Quote:
Originally Posted by Exile
As a former collector at an auto finance center, I would say that unless you are paying in advance or your contract stipulates other than monthly installments (such as bi-weekly), you must make the full payment in one lump amount. If you include two checks, each for half of an installment and for some reason they don't get posted the same day, you may get dinged for additional daily interest.
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If that's the case, then why not just budget half the payment from each of the twice-monthly checks? Park the money in your savings account and make a single payment once a month.
Use a tax refund or some other financial windfall to get two weeks ahead. For example, let's say you get paid on the first and the fifteenth, and your car payment is due on the sixth. Instead of making the payment when you get paid on the first and hoping it processes by the sixth , get to the point where you're making it two weeks earlier, on the fiftenth. That way, if the check gets "lost in the mail", etc. you have time to work it out before the due date.
Also, I can't tell you how much easier paying my bills, and, more importantly, paying them
on time has become since I began banking online and using online bill pay. Virtually every bank offers it for free, and it makes things go so much easier.
Also, many companies will email you payment confirmations, if you request them. That way, you know your payment has gone through.