Are Automatic Credit Card Payments a Good Idea?

A Necessary Evil

I personally do not like the idea of automatic credit card payments, especially if you’re in the habit of carrying a balance on your credit card. If you do, you’re paying interest on every automatic payment that’s charged to your credit card and if your automatic credit card payments ever cause you to go over your credit limit, you could be looking at a hefty over-the-limit fee from your credit card company.

That being said, automatic credit card payments are indeed necessary at times, making them a necessary evil. For instance, if you have a website, chances are more likely than not the web host is going to bill your credit card automatically each month. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do what you can to prevent automatic credit card payments.

Before signing up for anything that requires regular monthly credit card installments, see if you can have them bill you manually each month instead. If the service provider isn’t willing to do it, then you may want to take your business elsewhere.