that it was a 800 number and since I was busy, I just let it go to voice mail while I finished up with an assignment.
Phone Call I Didn't Want to Get
It turns out it was a call from my credit card company. It seems like my account was past due and they wanted to me to be aware. I hate when companies say that, why don't they just come out and say that they want to see if I was going to make a payment?
Past due, though? Wait, that can't be right…
Before calling them back to see what the problem was, I decided to log on to my bank's site to find out what my account said. Sure enough, my balance reflected that the bill payment had been sent out.
In fact it showed that the payment went out 6 days ago. Aren't we in the information age? Should payments be processed in 2-3 days now?
Bank Takes 3-4 Days to Send Payments Out
I knew that my brick and mortar bank was slower than our online bank at Capital One 360 (formally ING Direct). I didn't realize how slow. It took about 4 days from when I first created the payment to when the bank sent the payment out.
I really don't see why it's that long.
Credit Card Takes Even Longer to Process
Still, the payment was made about a week before. The credit card company should have received it and processed it. I went ahead and called them to find out what happened. I didn't want to be charged for a late payment.
The customer service representative said that it would be fine (no fee), she'd make of note of when the payment was made. In fact, she told me that it takes up to 5 days to process payments.
I find that ridiculous. Up to 5 days for credit card processing?!
I can see about not processing payments on the weekend, but that's almost a week. Now that I know that, I'll start my payments much earlier to get it in on time.
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Why is One Bank Slower Than the Other?
What I don't understand is the big difference between banks. They're offering the same service. Paying a bill isn't much different between them, right?To double check I went into both banks sites to see how long it takes to send the payments.
I logged on to both sites yesterday (September 21) before 9am.
- If I wanted to pay through Wells Fargo, the payment would be made September 26.
- If I went with Capital One 360, it would be made September 23.
That's a big difference.
Between that delay and the credit card company's crazy process, there is a big opening for late payments. I don't want to get a call from them again so I'm making some changes.
From now on, I'll be making all my bill payments through Capital One 360. It's quicker and I haven't had any problems with past due payments.
I'm also inching towards switching my individual account to a local credit union.
First I need to check that they'll accept me as a member and then I'll see if they offer business accounts. If so, I'll make the jump.
I've stayed with my bank because it was convenient and less hassle. Now, though, I'm not really getting any benefits from it.
Thoughts on Bill Pay
Have you've noticed this with your bank? Does anyone know why there's such a big difference between bank's bill payment systems?
If you're in North Carolina, can you recommend any local credit unions or banks for me to check out?
Are you looking at optimizing your checking account? You can open a checking account with Capital One 360, simply click here to get started!