Verizon to Charge $2 Fee for One Time Payments Online or Over the Phone

I suppose if you want to live your life paranoid like that.

It's not about paranoia. It's about being able to determine when MY money ends up in someone else's hands as opposed to giving someone carte blanche to dip in as they please.

It's also about well-documented, frequent cases of site hacking and stealing of this information.

However, if you're perfectly fine with as many different billers having your bank account information, and have that much money that you don't care who can go in and take it, well that's on you. Whatever floats your boat.

So make the payments through your bank's website. Same process, different website. *so hard to do*

And some people will do this. that still doesn't make the practice reasonable.

I actually don't have Verizon, so I couldn't honestly care less about this fee.

I don't have Verizon either, but I do care because recent history has shown that the carriers like to collude. If one carrier introduces a new fee or adds a new plan restriction, the others have a tendency to follow suit.

I just get annoyed when people complain about stuff without reason, which is what people are doing here.

When a company charges its customers more and gives a BS reason for doing it, that's plenty of reason to complain. Acquiescence only gives such entities motivation to go further and charge more. Maybe you like to needlessly spend money, or spend extra time going through hoops to avoid such fees. Some of us don't.

Here, let me save you your reply: *whine whine whine*

How nice it must be in your little world. I find it amusing that for someone who doesn't have Verizon service, you're working this hard to defend a corporate practice that seeks only to grab more money from people.

Stop whining and be smart consumers.

Smart customers complain when a company does something unreasonable.

I suppose if you want to live your life paranoid like that.

Not blindly assuming that corporations have your best interest in mind != paranoia.

I just get annoyed when people complain about stuff without reason, which is what people are doing here.

So you complain about people complaining? Pot, kettle.

Just saw this on twitter
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-57349742-266/verizon-wireless-yep-thatll-be-$2-to-pay-your-bill-online/

A leaked memo from the company first reported by Engadget, showed some of the details of the new plan. And the blog Phone Scoop got confirmation from a Verizon representative on Thursday of the change.
The new fee will go into effect starting January 15 and doesn't apply to customers paying their bills with an electronic check or who enroll in autopay using a credit, debit, or AT&T cards, according to the memo posted on Endgadget. Customers using Verizon Wireless gift cards or Verizon Wireless device rebate cards and customers using standard paper check and money orders made payable directly to Verizon Wireless will also not be charged a fee, Phone Scoop reported.
Verizon said that customers making single payments online will be notified of the fee before they complete their transactions.
The fee associated with paying your bill online is part of a larger trend by companies to extract more money from customers to access certain forms of payment. Bank of America was criticized earlier this year for its plans to charge customers a $5 fee to use debit cards.
Verizon's plan seems to make little sense, given that the company offers several ways to avoid the fee. Verizon didn't elaborate on why it's charging this fee. My guess is that the company that clears these payments is charging Verizon a fee that Verizon is passing on to customers. Still, it seems ridiculous that paying a bill online or by phone could cost Verizon more than processing a hand-written check or money order that is sent to the company through the regular mail.
Verizon has not yet responded to CNET's request for more information on this topic. So stay tuned for updates.

I hate how greedy carriers have become. This is just ridiculous. It's just pure greed, that is all.

I don't care how long you write an explanation or try to make this logical it's not right. Should we also cover Verizon's operating cost just because we decided to choose them as our wireless provider too?? If you go into business and want to accept electronic payments, unless you process them yourself you know there is a fee associated with this. What makes it acceptable to pass this on to the customer and make it so OBVIOUS?

But I have the option to sign up for auto-pay, when my bill could be incorrect? I wouldn't even wanna know the hoops i'd have to hop thru just to get a refund. Gee thanks, why don't I just pay the life of the contract upfront when I sign up?

Give'em hell guys!! I'm on ATT, but if this works on Verizon it won't be long before ATT sees a windfall too. Monkey dumbass see, monkey do.

Ask for a hard copy bill and pay via snail mail with a check. That way they have to print and mail the bill and handle the check. Tell them you would like to pay via phone but the network is too unreliable.

Can y'all hear me now?

How many people actually make one-time payments via Verizon's own online portal? I would think the percentage is not very large.

This fee will not apply to those who make online payments via their own bank's online banking system.

If it applies to those who log into verizon.com and hit "Pay Bill" and enter their credit card info, I disagree completely.

While now a moot point, read the notice. The $2 fee is imposed ONLY if you pay by debit or credit card and not if you pay by ACH (funds transfer) or e-check. If you pay by debit or credit card, Verizon has to pay the bank fee and I see no reason why they cannot pass that on to the consumer.

Even if you make a one-time payment, as long as it's NOT by credit or debit card, you don't pay the fee.

If you think verizon and att have not incorporated these costs into their business model already, you would be misinformed. This is a money grab by them

1) No, not everyone is poor right now.
2) I actually would be considered "poor," but I still have no problem making sure my bill is covered every month when it gets deducted.
3) YOU CAN STILL PAY VIA YOUR LEISURE THROUGH YOUR BANK'S WEBSITE.

Stop whining and be smart consumers.

You are doing the whining here.

About others protesting a nuisance fee.

Do you work at Verizon's billing department?

Everyone complaining about this knows that there's no fee if you are signed up for automatic monthly billing/payments, right?

You know that permitting automatic monthly payments is probably a bad idea, right? It's basically the equivalent of handing over a stack of signed blank checks and permitting the biller to fill in whatever amount they choose and cash the checks whenever they please. If there's an erroneous charge or other billing snafu (which happens quite frequently, actually), Verizon has your money,whether it was rightfully earned or not, unless and until you manage to successfully dispute, appeal, or sue.

No thank you. "One time" payments are commonly done because it's the only way to maintain control of when a bill gets paid, and how much the payment is.

It's only to offset charges whatever banking institution Verizon uses to accept online payments. Every bank charges a fee to company's that accept online payments, or even your local mom and pop shop that accepts credit/debit. It's always a percentage of whatever the total transaction is. Verizon thinks this will offset the charges the bank utilizes of them using their service, which is true, but I'm sure Verizon is pocketing some of this money, because $2 is more than what they have to pay for each online transaction.

Yeah, that's the company line and apparently you've bought it. However:

1. Banks charge a fee to merchants for credit card payments regardless of how they are handled: in the store at a Point-of-sale terminal, online as a one-time payment, or as part of an automated recurring payment system. The $2 "convenience fee" would be uniformly applied to ALL electronic payments no matter how they come in, if this truly were for the purpose of recouping bank fees.

But, they aren't applying the fee uniformly to all credit/debit card payments. Which means this argument doesn't hold water.

2. We seem to have forgotten (or at least Verizon likes to hope we've forgotten) that online payments were at one point encouraged because it costs them less money to process than it does a paper check. I also frees up staff at stores who would otherwise have to accept your payment, or staff at customer service centers who would have to open your mailed payment and process a check. It also means fewer trips to the bank (again tying up paid staff) to deposit those cash and check payments.

It's this same reasoning that motivates employers to pay their employees via direct despot whenever possible: banks charge more to process paper checks than they do to handle the same payments electronically. Imagine if your employer suddenly decided to charge you a "convenience fee" for direct-depositing you paycheck? It's the same principle.

It's just as "convenient" for Verizon to accept your credit card payment over check or cash, as it is for you. This is nothing but a blatant cash grab, pure and simple.