Is providing your Bank routing and account number to pay bills online secure

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Maybe this topic has been addressed here before, but I’m wondering how secure is it to provide bank routing and account number to companies for auto payments?

For example, the utility company only accepts Bank routing & account number in their website for auto pay. No credit or debit cards.  I’d prefer bill pay from the bank, but am unable to setup due to some error that no one can correct – I’ve tried!!  Company reps have no idea how bank acct data is stored and secured.  What if they are breached – would the bank account info be exposed?

Now, I have provided my bank account info to two credit card companies for auto-pay, one of which had a large breach (Capital One).  I am betting (hoping) the credit card co’s have high grade security for customer bank account info.  But I don’t know. And I have much less confidence in the Utility company’s security practices.  I want auto pay, but not at the expense of security.

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I’ve been doing that for the last 10+ years (including local utility companies) and never had a problem with my account getting hacked into.

One thing you should be aware of is, providing a 3rd party your RTN & Acct#, gives “them” control over when and how much they can charge your account (which is why most utility companies insist on using it for auto pay) and it “can” sometimes be extremely difficult to cancel if you move or something.

BTDT, it was not fun getting my bank to stop accepting the monthly charges and reimburse my account!

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cajunbulldog, wavy

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Hmm thanks. I didn’t think of making changes or them taking more $$ than they should and trying to get reimbursed.  I may just have to set reminders to go in and pay each month.

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I am hesitant to give anyone access to my banking info or access to withdraw, on their terms, from my account.

My solution is to handle it through the bank’s BillPay. My bank offers free bill pay, by EFT if it’s available (many credit cards, some vendors) or by check/snail mail if it is not. You can log into the utility’s website and view/download your bill. Or have them notify you of the amount by email. Then schedule payment by check (probably in your case) through billpay.

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thanks yes I agree bill pay from your own bank account is the way to go – but in this case, it is failing.  I have tried to set it up multiple times and keep getting a failure that it is a duplicate. I spoke to the bank and they said it is on the payee side. I spoke to the payee this morning and they claim there is no duplicate and it’s on the bank side !! of course!!!  The rep said she could open a ticket with their IT dept which I thought was a good idea. I asked her to have them recycle or clear the system for the account – do some sort system reset, whatever they do with their accounts.  Usually that solves most IT problems – recycle, reboot, turn it off and on. Fingers crossed that works!! And if it doesn’t, I can issue a payment through the bill payer, but I have to remember to manually go in and do that each month. Which I can do, I just prefer automatic ; )

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Try the legacy method: write checks for payment and mail them to each billing company.

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wavy

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So far I haven’t had a problem.  You can’t trust the Post office anymore to deliver the payments on time. Make sure you put your mailed payment in the actual Post office box inside or other wise  they can be stolen from some outside mail boxes and your check info also.

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I’ve always been leery of providing bank account info and/or credit card info online.  But in todays’ internet world, having my CC info at Walmart.com and Amazon.com greatly simplifies purchases.  The same with ebay and Paypal.  I’m confident they have sizeable teams dedicated to preventing being hacked.  But then, Equifax and other national companies have been hacked as well as some reputable regional companies I’ve purchased from now and then.  Even my brokerage company got hacked some years back.  Thankfully, despite the dozen or so ‘we’ve been hacked’ mails/emails I’ve recieved through the years, only 3 times has my credit cards been mysteriously used on the other side of the country and I immediately got replacement cards.

So, these days, if I’m making an online purchase somewhere I don’t regularly buy from, such as a magazine subscription or lawnmore parts supplier, I choose to pay them with Paypal rather than exposing my credit card info to a probably-not-so-secure web site.

At the same time, until I got Covid this past December and was hospitalized for 10 days, I paid all my bills online directly to the creditor from mortgage to credit cards and even my car payment.  The utility bills I paid through my bank to save the stamp.  As I live alone, I still have all my bills come on paper so in case I drop dead, somebody knows what I owe and to whom.

