When it comes to paying bills, my
wife and I have different styles. She
prefers one sit-down session during the month where she pays all the bills at
once, preferring paper checks. When I’m
in charge of paying the bills, I regularly check my dresser (my official filing
place for things that need attention) to see what bills are due in the next ten
days or so then pay them online. Either method
probably sounds archaic to anyone younger than fifty. The modern way to do it is to put the entire
process on auto-pilot so that the bills automatically are paid each month by a
debit from a checking account or charged to a credit card, or some other method
of which I am blissfully ignorant—very little hands-on involvement required.
And that’s a problem. Or it can be.
This “decentralization” (as it has been called) of the bill-paying chore
permits us to essentially ignore it, to the point where we don’t even look at
our bills and may even be paying for services we no longer use or need.
According to a survey cited in
the Wall Street Journal, the average American consumer spends $273 per
month for subscription services. This is
up $36 since 2018. The same survey
reports that people generally underestimate what they are paying for these services. They might include gym memberships, video or
music streaming services, different “apps” to which they’ve subscribed, and on
and on. Are the services still being
used? Even if they are, has the price been
creeping upward, with the customer unaware because he’s not actually seeing a
bill or actively involved in paying it regularly?
I came face to face with this last
week when I saw that my computer security subscription was due for automatic
renewal. I had to enroll in automatic
renewal in order to get the lower price when I first installed the software but
with the understanding I would be notified before the renewal date and could
cancel it before then. The
notification told me I would get the special renewal rate of $89.99 for
existing customers, discounted from the usual $124.99. Knowing that, like last year, I could buy a
new subscription less expensively from a reputable brick-and-mortar retailer I
know, I declined the renewal online. I
immediately got a message back that they were sorry to lose me as a customer
and to keep me onboard offered me a rate of $49.99. I declined again. Not 24 hours later I got an e-mail offer to
renew the subscription for $29.99.
I can’t claim that I exhibited
any particular negotiation skill in this instance, but it goes to show that
awareness and a little persistence and knowledge of the market can save a
consumer money.
This is not to say that I don’t
have some bills that I have automatically debited from my bank account. But I limit that option to services for which
I know there is a firm price for a defined period of time and for which I have
a set time of year for evaluation/renewal.
A Medicare-related insurance like a Part D plan or Medicare Advantage
plan would fit into this category because I know I need to review them every
year between October 15 and December 7.
But some people don’t bother to review even those types of expenses, despite
the fact that premiums often change year to year. That’s why Joe Namath has a retirement gig
doing television commercials to urge people to call the “Medicare hotline” for
a better deal on their insurance.
I’m not endorsing the Medicare
hotline, but the concept is sound: check out your options for all your expenses;
know what you’re paying; don’t leave your finances on automatic. You could be paying a lot more than necessary.
Until next time,
Roger
“Be sure you know the condition of your flocks; give
careful attention to your herds. For
riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.”
Proverbs 27:23,24 NIV*
*Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New
International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™
Used by permission. All rights
reserved worldwide.
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