Credit Cards

Automatic Credit Card Payment

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  • Mar 18th, 2022 6:22 pm
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Deal Guru
Dec 11, 2008
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Automatic Credit Card Payment

How many of you set up your bank account so that it automatically pays off your credit card bills?

Do you do this for all credit cards?

Also, if you were to set up, does it need to be set up through the credit card company? I assume so and not from your bank account?

I am going away for 1 month next year and trying to consider if I should have my credit cards automatically paid or do I just "prepay" or overpay to cover the bill.....
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Feb 15, 2006
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speedyforme wrote: How many of you set up your bank account so that it automatically pays off your credit card bills?

Do you do this for all credit cards?

Also, if you were to set up, does it need to be set up through the credit card company? I assume so and not from your bank account?

I am going away for 1 month next year and trying to consider if I should have my credit cards automatically paid or do I just "prepay" or overpay to cover the bill.....
Depends. On some CC you can set up auto payment (e.g. mbna 0% cc where you take out money). For most others, how would you set up auto payment, and of what amount?

When I travel, I get online when I can. I also keep track of my payment due dates, and set up such payments beforehand. If you will not be online at all for a month, well then you better set up payment, or pre-payment before you travel.
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Arrgh wrote: Depends. On some CC you can set up auto payment (e.g. mbna 0% cc where you take out money). For most others, how would you set up auto payment, and of what amount?

When I travel, I get online when I can. I also keep track of my payment due dates, and set up such payments beforehand. If you will not be online at all for a month, well then you better set up payment, or pre-payment before you travel.
For MBNA PP (or any MBNA card), you can ask MBNA to pull the minimum payment or full balance from your bank account once per billing cycle. Since MBNA doesn't offer bank accounts, you can do with from any bank account (Simplii/Tang/EQ/etc.). Same goes for AmEx, etc. For AmEx, you can pull a payment from bank account as well. Setup pre-auth pay to AmEx requires snail-mailing a form with void cheque (hassle).

Edit: For TD, you can ask them to pre-auth pay credit card, can be from a TD bank account (setup via phone) or external account (setup in branch or fax a form). I lack experience with the rest of the big five, but my guess is that it'd be the same.

Bottom line, if you wish to pre-auth pay a credit card, make sure you always have the available funds in that bank account, no exceptions.
Last edited by titaniumtux on Jul 7th, 2019 1:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Deal Guru
Dec 11, 2008
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OK thanks. Yes I won't have internet access, will be gone in Antarctica for about 3.5 weeks

I think my best bet may be to call the credit card company to and make sure I can prepay since I would know roughly how much I owe for that month.
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Jan 16, 2016
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speedyforme wrote: OK thanks. Yes I won't have internet access, will be gone in Antarctica for about 3.5 weeks

I think my best bet may be to call the credit card company to and make sure I can prepay since I would know roughly how much I owe for that month.
Or have a friend or family member pay for you and you give funds to them in advance or have an IOU.
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Dec 21, 2007
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For most, you can fill out a Pre-Authorized Debit (PAD) agreement with the card company, in which you can tell them to either take the minimum payment or full bill balance on the due date. Essentially you fill it out and sign, plus give them your banking information (eg. account number, transit number, institution number, etc).

In some cases it is a form you need to either print out and fax/mail or email, and in others they will let you fill it out online. If memory serves PC Financial was a form, and Canadian Tire was their site.
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Jan 9, 2011
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I do this for all credit cards that allow it.

I have experience with these issuers:

  • Amex - yes. Requires downloading a form and snail mailing it for each card.
  • BMO - yes. Requires downloading a form and snail mailing it for each card.
  • MBNA - yes.
  • Capital One - yes. Can be set up online.
  • Scotiabank - yes. Many people don't know this because it's an undocumented feature. Like so much else with Scotiabank, it requires a visit to a branch.
  • Meridian CU - not available. Manual payments required.
  • Rogers Bank - Yes

I have a Meridian Visa card and it's the only card I have that doesn't support automatic payment. PITA to have to remember to make manual payments every month.
Last edited by Kiraly on Jul 7th, 2019 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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titaniumtux wrote: For TD, you can ask them to pre-auth pay credit card but it must be from a TD bank account.
That sucks. Scotiabank and BMO let you set up PAP from any institution's bank account. I had mine being paid from my credit union's chequing account.
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Kiraly wrote: That sucks. Scotiabank and BMO let you set up PAP from any institution's bank account. I had mine being paid from my credit union's chequing account.
Great to know! I see Scotia has good cards, so I'll give it even more consideration for their travel pts.

@Kiraly why pay from CU chq account? Why not from EQ? Probably would earn more interest that way Smiling Face With Sunglasses I know you use Meridian...can you pre-auth pay Meridian CBI from another FI's bank account?
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titaniumtux wrote: Great to know! I see Scotia has good cards, so I'll give it even more consideration for their travel pts.