While laying in that hospital bed, it dawned on me that only I know what to pay, whom to pay, and the various passwords to do it.  I have slightly different passwords for each account and have ‘hints’ as part of the title of the bookmark for that account.  Thankfully, I had just paid all my bills a couple days before going into the hospital, so I didn’t end up being delinquent anywhere.  I also discovered I could not carry on ‘business as usual’ (bills, etc) on my cellphone as I failed to copy all the bookmarks, etc, over there.

So the first thing I did when I was home and recovered enough, I bought the correct adapter for my USB drive on my key ring that has all my documents and bookmarks on it so it can be plugged into my cell phone.  And after discussing bill payments with one of my tech-savvy friends, he said he pays them all through his bank.  What a great idea!  So, I set up each of the creditors to be able to be paid through my bank.  That worked great, except there’s a one day delay in the payments being made.  However, the mortgage and car payment to be on ‘automatic’ and my bank didn’t offer that option.  So I went to those sites and set up automatic payment on the 1st of the month.  At least if I’m in the hospital around the first of the month, I won’t lose my house or my car.

For what it’s worth, Equifax, the credit reporting agency, keeps wanting me to set up all my bill payments through them to get an instant 15-20 point credit score boost.  No thanks.  I don’t want to have any company other than my credit card companies, etc, to know my spending habits.

Also, I don’t ever pay my bills or make online purchases anywhere but on my home computer.  Although I did buy a new laptop computer on an ebay auction 4 years ago while riding Amtrak through New York state.  I always swoop in within 5 seconds of auction closing if it’s something important to me.  The laptop was a super bargain.  I figure the possibility of a wifi hacker reading my transmissions is quite low on the train, and certainly far less than that of an airport, train station, or restaurant…to many possible wifi thieves.

As for banks being hacked, I believe that they are insured so if some hacker cleans out your account, you should be covered.  Credit card companies getting customers’ card numbers fraudulently used is sort of ‘normal’ for them.

In short, companies’ computers being hacked has become almost ‘normal’ these days.  Hackers around the world spend their entire waking hours trying to break into computers to steal money or information they can sell for money.

Bottom line, the world of cash and checks is rapidly disappearing as business on the internet is rapidly ‘taking over’.

 

 

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windbg, dmt_3904

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geekdom wrote:

Try the legacy method: write checks for payment and mail them to each billing company.

I did this with all of my bills until a couple of years ago when the USPS got overwhelmed from the effects of COVID and couldn’t reliably deliver the bills or my payments on time. I switched to credit cards at that point but no auto-pay nor stored credit card info (supposedly). I manually enter the payments each month.

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I love the convenience of online payment and I’d like to use credit card for this utility bill, but the company only accepts  savings/checking accounts for online payments. So either I get the bill pay fixed or I have to manually logon and do it each month, or as has been suggested here, go old school snail mail : (

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bratkinson wrote:

But in todays’ internet world, having my CC info at Walmart.com and Amazon.com greatly simplifies purchases. The same with ebay and Paypal.

Sizeable, but knowledgeable and competent is more important and more doubtful.
My FIOS account made me think that but I pay 5 bucks more and use my credit card

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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oops i think this was a reply to two but …..

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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I definitely prefer to use credit cards or my bank’s BillPay for all of my recurring and/or one-time payments.

I too am wary of handing out my bank’s routing and account numbers, especially for recurring payments (auto-drafts). I’m slightly more comfortable using it for one-time only, rather than recurring payments, but only if that is the only option, or if they charge ridiculous service charges to do it any other way.

So far I have never had my bank info compromised. But back when I allowed my landlord to auto-draft my bank account each month, one time they accidentally drafted it twice, causing a ripple effect with some overdrafts for other payments due to an (unexpected) insufficient funds scenario. Yikes! I got a refund check and an apology within a few days, but now I set a calendar reminder to push the payment manually from the bank as a one-time payment each month.

