6 Bills To Take Off Autopay in 2024
Written by
Martin Dasko
Edited by
Gary Dudak
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Putting your bills on autopay can certainly help to simplify your financial life. However, placing certain bills on autopay could also hurt your finances because it can become easy to forget how much you’re spending.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that autopay use almost doubled from 2015 to 2020 based on data from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and industry executives. The article revealed how sometimes the convenience of placing your bills on autopay isn’t worth it. In this article, we will examine which bills you should consider paying manually in 2024. Take a look.
Your Credit Card
The report in the WSJ referred to a study from Jialan Wang that uncovered that users will often underpay when using autopay for their credit card payments. It turns out that many who use autopay will change their settings to make the minimum payment instead of paying the full balance within the first 10 months. The study revealed they pay just 8% to 17% of their monthly credit card balances compared to users who make manual payments.
Another issue with using autopay for your credit card is that you don’t take the time to review your payments. You want to take the time to review the transactions to ensure that everything is accurate and legit and that there isn’t any suspicious activity. You also may want to review your spending habits to ensure that you’re focused on your financial goals.
Subscriptions for Apps on Your Phone
Subscribing to an app on your phone tends to go to autopay as a standard feature. The problem with this is that you may want to test an app for a few days, so you go with the free trial. Then, life gets busy, and you forget to cancel it. You end up getting stuck with paying for this app for a few additional months. This is why you want to turn off the autopay for apps on your phone.
This could cover anything from that video editing tool you tested to a music streaming service like Spotify. When you have to pay for these apps manually, you can reflect on your usage and the value you’re getting out of it. You don’t want to see your budget get thrown off because you forgot about all of the apps you tried.
Your Cell Phone Bill
Your cell phone bill can fluctuate depending on your provider, so it’s essential that you take the time to review it. There’s also a good chance that your cell phone provider is also responsible for your home internet and other services, so you want to ensure that you’re getting value out of the bundle.
Another benefit of manually paying your cell phone bill is that you take the time to review your service and features. You may notice that you require more data based on your usage or that you should remove certain features.
Utility Bills
You may want to consider manually paying your utility bills since your water or electricity expenses can fluctuate monthly. Paying manually can also help you track your usage.
You may discover that your water bill has gone up due to a leak or that you’re leaving the furnace on too long when you don’t need it. Tracking your utility bills will help you with daily habits to control these expenses.
Annual Payments
Annual subscription payments like a membership to Costco, Prime or any other service are easy to forget when you only have to pay once a year. When you have an annual payment coming out on autopay, you could find yourself struggling to cover your credit card bill since you forgot to budget for this expense.
Luxury Services
You may have signed up to treat yourself to certain luxury services, from a meal prep service to a clothing subscription. These luxury items may be something you don’t mind splurging on when you’re in an excellent financial situation, but it’s important to review these expenses when you notice your finances shifting.
While treating yourself to the best gym in town or a beauty box makes sense at times, you want to ensure that you’re still getting value. You don’t want to leave them on autopay because you may end up paying when there’s no room in your budget. You may also want to review these services because they may not be as valuable to you at this point as when you first enrolled.
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