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Okay so I hear about people setting up direct debits for their utilities and think it might work for us. DH gets paid monthly and I like to know what to expect money wise these days! But he doesn't really see the point of it :wall:
So how does it actually work? Do you ever get money back for paying too much? Do the companies work it all out for you or do you have to name the amount?
They take the exact amount, on time (the day before the due date). It really can help create a brilliant credit rating for yourself - my advice is if you're going to do it, have a separate account and put the $$$ in there as a budget, and top it up if required.
It depends who you are with.
We have direct debit with origin.
They work it out on your average usage for the prior 12 months.
If you have an outstanding bill when you ring the first time to register, they will add the current bill to the previous years total and work outthe average.
Ours normally works out. With has we end up behind in winter and ahead in summer so it balances out
Thanks Kazbah, good tip with putting $$$ in account in advance. I can see how you could get into trouble if you weren't 'on top of it'.
I was thinking more of a system where they take out a certain amount every fortnight/month whatever. Maybe that doesn't exist lol.
Pandora we posted at the same time. So it does exist!
Yep. Ours get reassessed every six months so if your usage dramatically changes they will alter your payment amount accordingly.
Hi girls,
Firstly, we're with TruEnergy for both Gas and Electricity.
I add up our 4 quarterly bills for the year and divide it by 50 weeks (hubby's on unpaid leave 2 weeks a year so no money coming in). Then i just set up on Netbank (we bank with CBA) to BPay the Gas and Electricity accounts the weekly amount.
We roughly pay about $45 in electricity each week and about $20 for gas. When the bill comes we usually are in CR which i either leave alone and keep making the same regular amount or i skip paying a few weeks if things are pretty tight. And if we have a really good pay week then i just pay a bit more to get us in front in case we have a bad pay week coming up.
Hope that makes sense.
most companies will help you work out "smoothed billing" - give them a call
one option, if you're getting FTB, is to speak to your provider about paying via centrepay - means you pay each fortnight before you even see the money so you don't miss it
I pay direct debit for my phone and electricity. I pay about $50 per week for each and it saves me having any bills. I just used my online banking service (CBA here too) to work out the payments for me, and I can cancel them whenever I wish. I can also change the amount up or down without someone having a whinge at me for some reason.
Very easy to do, and saves us trying to rake together a heap of money when a few bills come at the same time.
I pay pretty much everything direct debit in advance - Rates, water, electricity, etc and everything else monthly (or fortnightly) health insurance, car, house insurance, I even have a prepayment card for my rego (which isn't direct debit you have to go to post office for that one) and I love it - wouldn't go back to the old way.
Hey I forgot I posted this lol! Looks like there are heaps of options for us. Will definitley set something up as it's a real pain when every single bill comes in the one month!