Have you ever gotten a post dated bill?

[Dirtyhip]

We tend to pay our bills about 5 days early.  This allows for me to assure that companies get their money timely.  I don't like pushing things to the very last day of due date.

Anyway, I received a bill from my garbage company.  Invoice date is 11/01/19, and a due date of 12/01/19.

Strange.  

Also, the amounts seem correct, but it doesn't show my last payment, on history.  It's almost like they skipped Oct. I know they got the last payment, because of the amounts.  It would be much more, if they didn't get the Sept payment.

It's still October, right?  ?

[Longjohn ★]

For bills that are the same every month (garbage, insurance, etc.) I have on Otto payment. For my electric bill I pay it online as soon as I get the notification. I don’t trust a company that has variable amounts to not misplace a decimal point or something and rape my bank account and then I have to fight to get it back. Otto payment makes the payment on the due date.

[MickinMD ★]

If there is a way to automatically make online payments near the due date you might consider that - that's how I solved the problem of getting bills very early, forgetting to pay, then getting 2nd notices with penalty amounts added.

There are a number of bills I get 6 weeks early or more, particularly bi-annual bills from State Farm Insurance, annual property taxes - which includes the garbage bill in my county, and the every-3-month's Water Bill from my County.

When I first had the problem, I didn't have an online "Bill Pay" from my checking account to pay bills automatically at the date I assigned.  So I set up automatic monthly payments with State Farm and, as soon as I got the water bill I'd pay it - it's only something like $30 every 3 months. The Property Tax bill, just under 1% of the property value plus garbage and a couple other charges, was big enough I didn't forget it, but usually paid it early as well.  Today, I set up the date to pay and payment amount with my credit union's online "Bill Pay," making comments in the spreadsheet cell for my checking account total to make sure I have enough there to cover it when it's paid - though that's not crucial since my credit union has a $0 penalty for checking overdrafts if savings can cover it.

[Dirtyhip]

28 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

For bills that are the same every month (garbage, insurance, etc.) I have on Otto payment. For my electric bill I pay it online as soon as I get the notification. I don’t trust a company that has variable amounts to not misplace a decimal point or something and rape my bank account and then I have to fight to get it back. Otto payment makes the payment on the due date.

I am moving away from auto pay.  I would rather send them the money, instead of them going into my account.  They can make mistakes or double charge. 

The only exception is our internet.  They charge us more, if we don't select that option.  

My question still remains.  Has anyone gotten a bill that is dated a future date.  Like, date of invoice =, 11/01/19.

Gosh, they have a time machine?

[maddmaxx ★]

I've never heard of that.  Perhaps they are anticipating something.

[Ralphie ★]

Just now, maddmaxx said:

I've never heard of that.  Perhaps they are anticipating something.

Me neither.

[maddmaxx ★]

Could they be close to going bankrupt?    They might want some travelling money.  Some folks might pay the bill when they get it.

[Dirtyhip]

39 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

If there is a way to automatically make online payments near the due date you might consider that - that's how I solved the problem of getting bills very early, forgetting to pay, then getting 2nd notices with penalty amounts added.

I have no issue with late payments.  The date due on this bill is December.  

When we are gone in the summer, I set up pre-pays for everything.   No problems there.

[Dirtyhip]

8 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

Could they be close to going bankrupt?    They might want some travelling money.  Some folks might pay the bill when they get it.

I think that they either screwed up the dates when printing statements, or maybe they are gathering flee money.  HAHA

[shootingstar]

1 hour ago, Dirtyhip said:

I am moving away from auto pay.  I would rather send them the money, instead of them going into my account.  They can make mistakes or double charge. 

The only exception is our internet.  They charge us more, if we don't select that option.  

I only have monthly condo fee on auto pay.

Everything else still send the money for utilities, internet bill, credit card, insurance, my taxes, etc.  I might consider for my taxes....really the govn't is very good with their systems/not susceptible to fraud/double payments.  There are regulated controls put into place ...unless another new technology comes along.  I was reviewing the law with a department in terms of documentation ….since my employer is govn't.

I'll revisit this in a few years since one's capacity might change in 3 decades. 

[JerrySTL ★]

As an IT professional, I would guess a computer error. 

[donkpow]

I get some funky stuff from the local tax authority.

[Wilbur ★]

Sure.  I invoice in advance frequently.  Most payables are on 30 days in business.  Getting the invoice out early helps keep payments within the 30 day period. 

[Road Runner]

As long as the bill doesn't fluctuate due to usage (power, water, credit cards, etc), I have no problem with bills being sent early.  My quarterly real estate tax bill usually arrives about 45 days prior to the actual due date.  

[Kirby]

The only bills I have on auto pay are condo bills when they stopped sending invoices.  They were going to send you one set of invoices at the start of the year and you had to remember to send in the payment.  I can get scatterbrained and I like a reminder.  But I don't recall ever seeing a future bill like that.

[shootingstar]

2 hours ago, Kirby said:

The only bills I have on auto pay are condo bills when they stopped sending invoices.  They were going to send you one set of invoices at the start of the year and you had to remember to send in the payment.  I can get scatterbrained and I like a reminder.  But I don't recall ever seeing a future bill like that.

For sure, I don't want auto pay on credit card bill if there should ever be a situation of unknown fraud/account hacking/stolen credit card. A good friend who was working for the police at the time, had her account hacked and someone racked up $3,000 within 1 day.  As for heating bill, because local utility does change their discount rates every few yrs. (and I forget when discount period ends), I don't want to get mindless.  

I asked a friend who autopays all monthly types of bills, she couldn't even recall on average how much she pays for her house heating bill on monthly basis.  For certain, I don't want to get lulled/non-caring like that.