Automatic Withdrawals

I use automatic withdrawals to pay some of my bills, but very few. It's got to be someone that I really trust - my bank for my mortgage or my student loan come to mind. But I would rather go in and do an electronic check or online payment for everyone else. Because I don't trust them.

I just got a notice in the mail today that said I would be charged $4.95 extra per month if I didn't sign up for the automatic withdrawals. Now, I can see how they want to encourage everyone to sign up for electronic billing - it does save them money in paper and postage, but I don't see how it saves them any money to do automatic withdrawal. It's my expense to send in a check - which I don't even do, I send it via an electronic payment through my bank. So why should they charge me?

These fees annoy me. I like my invoices to be flat rate - nickle and diming me is the surest way to make me take my business elsewhere. So I called them. She said that because I was such a good customer, they were "graduating" me to the new program. Like they were doing me some kind of favor. What they are doing is forcing me to pay them on a particular date (whether or not the funds are there) or making me pay for THEIR inconvenience. So I asked to talk to her manager. She said it would be a 30-minute wait.

Sheesh!