Jeffrey C. Long

If you use bill-pay find out if your institution pays the bill themselves when you initiate it, or if a third-party does. 

We recently switched to Horizon Credit Union because Chase wouldn’t let me have additional savings accounts without charging. I get stung though. Chase immediately takes the money out of your account so your online balance shows exactly what you have left. Horizon uses a third party. So, the third party pays the bill, but then tries to get the money out of your account. I had the money when I initiated the bill to be paid. But the money didn’t go out. Then when they _did_ draw the money out of my account, I didn’t have enough, so I got a $27 fee. I hadn’t overdrafted, I didn’t have the funds to pay the bill. Then 2 days later I had the money, so it drew it without my knowledge. At that point, I wasn’t aware that I was now missing $75 and so two debit card transactions overdrafted costing me $27 each. 

To their credit, after a _lot_ of haggling, they refunded the fees. But if you are looking for a bank and use billpay, be sure and ask how they do it. My hunch is that bigger is better in this case. While we look with disdain upon the big banks, I think that they have better sources for handling transactions like this.

Buyer beware.