Everyone has bills to pay. Some of these are regular payments that occur every month. Using your debit card for these payments has many benefits. What are some of these debit card advantages?
Most people have bills that have to be paid each month. Some of those bills will be fixed amounts that never change, for example gym membership, or perhaps some sort of hire purchase agreement.
For these kind of regular payments, using your debit cards can be one of the best and safest ways of paying these bills.
What is so Special About Regular Payments on a Debit Card?
There are a few debit card advantages, especially when it comes to these kind of fixed transactions. When you set up regular payments on your card, you can time the payment to come out of your account on the day of the month you are usually paid. This way you can be sure there will be money in your account to meet the bill.
The next advantage is, as the payment is automatic you do not have to worry about forgetting to make a payment. Our lives are very busy, and it is not unheard of for people to forget to pay a bill on time. This can result in interest charges, late payments, and can even cause a black mark on your credit history.
The other problem that can be avoided when using your debit cards for this kind of payment is that you do not have to worry about a cheque payment being lost in the post.
Why Not a Direct Debit?
There is nothing wrong with the direct debit system, however they are better suited to bills that can change in value over time. For example a credit card payment will increase depending on your balance, or an energy bill can go up or down depending on the time of year.
Direct debits enable the merchant to change the payment amount when needed, making them better for these kind of bills.
What About Credit Card Payments?
One of the biggest of the debit card advantages with regular payments is that you will not be paying any interest by using your debit card to make the payment.
Although you are able to set up bill payments on your credit card you will run the risk of racking up interest if you do not pay off your card balance each month.
One thing you should be aware of however with debit cards payments, is that if you do not need to pay a particular bill anymore, it will be up to you to let the bank know. If you don’t then they will keep making the payment for you each month, costing you money you don’t need to spend.
