Car insurance craziness

[slsh]

Ok, so I'm wondering if you guys have run into this.

I got a notice saying Thieving Insurance Co. (TIC) will now be charging us $1 for electronic funds transfer monthly. Hunh? A fee so they can get their money on time?? You have got to be kidding me. So I called TIC up and told them to cancel my EFT, I'll send them a check monthly (I hope).

Fine, blah blah blah, oh and by the way, I was informed that there will also be a monthly fee on my bill for them sending me a bill.

Um... excuse me? You're billing me because you have to bill me for my monthly car payment? Do I have that right? Yessirre, Bob, I sure do. But they're going to charge me if they just take my money without billing me as well.

Does this seem nuts to anyone else? husband thinks its just the way of the world. *I* say, if they want more $$, raise the darn rates. Don't nickel and dime me to death with absolutely ridiculous "fees"!!!

Guess I have a lot of thank you in me (or vice-versa) because to me it's a matter of principal. Don't be stupid, and this is just the height of it in my humble opinion.

So I thanked lady at TIC and told her that I expect I'll be able to find a new insurance company for both car and homeowner's before their new "fees" kick in.

Just ridiculous.

 

[Andy]

I'm with you. Pure craziness - Greedy Greedy Greedy businesses. Must be related to whoever invented loan sharking. Next thing? Grocery stores charging $2.00 per visit to use their cart while shopping and $2.00 for using their bags or $2.00 cover charge just for the priviledge of enterring their store to see what they can sell us?

 

[Andy]

P.S. Abbey's store will charge $5.00 cover charge when she is working. And everyone will gladly pay it just to see what her job is for the day and how she set up for it.

 

[flutterbee]

It is greed. I pay mine monthly and it is debited from my account because for some reason the insurance was always the one bill I forgot to pay. Not that I didn't have the money; I just forgot. After getting a cancellation notice a couple of times, I set it up to be drafted. There is a fee I pay, but I couldn't even tell you what it is. But, to have to pay a fee to get a bill is ridiculous. That is just their cost of doing business.

If you paid every 6 months instead of monthly, I don't think you'd have that fee. Stupid, huh.

As far as utilities, I have free online bill pay with my bank. I pay all of my utilities except water that way. The water is paid at City Hall in town and I drop it off when I'm going that way.

 

[SRL]

I think the insurance charges the fee to discourage monthly and quarterly payments because it's more handling for them. I know for our homeowners there's no fee if I pay one annual payment but there is if I set it up to be two times per year. Naturally they don't pay me the interest back that they have for getting my money early.

The one that gets me are the banks deducting immediately from your account when you write a check but not making deposits available until 2pm on the next business day...even if I'm depositing a check from one of their members. Sometimes I just go cash the payroll check at the credit union and deposit cash into checking which appears immediately.

 

[Lothlorien]

Sounds like some shopping around is in order. That would irritate me too.

 

[flutterbee]

SRL - I'd be shopping around for a new bank. All of my deposits post at midnight the day I deposit them and are posted before debits.

 

[Wiped Out]

Oh my-will they never stop finding ways to get more money!?

 

[mom_in_training]

Oh yea, Farmers was charging customers $5.00 a month as a processing fee for years. There was a law suit about it not to long ago and just recently I have noticed that they have went down a couple dollars. I do not even do the debiting, I send a check when I get the bill every month.

Just a quick question, When you do write a check out at a store that does the automatic check debit why is it that it will still show in your account as not being cashed or debited sometimes two or three days later. Auto debit to me means that its electronically taken the moment the cashier processes the check. This tends to happen often at this one store that I go to. Their policy is Auto debit when you write a check, The customer does not have the choice.

 

[DammitJanet]

I think some of my bills are paperless and they dont charge for the bill? I dont even know if they are charging me for my bill...lol...maybe I should check. I know I do pay a $1 fee for EFT for my insurance. I dont complain because I knew it going in and my rates there were cheaper than anywhere else.

I dont get charged extra for paying online for bills. I am furious though that my water dept wont come into the 21st century and accept bill payments online. Nor will they accept one over the telephone though they do accept credit/debit cards in the office. Makes no sense to me. They will even set it up to automatically draft out of your account but I like to see what Im paying when its not a bill that is the same amount every month. This is the one bill I am forever forgetting to pay until the last minute so I am always having late fees on a small bill. Stupid!

 

[Abbey]

P.S. Abbey's store will charge $5.00 cover charge when she is working. And everyone will gladly pay it just to see what her job is for the day and how she set up for it.

You go girl. I'll take the tip.

Abbey

 

[dreamer]

Yeah, my ins co has been chargeing me for my bill for awhile, now. Other companies also charge me for getting a bill, too. Our bank charges us for useing ATMs, but then awhile back got this brilliant idea to charge even more for useing the drive thru and walk up windows. they were chargeing $3 for makeing a deposit!
Some people here have stopped accepting checks becuz some banks now charge non customers of their bank $5 to cash a check drawn on that same bank! (example- I pay Avon lady with a check, she decides to drive past my bank to cash the check and they charge her $5 to cash it at my bank)
Last week, I got a call from a credit card, they got their last payment from me one day late, so they were calling to INFORM me, they were electronically withdrawing NEXT months payment from my checking account that I used to make the last payment! I was unsure WHY my last month payment was a day late, until I gott to the post office, where our "last mail pickup" for the day was SUPPOSED to be at 5:15 PM and it was 4 PM and the mail person was already gathering in the last mail of the day, meaning anyone who dropped mail into the post office box after 4 PM, their mail simply sat in the box until the next day. And for a long time the same bank I have already spoken of, if you do not check your deposit slip when you are right there, you might find OFTEN they do not credit a deposit until the next business day even if you make the deposit at say 1 PM. If questioned about it they will act so innocent and say, oh we already closed out the drawer. Since I get all our income on the same day, once a month, this can be a problem, sometimes.

My car loan on my bug, they did not give me "coupons" or anything to send with my monthly payment, no reminders, nothing- I have to simply remember to make a payment each month. And add my own peice of paper with my account number etc on it. They do not even offer the choice to even pay to get a bill.
My sons eye doctor began chargeing $2 per bill and our GP charges $5 per month per bill.
If I wish to pay by phone,for various assotrted bills, I am usually charged approx $15 to do so.

 

[dreamer]

Oh and poor easy child..social security in their infinite wisdowm decided after she turned 18 but before she graduated HS, they would send her dependants benefits to HER in her name. OK that was fine....but- when it came and she deposited it into her account, they froze her account for 5 days....put funds on hold to cover the amount of the soc sec check- so her money was inaccessible to her for 5 full days.

 

[Andy]

Because the bank had to make sure the Soc Sec check was good and wouldn't bounce?!