Ie Advantages And Disadvantages Of Recurring Authorisation Payments

One of the greatest stresses in life is having to pay your monthly bills. Dealing with the financial burden and having to take time out to take keep track of all the different bills and due dates is not something any one looks forward too. Thankfully, with the advent of credit cards, an option that makes bills payments less stressful is now available.

Credit cards now offer what is usually called recurring authorisation payments, or automatic payments. Recurring authorisation payments work by allowing your service provider, such as the electric company or your life insurance company, to automatically charge your credit card each time a bill is due. The charge then reflects on your credit card balance so that you do not have to worry about paying the service provider, but instead take care of your credit card bill.

The most obvious advantage of this set up is that, as long as they have this option, you can set up recurring authorisations with as many of your service providers as you want. This has the effect of consolidating all your bills into just one, your credit card bill. Instead of having to keep track several due dates, which almost always means missed payments for a bill or two, you just have to make sure that you make your credit card payment on time.

Another advantage is that it can make keeping track of your expenses a bit more easy. Since recurring authorisation payments are reflected on your online credit card account, you can easily see if the service provider has already billed you and how much. You also do not have to keep receipts for future reference since they will all be reflected on your statement of account, which you can always recheck if there is any need for it. Furthermore, some of the best credit card providers also allow you to export your financial details to a financial or budgeting software to help you manage your finances. Since you are paying your bills via credit card, they will automatically be part of the expenses, so you won't have to plug them in manually.

As good as it sound though, recurring authorisation payments does have some disadvantages. The same way that it can help you keep track of your bills payments, having this set up can make you lax in keeping track of bills that can soar, like phone bills. Since you do not have to look at your phone bill, knowing it will be taken care off by the credit card company, you can end up with an enormous bill without realising it. This leads to the other disadvantage, which are over the limit charges. If you do not keep track of your spending, this can lead to your going over your credit limit, which can lead to expensive penalties.