Few steps back..
Received this from my bank..
Dear Online Bill Pay Customer:We have received notification that your payee, Associates BankCard MasterCard / Visa ( 1) no longer accepts electronic payments. We have made the necessary changes to how Associates BankCard MasterCard / Visa ( 1) is set up in your payee details to ensure that your future payments are made without interruption.
Why in the world would anyone stop accepting electronic payments? I would think that aside from the initial costs of setting it up it's a much more efficient way of accepting payments than envelopes filled with hand-scribbled checks.. but what do I know.
Comments
It's all a plot hatched by the USPS. Under the guise of declining sales of stamps due to e-paying, they were forced to raise the cost of postage from 31 cents to 37 cents over the span of 5 years. Now they will gradually work with credit and debt companies to stop electronic bill pay and force people back to snail mail.
Total increase in revenue for them...
$100,000,000,000!
Posted by: Danne | June 27, 2003 11:18 AM
Actually, I think it's a lot more simple than that. Every bank now wants to be the hub at the center of your life. They are wiling to dissolve all communication with each other in order to provide you with the incentive to consolidate all of your accounts with one financial institution. Then you will, once again, be able to enjoy the convenience of online billpay, etc. through them.
It's really incrdible how far corporations will go to stop progress in order to dictate and redefine it on their own terms. Especially when it is done at the inconvenience of their own customers.
Posted by: Paul J. Martienz | June 27, 2003 06:12 PM
You know, that is actually really inciteful. Makes perfect sense, considering how many bank mergers there have been in recent years. My initial comment was more tongue-in-cheek.
Posted by: Danne | June 27, 2003 11:31 PM
It's way more conveinant(sp?) for everyone. I can't wait for a cashless society.
Posted by: Paul | June 28, 2003 05:23 PM
I have a checking account. I've never written a single check with it. Just use my VISA Check Card. They're slowly trying to convert us back to using paper again. It's a plot to piss off the environmentalists. I can hear the CEOs laughing in their offices right now "Die trees die!"...
Posted by: Techie2000 | June 28, 2003 09:23 PM
Techie2000, I don't write checks either, but when I use my check card, the credit card machine (for which I do not know a technical name) prints out two reciepts which probably add up to a little more paper than a single check. Essentially, the environment is screwed either way. The CEOs must be loving it! (with apologies for divulging even more off-topic...)
Posted by: Eddie Williams | June 29, 2003 11:18 AM
A bank stopped accepting electronic payments? Last time I worked in the "industry" (Oct. 1997), all bank-to-bank transactions were electronic (even when you write a paper check, which someone must input), through the Automated Clearinghouse (ACH). Basically, every night, your bank tells the ACH "here's some money, for this bank, for this account, and here's what it's for"... all done over-the-wire.
Something's fishy here.
Posted by: Gary Perez | July 3, 2003 12:00 AM