Health Check Tuesday; How much money are you wasting paying unnecessary Late Fees on your bills?
We have just received our electricity account. The amount is OK for the past quarter as we are minimal users; turning off lights, using low watt bulbs, don’t have multiple entertainment centres and open the window for a breeze rather than use air-con.
What is not OK on this bill is the $12 we paid for “late fee” and the $3.45 paid for “credit card charge”
This is an extra $15.45 for the quarter. Now while this might not seem like very much by itself, it can add up. There are 4 quarters 4 x $15.45 = $61.80
We pay gas and electricity quarterly = 2 x $61.80 = $123.60
We pay mobile phone x 2 and home internet monthly.
Let’s say even half the months are paid late and paid with credit card: that’s 3 x 6 x $61.80 = $1 112.40
Which brings me to the credit card itself. Once I paid that late and it was a whopping $25.00 late fee. Do that 4 times a year = $100 plus interest (a whole other post)
The simple truth is that adding up this example of late fees and credit card charge could result in $1 336.00 plus any credit card interest paid
Just imagine how you could spend $1 336.00
It’s crazy to just throw away money on unnecessary fees and charges.
Your activity: Go back through your bills for the past 3 – 4 months and check if/ where you are paying unnecessary fees.
Your solution:
Choose one account for paying all your bills and arrange direct debit from your this bank account so the bills are always paid on the due date. You do need to ensure there is sufficient funds in the account to pay the bills thereby avoiding overdraw fees on your account.
(NB: If you are not able to guarantee there will be the funds to cover, then maybe arrange for bills to be paid on your credit card and that smaller credit card fee can avoid the late fees.)
Just imagine the holiday you could have with the money you save not paying late fees!