@Kiraly why pay from CU chq account? Why not from EQ? Probably would earn more interest that way Smiling Face With Sunglasses I know you use Meridian...can you pre-auth pay Meridian CBI from another FI's bank account?
My main FI is Vancity CU. Been a member for 15 years and love them. Unlimited transaction chequing account is free with a minimum $1,000 balance. I only became a member of Meridian and opened a savings account so I could get their Visa card, which doesn't allow PAP from any financial institution.
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Kiraly wrote: My main FI is Vancity CU. Been a member for 15 years and love them. Unlimited transaction chequing account is free with a minimum $1,000 balance. I only became a member of Meridian and opened a savings account so I could get their Visa card, which doesn't allow PAP from any financial institution.
Thinking Face But can you pre-auth pay Meridian CBI from Meridian savings account?

$1k balance to waive fees is annoying. Could say it's lower than BMO/TD/CIBC/Scotia, but still annoying.

Why not bank with Motive since you're in BC?

Back to CC's though, this topic could warrant a list thread, identifying CC issuers who allow PAP chq to CC with same or other FI.
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Pretty much all of my credits are with pre-authorized debit. This is how I set it up.

AMEX - Yes. Snail mail
MBNA - Yes. Snail mail
Scotiabank - Yes. You will need to visit their branch
PC Financial - Yes. Snail mail or email.
Canadian Tire - Yes. Online.
RBC - Yes. Telephone.

Rogers - No. They are currently looking at it.
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Dec 4, 2008
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Hate resurrected a year old thread but since I stumbled across this from Google I figured it might help others...

... You can now PAD from Rogers, after you sign in click on the hamburger menu in the top right corner > Pre-Authorized Debit.

Or just visit https://rogersbank.com/legaldocs/en/Rog ... dDebit.pdf, fill it out and attach a copy of your FI's void cheque to:

Email:
RB.customerservice@rci.rogers.com

or Mail:
Rogers Bank
PO Box 57130
RPO Jackson Square
Hamilton, ON
L8P 4W9

More FAQ here: https://rogersbank.com/en/help_centre_a ... ized_debit
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Yes, I think Rogers implemented it shortly after we discussed it in this thread.

Meridian CU Visa is now my only card that can't do PAP of the full balance. I called Collabria and asked them about it, and they said that PAP of the full balance is something they offer to all of their credit union partners, but Meridian has chosen to opt out of that service, for whatever reason. (?)
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titaniumtux wrote: For TD, you can ask them to pre-auth pay credit card but it must be from a TD bank account.
My TD Visa that I recently got is paid automatically from my CIBC account.

I think some TD phone reps are stupid, lazy or don't care or all of this. One told me it couldn't be done so I hung up and called again and they did it for me. All over the phone, I just provided them with my banking details.
Kiraly wrote: I have experience with these issuers:
  • Amex - yes. Requires downloading a form and snail mailing it for each card.
American Express Canada can add bank accounts online now.

It is via, Make Payment > Enroll new bank account


I pay all of my cards via automatic debits. If they don't have this feature, I don't get/use their card.

Tangerine MC can only debit the amount from a Tangerine account. I missed my first payment because of this and then canceled the card because of it. I have a Meridian Visa that doesn't do automatic debit either but I don't use it.
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For the rare times when one is away w/o Internet access I recommend pre-payment of the amount (+some buffer) that you plan to spend. The balance on the CC will go negative and then work its way down to zero and above as you spend.

For the rest, any agreements that involve chequing or low rate savings account holding thousands of dollars ... it's a no go for me. As soon as my paycheque arrives in my account it gets distributed to either pay CC bills, utilities, etc. or, on the rare occasion I get extra, lol, that part goes to investment accounts, GICs, etc. No point in keeping thousands of dollar at 0.001% interest rate, is it?
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batcave wrote: My TD Visa that I recently got is paid automatically from my CIBC account.

I think some TD phone reps are stupid, lazy or don't care or all of this. One told me it couldn't be done so I hung up and called again and they did it for me. All over the phone, I just provided them with my banking details.
American Express Canada can add bank accounts online now.

It is via, Make Payment > Enroll new bank account


I pay all of my cards via automatic debits. If they don't have this feature, I don't get/use their card.

Tangerine MC can only debit the amount from a Tangerine account. I missed my first payment because of this and then canceled the card because of it. I have a Meridian Visa that doesn't do automatic debit either but I don't use it.
@batcave you quoted an old post. TD has changed the policy since, allowing pre-auth payment to TD cards from external bank accounts.
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Why wasn't this thread locked then if it is old news?

I just looked at the dates and everything is from last year. :rolleyes:

It should be locked, deleted or needs to be updated with correct information.

Edit, regardless, I posted my account from last month of a conversation with TD Bank. Some of their employee still do not know that a TD Visa can be paid automatically from a different bank.
Last edited by batcave on Jul 7th, 2019 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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batcave wrote: Why wasn't this thread locked then if it is old news?

I just looked at the dates and everything is from last year. :rolleyes:

It should be locked, deleted or needs to be updated with correct information.

Edit, regardless, I posted my account from last month of a conversation with TD Bank. Some of their employee still do not know that a TD Visa can be paid automatically from a different bank.
Forums (and blogs) are time-stamped, meaning anchored in time...unlike a wiki that's meant to be kept up to date.

There may be benefit to updating OP to keep it current, but only OP (and mods) can update OP. If you feel the thread should be locked due to outdated info and where thread summary wouldn't suffice to keep it relevant, you can report it and then the mods will make a judgement call.
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