A few other cases where I use bank account numbers is with PayPal, paying income taxes due, and paying some insurance premiums. BillPay or credit cards are used for everything else.

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I often use checks for payments and also ACH money transfers, the latter only for getting my professional fees and other monies paid directly into my check bank account:

https://www.investopedia.com/ach-transfers-what-are-they-and-how-do-they-work-4590120.

The routing number used for the kind of ACH transfers I have is the one for receiving incoming payments from someone else, that is a different one from the routing number for paying money to someone else. The routing number for paying to someone else is the one printed at the bottom of one’s checks, next to the checking account number.

Except for that routing number, when I want to get paid and have the money sent to my checking account with an ACH transfer, I am giving away less information of concern to me  than when paying someone else with a check.

For recurring payments and for online purchases I use a credit card, so I can protest a transaction when I believe I have been billed incorrectly and, in more serious circumstances, cancel the card. When I protest a bill after having tried and failed to come to an agreement with the ones that billed me, the bank gets in contact with them and tries to find a solution. As a result and depending on the bank’s final finding, I get to pay what  the bank determines is the correct amount, that could be either what I say, or else what the other party says.  Or neither.

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dmt_3904

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No utility provider gets my bank account. Providers get my credit card where all transactions are insured.
I pay for online purchases using PayPal only (insured transactions, money back guaranteed) and never giving credit card data.
Local stores purchases are paid with Apple watch’s Apple Pay (store never gets credit card number).

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Yeah – that is the decision I am coming to after reading the replies here – I am not going to give them my bank account info for recurring payments.  My biggest incentive is convenience, but  it’s a risk I don’t want to take.  And that is what it comes down to, doesn’t it??  You can try to determine what the actual risk is and also decide what risk you are comfortable taking. Many, many people give up their bank account/personal data without thinking  – but one should always consider that decision carefully.  So manual payment or snail mail it is!!

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When you write checks, your routing and account number appear on the check, so no secret there. I write few checks.

There is one exception I make for automated payments directly out of the checking account on a scheduled basis: payments to governments for fixed payments. Otherwise I use my checking account online Bill Pay or various credit cards as long as no fees. I stay away from Zelle and other instant pay apps and I refuse debit cards. I prefer the cash back from credit cards, as every penny counts. So a credit card is always my first choice for payment.

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I prefer the cash back from credit cards, as every penny counts. So a credit card is always my first choice for payment.

I do this too.  We only have two credit cards – primary is Amex, but bc it is not accepted everywhere, we have Visa too.  There are many choices for card rewards that one may review and evaluate for their needs.  Our Amex provides hotel points that we use all the time for free rooms and perks – it has worked well for us for many years. The Visa is 1.5% cash back.  These are the only 2 cards we use and therefore, the rewards are maximized (e.g. the more cards you have, the more $$ you spread out and will reap smaller rewards).  I always pay the entire balance each month.  Never paid a late fee or interest.  So we do make a little $$ on our cards.

Also, I am aware that my checks have bank account and routing number.  My issue is with input and saving of that data into a company’s database that may be hacked.  Or that they might take more money than they are owed and having to deal with those consequences.

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windbg wrote:

When you write checks, your routing and account number appear on the check, so no secret there. I write few checks.

Good point! I’ve written 6 paper checks in the past 5 years…

And those were either to small business owners that don’t take credit cards, or government payments.

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No matter which method you use, the best security is to keep a close eye on things. I have my bank and credit card accounts setup to alert me (via phone) to any transaction to the accounts as soon as it occurs.
This practice saved time and money.
All transactions have a pending period during which a transaction can be modified/cancel before it is finalized.
I got notified of charge for $3,000.00 worth of oil field equipment (I’m not in that business). I acted on the notification of the debit from my bank account and within an hour the charge being made it was removed and the seller canceled the order. Not sure what happened to the buyer who used my debit card number to purchase the equipment. Just how long would it have taken to resolve this and get my money back if I didn’t find out about the debit until after it was finalized.

