NMAC charges fee for online payment?

[lion]

Please feel free to move this to the right sub forum, couldn't figure out where to put this.

Anyways, wife tried to pay the first payment today, and it looks like NMAC charges up to $12 for the ability to pay the bill online. Supposedly you can drop it down to $5 by jumping through various hoops, but I'm just perplexed that this is really happening.

Can someone please confirm that I'm doing something wrong? I have never had to pay a fee to pay my car payment online, granted I have only owned Toyotas and Ford before, so who knows.

How are you guys paying the bill?

 

[Weatherman]

I set up an automatic withdraw from my checking account. They don't charge extra for that.

 

[eclecticflower]

My finance company (US Bank) requires I have a checking account at their bank (which I don't) in order to use their online bill pay option. I added US Bank as a payee in the Bill Pay section of my Bank of America checking account. I schedule drafts from my checking account to all my payees for free.

Just add your finance company as a payee under you bank account's Bill Pay section and draft your monthly payments from there.

 

[lion]

I set up an automatic withdraw from my checking account. They don't charge extra for that.

Well, I refuse to set up automatic payments, so that won't be an issue for me (too many things that can go wrong, etc.)

I do see an option to link bank accounts, but can't tell if there is a fee associated with it (wife said it didn't mention any of the other fees until the very last step).

 

[evnow]

Well, I refuse to set up automatic payments, so that won't be an issue for me (too many things that can go wrong, etc.)

Really ? What can go wrong ?

 

[lion]

Well, I refuse to set up automatic payments, so that won't be an issue for me (too many things that can go wrong, etc.)

Really ? What can go wrong ?

As someone who deals with automation and payment processors on a daily basis, a LOT But in the end, I like to be in control of my money, just a personal preference.

 

[Woosie]

We don't like auto pays either so when it came time for us to pay our first lease payment, we considered pay-by-phone ($5), one time payments via the website ($20), or pay at the dealership (not possible). We paid by phone. Next month, we'll send in a check in time via snail mail ($0.46).

 

[evnow]

As someone who deals with automation and payment processors on a daily basis, a LOT But in the end, I like to be in control of my money, just a personal preference.

Hmmm .... which company do you work for ?

In the very large bank I used to work for auto payment problems were very rare. Personally never had a problem.

 

[LEAFfan]

It's absolutely free on both ends when you use Bill Pay with your CU or bank from your checking or savings account. And it is very easy to set up online. Mine is not automatic as I also like to stay in control.

 

[kikbuti]

I too will not set up autopay with any biller. I will not authorize any biller to have access to my account. Too many things can go wrong. I don't want any oops... we debited your account twice in error, or oops, my wife wasn't aware the payment was coming out on that date... the list goes on. Don't do it.

I use my U.S. Bank Bill Pay to set up my NMAC payments. NMAC e-bills come in to my Bill Pay each month and I have the e-bill set to autopay by the due date. You can set up alerts for when the bill is pending and/or for when the bill is paid. This way, you can reschedule or cancel the payment if you need to and have complete control. It also prevents you from forgetting to make your payment.

 

[lion]

Ok, so it sounds like you guys are relying on your Bank's free online bill pay feature to pay the NMAC bill? Unless things have changed, that adds a significant delay with most banks, does it not?

Woosie confirmed what my wife told me, I can't believe that we have to resort to mailing in a check, and just hope it gets there. This is 2013, not 1999 ($20 for online payment?!).

 

[Rauv]

I pay also using the bank's online payment feature, and they guarantee that the payment will be made on the day I chose. I choose to pay on the day it is due (living dangerously) and I have not had an issue yet in several years. You can also pay manually whenever you want. There is no delay, because the bank processes it electronically to NMAC.

 

[garrytman]

When I bought our 2010 Maxima 5 years ago. I setup a reoccurring payment with my banks online bill pay. 60 months. It's been 3+ years and I haven't had to worry about it. The payment goes out on time. I do this will our mortgage, utilities (on budget plans) and other fixed type payments. I just set those to reoccur for 12 months and the bank lets me know when the last payment is scheduled.

I've saved some much time no having to worry about making payments on time. I just check online to make sure things are staying on track every week or so.

The big thing is I push the payments out to payees. Rather then having them pull from my account.

 

[dhanson865]

I tried paying my rent with my banks online bill pay a a few years ago. The whole thing was outsourced to a company in another state. They would take the money out of my checking account 10-20 days before the payment was due, hold it in their corporate account until a day or two before it was due, print a paper check and mail the paper check to the company that managed my apartment. The payment would end up being late more often than not and I ended up paying late fees on the apt several times before I gave up and started driving a check across town to the management office.

Sure the bank guarantees it'll be on time, sure the outsourced company guarantees it. But in my experience the "guarantee" was worthless. I'll do an automatic payment by credit card or automatic pull from my checking but I won't bother with a banks billpay outsourcing. The key is to make it a 3 party transaction not 4.

1 Me
2 Bank
3 Payee

4 stupid outsourcing company that prints and mails checks on your behalf

If it is 1,2,3 then it is very simple, If it is 1,2,4,3 you can't find out what exactly 4 is doing because they will only talk to 2 and you can't find out what exactly 4 is doing because 3 will only talk to you. Everybody at 2 and 4 will tell you there is no problem while 3 charges you late fees.

I've never had a problem with automatic payments setup from the Payee end.

 

[RonDawg]

Ok, so it sounds like you guys are relying on your Bank's free online bill pay feature to pay the NMAC bill? Unless things have changed, that adds a significant delay with most banks, does it not?

Wells Fargo says NMAC gets it by the end of the 2nd business day as long as payment is sent by 7 PM Pacific Time on a business day.

 

[LEAFfan]

Ok, so it sounds like you guys are relying on your Bank's free online bill pay feature to pay the NMAC bill? Unless things have changed, that adds a significant delay with most banks, does it not?

Wells Fargo says NMAC gets it by the end of the 2nd business day as long as payment is sent by 7 PM Pacific Time on a business day.

Yep, my CU gets it to NMAC in one to two days.

 

[lion]

So just to recap, no one is buying NMAC using NMAC's interface, without using automated bill pay, for free, correct? Very disappointed that I now have to fall back to either mailing a check or a 3rd party service.

 

[RonDawg]

Paying NMAC directly through their website also involves a third party called "BillMatrix" which is why you are getting charged a fee to do so.

If you don't want to involve a third party bill pay service, your choices are to mail a check, or use your bank's bill pay service.

 

[ksnogas2112]

I set up an automatic withdraw from my checking account. They don't charge extra for that.

+1 me too