Put an End to the Bondage of Recurring Expenses
Signing up for pre-authorized payments is a convenient way to pay your bills each month. No hassle and carefree since your payment will be debited automatically from the account that you enrolled in. It’s a perfect means to make sure that your bills are paid on time. Although this may sound stress-free, it can also be a cause of your worries.
As companies compel consumers to shift to e-billing, the tendency to care less about your payments is possible. Not only it can result in you being charged for more, but it can also lead to charging services that you did not actually utilize. Below are some tips that can put an end to the bondage of recurring expenses.
Review Your Bills
Although you’re switching to paperless billing, its a good practice to take a look at your payments and bills each month. You can compare the amount of your charges from last month to the latest and review any changes on the rate. Once you felt that you’re being charged extra, it would be practical and easier to amend it as early as possible rather than looking into it after several years or months.
Shun From Pre-Authorized Payments
With pre-authorized payments paying your bills seems like an air that can be felt yet can’t be seen. As soon as you signed up, the payment will be debited from your account on a specified day and time based on what you’ve signed or agreed upon. Some companies may compel you to sign up considering that it will yield them the benefit.
Furthermore, if in case you’re charged more than what you should, it would be hard to object from them in charging back the amount to your account since its been debited. A good company in this manner might offer you a credit or refund. Besides, if you cancel, there’s a great possibility that you can’t use the full credit, which leaves you empty-handed.
Long-term Contracts
Service providers similar to Rogers are promoting its consumers to engage in long-term deals for the sake of instant savings. Although you can get short-term discounts, your deluxe package that has 500 channels might just be of waste if you end up watching 22 Channels. So, the big question is? Is it a wise move? Did you really save and spend your money well? The point is, before getting into contracts, you must first carefully analyze it ist worth it.
In contrast, if you’re on a tight budget, you can scale back the services that you signed. This is despite the fact that you might still be paying something though, it’s still justifiable rather than paying the unnecessary amount for products or services that you don’t actually make use of.
Watch For Sunk Costs
Sunk costs that are defined by Investopedia.com as “a cost that has already been incurred and thus cannot be recovered.” can signify a significant part of your family’s budget. Some typical cases of sunk costs involve home insurance, yoga memberships, and cell phone plans. Before jumping into such, you might as well think hard if it’s worth your dollar.
CONSUMER PROPOSAL EXAMPLE
Example Unsecured Debts
1 | Personal loan | $8,000 |
2 | Credit card 1 | $6,812 |
3 | Tax Debts | $5,399 |
4 | Overpayments | $5,200 |
5 | Overdraft | $700 |
Total Owed | $30,204 |
Your Monthly Repayments Would Be
a Consumer proposal $748
(total contractual repayments)
a Consumer proposal $295
(total contractual repayments)
60%
* Subject to creditor acceptance
* Payment subject to individual circumstances
* Credit rating may be affected
* Fees apply, subject to individual's circumstances.