For me the best security is to keep a close eye on things.

HTH, Dana:))

HTH, Dana:))

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cajunbulldog, dmt_3904, LHiggins

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Drcard:)) wrote:

Not sure what happened to the buyer who used my debit card number to purchase the equipment. Just how long would it have taken to resolve this and get my money back if I didn’t find out about the debit until after it was finalized.

Using a debit card anywhere other than at a bank ATM is taking a risk.

Unlike when the bad guys get the details of your credit card, the cash from your debit card will come straight out of your linked bank account. And it may take more effort to get it back, similar to when somebody writes a stolen or forged check using your bank account.

But when a thief misuses a credit card number, that is the banks money involved and not yours, so as long as you report it in time there is usually zero risk to you!

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OscarCP

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That is the reason why I don’t have a debit card.  That and I want the rewards obtained from using a credit card. If you are disciplined and avoid any fees, you can make a little $$.

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OscarCP, wavy

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The routing numbers of any bank can be found on the Web: they are in the public domain. But one’s own bank checking account number is not out there unless one lets it out by paying with checks. If one has ever paid for anything with a personal check, just one check, then the checking account number is already out in the public domain, at least in principle.

The one thing one should never divulge, other than under very special circumstances, when there is no other choice, is a savings account number, that by this or any other name, is where usually most of the money of most of us is deposited in a bank.
Also keeping an amount in the checking account that is just about enough to cover expected payments plus an small extra margin for possible unexpected but valid ones, while also high enough to avoid extra fees, I think is a good idea.

Some banks may offer some kind of checking-account overdraft protection, to avoid checks bouncing simply because one did not have, at the time, enough money in checking to cover them, but plenty elsewhere and was, therefore, perfectly able to pay and would have, had been expecting these charges to happen.

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OscarCP wrote:

Also keeping an amount in the checking account that is just about enough to cover expected payments plus an small extra margin for possible unexpected but valid ones, while also high enough to avoid extra fees, I think is a good idea.

That is a good plan, and basically what I do.

Plus I have set up bank transaction and balance alerts to keep me informed about what is going on with my account. Monitoring is always a good practice!

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OscarCP

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I used to use my debit card for online shopping/monthly payments until my Credit Union merged with a larger Credit Union.  My credit card was part of the merger, and after the merger I was able to get 2% cash back on any purchase.

I setup all monthly payments with my credit card and very rarely use my debit card any more.  As a result, I get ~$40 – $50 rolled over into my savings account every month.  I never carry a balance on my credit card, so I don’t pay out any interest.

The only issue I ever had was in 2011 (because of a phone transaction with a company that did not have an online presence), but my debit card’s Visa fraud protection took care of that; I just had to identify the purchases I didn’t make.  I haven’t made any phone transactions since.

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OscarCP

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bbearren: “I never carry a balance on my credit card, so I don’t pay out any interest.”

I have been doing the same thing for decades, so both bbearren and I are fortunate to be in  a  position to do this. Many people are carrying unsupportable credit card debt loads they are unable to repay and have to take tricky measures to ease them.

I keep getting spam email, at least once per week, offering to help “solve your credit-card debt problem” by opening a new one or doing something else to this effect. I quickly delete these from my inbox, then wipe my “Trash” folder clean.

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OscarCP wrote:

bbearren: “I never carry a balance on my credit card, so I don’t pay out any interest.” 

Same here. But I learned the hard way years ago that credit cards are a lousy way to borrow money! But with age, or hopefully sooner, comes wisdom. Credit cards are a useful tool for making payments, if used with some discipline!

Credit card balances are the biggest money maker for the big banks due to the high interest rates that they are allowed to charge. And if you are ever late, or miss a payment, the banks can jack up the rates even higher, making it even harder to dig out of the hole. And consider that any monthly interest payment due cuts into the amount of your payment that is applied to principal.

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OscarCP

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