dont make these automatic

DONT MAKE THESE AUTOMATIC

this is a checkbook
some of you may not have one of these
i do
i use to sit down once or twice a month and do all my checks for our bills
sometimes it would take about 1-2 hours

i havent bought checks for five years since we first moved here

now
i sit down once a month and never write a check

all my bills are done online via my bank
none of these bills are set up on autodraft from my checking account
instead
i go in and set up the parameters myself on how much and when to pay the bills
none are autodrafted directly

now some well most of my bills come directly to my banking account then i give my ok by clicking send once a month
others if they are the same each month like an insurance payment or loan payment then i set them up on automatic payment which i control

no entity does a direct draft from my checking account

eg
my auto house liability insurance company charges me say $100 a month
i wish it was that cheap
i set up for it to automatically deduct that amount from my checking account and electronically send it to the insurance company
i can stop it or change the amount with a click of keys on my computer

no one does an autodraft from my checking account

i do have auto payments from my credit card like my dental insurance my apple accounts my netflix my amazon prime since thats the only way they would do it

if i want them changed or stopped its a pain to get it done

i put up with this lack of control in order to have the service
it represents a small part of our monthly bills we pay 

i pay my credit card off frequently each week so at the end of the month i dont have to figure out what all those charges are for
we basically use our card like we use to use our checks
by the end of the month when the credit card statement is sent we have already paid it off
we never pay any interest on our credit card
we also build up bonus cash from our card which i dump into our christmas fund 

i can see how easily fake charges could be made on the credit card without folks knowing it

i have caught fraudulent use of my credit card at gas stations by keeping a close eye on my account
the card number was changed the next day after the fraud was detected

i know folks that never look at their checking accounts and credit card bills for errors
those fraud folks love these folks
some will bill a monthly service for a low amount so it doesnt stand out and escape notice

i only write maybe 3-4 checks a year now 
i rarely go in a bank 
is been over a year since i was in one and that was because the atm ate my debit card

i mostly bank with an out of state bank that has a good electronic bank system

i read this article linked here recently about 5 things not to autodraft from your account
lets see how guilty i am 

1 annual subscriptions
none

2 steaming services
guilty

3 cell phone bills
never

4 cable satellite utility bills
none 
these come in to my account and i approve their payment each month
this takes me like less than a minute each month to do

5 gym membership
never
my gym is the community garden where i volunteer and garden
i pay it actually via check once a year
why
so the community garden doesnt pay a fee to process my payment

so 
not perfect
but
it allows me to have control over my bill payment with very little time spent each month

so
thats my banking bill pay system im using today

the organicgreen doctor