Don’t mail checks from home or outside PO

[Tradd]

Timely post and Thanks, Tradd. I can't remember the last time I actually wrote a check but Mom still does......gotta start taking her mail to the PO I guess. What a world, no? Rob

Glad it was useful!

[catherine]

I hate writing checks. I write one check every quarter to our water company, which doesn't have any other payment option, and I always forget to do it until the last minute. I figure I have enough checks now to last for the rest of my life without having to reorder.

I do autopay with almost all of my bills. I also have Apple Pay but hardly ever use it. One time I left my wallet at home when I went to our local garden center to buy spring plants, but I was able to just hold my Apple Watch up the card reader and pay that way. Amazing.

Tradd, your neighbor reminds me of my next-door neighbor--they, too, are about 70 and they ask DH to order stuff on Amazon and they pay him cash. But they tend to be suspicious of a lot of things and a lot of people.

[ToomuchStuff]

I am not as old as the person mentioned in the original post. I do similar to them and our post office replaced the blue box by the restaurant, with a newer one with security features. I also use the post office.
There is a Youtuber named Louis Rossman that has recommended a service:
https://privacy.com/

[Rogar]

I pay utilities and insurances by check. And any taxes owed. I've been dropping into the blue boxes in front of the PO, but it's probably a good reminder just to walk inside. I suspect the pros and cons of checks vs online banking have been made, but I doubt that either is risk free.

I have relatively recent experience cancelling auto pay for a person deceased. Without the passwords autopay can be quite challenging. The worst was Amazon Prime cancellation.

[iris lilies]

I pay utilities and insurances by check. And any taxes owed. I've been dropping into the blue boxes in front of the PO, but it's probably a good reminder just to walk inside. I suspect the pros and cons of checks vs online banking have been made, but I doubt that either is risk free.

I have relatively recent experience cancelling auto pay for a person deceased. Without the passwords autopay can be quite challenging. The worst was Amazon Prime cancellation.

I have wondered about canceling those services in the event of someone’s death, but I figure at some point the credit card will expire, and when Amazon can’t place charges against an expired card, they will drop the service.

[pinkytoe]

I figure at some point the credit card will expire

I made that assumption on a subscription set to renew and somehow they had access to the new exp date on my credit card so it just rolled over and continued charging. That really surprised me and ticked me off.

[pinkytoe]

I looked it up and Visa offers an "updater service" to vendors for a fee so that unless you cancel in time they gotcha.

[iris lilies]

I made that assumption on a subscription set to renew and somehow they had access to the new exp date on my credit card so it just rolled over and continued charging. That really surprised me and ticked me off.

Yikes!

with my credit card, the main one anyway, whenever I get a new card due to expiration it comes with a new number, so Amazon would be screwed. I think.
you may be right, although I remember with more than one vendor who had my credit card on file, they couldn’t use the old one.

[Rogar]

I have wondered about canceling those services in the event of someone’s death, but I figure at some point the credit card will expire, and when Amazon can’t place charges against an expired card, they will drop the service.

Consider Prime as an example and then there's Xfinity, maybe auto insurance, internet, phone, etc., and the fact that it takes an act of congress to speak to a real people much of the time, and online chat is with someone with poor English skills whom may not care a bit. Of course the credit card can just be cancelled unless there are some vital services like heat and water that are also on autopay.


I also have a real life example the same as Pinkytoes where a roll over subscription goes on and on.

[LDAHL]

Apart from security, I figure paying electronically saves me a couple of hundred a year in postage.