Maurice, the INSIDE SCOOP ON BANK ONE....
I went through all this with Benny about eight months or so ago on the thread when I signed up with BANK ONE. I had the same problems that you are venting about now. So, as as shareholder and believer of EBPP I set out on a mission to figure out how in the heck all this would work if the banks nick you for your float every time you pay a bill. If only I knew how to go back in time on all my post, I could post numerous and that would be able to explain the story.
Here is the deal. I, like you said " how will EBPP survive at banks if they take your float away and use it for their own benefit?"
So I called about ten people at Bank One (and got to one of the top people in their E-Banking Dept.) and finally figured it all out, but they don't tell you all this in their brochure.
Many billers are able to receive bills electronically and many cannot but are obviously working towards being able to. So if the Biller is electronically capable of receiving the bill, then at Bank One you may pay that bill that day before bank posting hours are over and the bill hits the biller the next day. To be safe I pay one day early. In this example, you lose no float to the bank. Your money is extracted from your account and paid and posted to CF and CF in turn pays the biller electronically the day after your money has been extracted from your account making efficient use of your float and nobody rips you off.
The problem that you have alluded to about having to pay five days early before the bill is due is directed at the biller who cannot today receive a bill from CF electronically. Therefore, you must pay this bill five days early in order for Bank One to GUARRANTEE an on time payment because that is sufficient time for CF to print and mail the payment for on time arrival to the biller.
Lastly, what I do to get around all this BS this causes (which is a reason for slow adoption becuase it makes it too complicated) is I pay the electronically enabled billers one day prior and the non-E- enabled billers three days prior those that don't penalize me for being late. Yet, in this account I don't keep daily funds very high so there is no interest paid and my float in this account is of no consequence.
In sumarry, consider staying with Bank One and work the non electronically enabled billers to youre advantage against the electronically enabled ones. At the rate billers are gearing up for EBPP most billers will be E-enabled in no time. Because I know where you are from, here is a list of the currently E-enabled billers in your area.
Southwestern Bell Telephone, TU Electric, Texaco, MOBIL, Lone Star Gas, Visa,and many others to come as this market emerges.(I got this info. from Bank One.)CHeck back from time to time with Bank One to see who has been added to the list that you are billed from.
Hope this helps, A.H.
P.S. AS the EBPP revolution materializes, the billers WILL begin penalizing the consumer for late payments more and more . This is because it is in their best interest to not let you use your float time against them(ie. mail lag time) when they could potentially receive it on. This will spur EBPP when it happens more. |
