"he says he is "both humbled and sincerely grateful""

If you are managing your credit properly credit cards are great for paying utility bills - the rewards and added avenue of dispute are well worth it as long as you are paying off your cc bill in full (the month it's due to avoid interest, or prior to the statement date if you also want to keep your credit ratio as low…

The caveat with that is your water company is probably using a third party to handle all their online payments, which technically puts them in a better position to make that charge since it's a fee that's passed on. It's also a sign that they are extraordinarily stupid though, because it doesn't cost that much to do…

Heh, when I was in college autopay was a *great* idea, because the bills that weren't autopay were too easily forgotten while focusing on class and work. I made sure I had a couple hundred dollar buffer in my account at all times - you only have to do it once - that I never touch to account for the possibility of a…

If they back off before January I doubt it will have any real impact on the customer base. This is not the first time verizon branches have played this game:

I think it's fine for the FCC to take a look at this, but regarding your comment, I would point out that the main culprit for this type of fee is utility companies, which are usually regional monopolies, and the government hasn't done a bloody thing about that. The FCC is investigating this because it's their…

Actually it's not, you just would have to set your default payment method as a checking account instead of a credit card to avoid the fee.

You could still pay your bill after your paycheck using one-time e-checks, either through Verizon or your bank, they weren't going to charge for that.

You set when your money is paid out for the autopay and you get a notification including your amount due by e-mail when your bill comes out. You have at least a couple weeks to look at your statement and deal with any issues before handing money over, even with autopay.

It's been said by me and others elsewhere, but you don't get charged before you see your bill. You set the date of the month you get charged and you get a notification when your bill comes out, what the amount will be, and when it will be charged. For me the gap is a bit over two weeks. You have plenty of time to…

That's why they send statement alerts. Verizon includes the amount due in the e-mail when your bill comes out. Mine says:

Because auto-pay (even by credit card) is generally reliable because they get payment consistently and the customers tend to be more responsible - and are much less likely at that point to actively chose not to pay when they are short on cash. E-check is direct, so they get a funds clearance from the bank (and it…

No, they are charging for single use credit charges only. They are not charging for single e-checks, or credit card auto pay. They are not charging for the sake of credit card fees, they are trying to push people to more reliable forms of payment, presumably to improve collections.

It also doesn't apply to e-checks through verizon. For reference, quoting phonescoop:

You aren't charged when your statement comes out. With Verizon's autopay you set the date of the month to pay the bill. You have between the time your statement comes out and that date to dispute charges before you get charged (for me a little over two weeks). If you had a big dispute you couldn't resolve by then, you…

If you use auto-pay or echeck you won't get charged, even online, the article doesn't mention that.

It does not affect auto-pay, it also doesn't affect e-check (direct from bank account). The article ignores some rather important details.

This article is totally misquoting the situation. The fees do not apply to auto-pay with credit card or bank account, nor does it apply to one time payments via e-check (bank account) online or off. "Charge You Extra to Pay Your Bill Online" is completely inaccurate.

It doesn't apply to e-checks either, so you can use online bill-pay with your bank as well, one time or auto.

That used to be the case, but it currently has a free open source extension: