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Author
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Topic: Online payments
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Frank Cox
Film God
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Posts: 2234
From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 06-16-2012 02:05 AM
I sent a cheque to one of the film companies on May 22, and another (smaller) one on May 23 when they decided that they wanted 1% more than they had said they wanted on the previous day.
I got an email Tuesday of this week asking why I hadn't paid that bill.
Upon following this up, I was advised that they had not received either of the cheques that I had mailed them. It's three weeks later, and neither of those cheques have arrived? I could see one going missing, maybe, but two separate cheques mailed on consecutive days, both gone? I was reminded of Goldfinger: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
I have only had this sort of thing happen once before, several years ago and with another film company: A cheque I mailed to them disappeared and has never been seen again to this day. In that case I just mailed them another cheque and that was that.
I really dislike having this sort of thing happen, largely because I don't want people to think I'm not paying my bills. I can tell someone that I mailed them a cheque on such-and-such a date, but how do you prove that? Just trust me? That probably works to a certain degree with people that I've been dealing with for years, but I still don't like it and I don't want to get into this situation again.
After a number of back-and-forth emails I decided that I would sign up to make online payments from my bank account, and then make an online payment to them that would cover the amount due and I told them to just shred those cheques if they ever did show up. At least, that was the plan.
Since I keep my business account at the local Credit Union, I went there on Thursday morning to sign up for online payments. Little did I know that this process is not as simple as I thought it should be. Due to anti-money laundering regulations, it was going to take two days to get authorized and able to make online payments. Humph. I got the ball rolling on that and emailed the film company to advise them that I would send them the money through the online system as soon as I have the ability to do so.
Lo and behold, on Friday morning when I checked my email I had a message from the film company stating that both of my cheques had finally arrived at their office that morning.
Ghawd knows where they were for the past three weeks.
Anyway, that situation is now sorted out and I won't have to send them their money via this new online setup. However, I now have the ability to do online payments so it is my current intention to start paying everyone that I can via online payment instead of mailing them a cheque. They are supposed to get their money faster, which should make them happy. The service charge for making an online payment appears to be the same as what they charge me to write a cheque, so I get to save the cost of a stamp and an envelope.
This long story leads up to my question: Is there any pitfall or problem that you folks know about that can come up when making online payments like this? Or is this system really the cat's pyjamas that it appears to be at first glance?
By online payments, the system that I'm referring to is where I make a payment from my account through a webpage and the money is directly deposited into the recipient's bank account.
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Randy Stankey
Film God
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Posts: 6539
From: Erie, Pennsylvania
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 06-16-2012 01:39 PM
Set up a bank account, specifically for the purpose of paying bills online. Keep a nominal amount of money in that account, just enough to pay for contingencies and to keep the account active. Then, before you make any online payment, transfer money from your "real" bank account into the "online" account.
It's a little more work and, depending on the bank, you might have to pay other fees but, people get their money right away and you are insulated from any trouble.
I learned that trick when I was a field service tech at Cinemark. I had to pay for daily expenses out of my own account but got reimbursed at the end of the month. This served to insulate "my" money from "their" money and it made keeping expense reports simple. I just sent a copy of the bank statement and explained each charge. (Most of them were self explanatory, anyway.)
I still do this trick, today. My bank doesn't charge me for the extra account if I keep a minimum balance in BOTH my accounts, combined.
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