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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Stacey Hyde
and I'm back with another

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episode of Better Financial
Health in 15 minutes or less.

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And what I want to talk about
today is are you overpaying for

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convenience?

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Yes, it's easy to set stuff up
on autopay, but then what

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happens and I will say, my
number one personal beef with

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this is on my internet bill.

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So you set these up where they
automatically deduct each month.

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They send you an email and then
they usually send you the email

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the exact day that they're
debiting your account.

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So you don't get much time to
take action and if you don't

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take action it just goes through
and for the most part that

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works out well.

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But what happens if they raise
the rates and maybe Xfinity

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Comcast is kind of notorious for
this you sign up with them, you

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have a one-year or two-year
guaranteed rate and you get to

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the end of the rate and then all
of a sudden what you were

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paying $50 for is now $90 a
month and you're like whoa, what

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happened here?

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But then your life is busy and
you forget to look at it, you

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forget to call and it continues
on, and then next year they come

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and they raise it again.

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This can happen with your cell
phone bills, although I will say

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cell phones.

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I personally have not had as
much issue with that.

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In fact, our cell phone bill's
actually gone down a little bit,

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but you certainly see it there.

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I know we recently signed up
for a car wash membership and

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the intro was $10 a month for
any of their washes.

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Well, so most people signed up
for the highest level because it

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was the same price.

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But then what happens is, once
they get to the end of that

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four-month promo, they're going
to be paying $40 or $50 a month,

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and are they still using the
car wash that often?

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And what are they getting?

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Do they actually need something
lower?

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Do they even need a membership
at all?

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Should they just pay for when
they get their car washed once a

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month because they don't always
want to go to that one?

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So those are some things that
you really want to look at.

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Gym memberships can be the same
way.

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You know you're signed up for
it and if you're not going,

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what's happening there?

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So you really it can happen.

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You know we talk a lot about
streaming services and, yes,

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netflix has had quite a few
increases over the years, but

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it's not just those types of
things that can get on auto pay.

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It's other things as well and
you really want to pay attention

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.

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I think what I would recommend
is, this weekend, sit down,

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spend 30 minutes and go through
your credit card bills, your

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bank account statements, and see
what is going on, what you're

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paying for.

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For example, I love my Sirius
XM radio.

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I know I'm supposed to be cool
and use Spotify, but I just like

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turning on my car and the music
I like playing and not having

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to listen to commercials.

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But I've learned that I put a
reminder on my calendar when my

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contract's about to end the
fixed rate and I call and cancel

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and they always give me the
same rate I was paying.

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Before.

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The same thing happened to my
New York Times subscription.

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I was going to cancel.

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They offered to leave at the
same price.

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I stayed, but I have to be
vigilant next year in order to

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keep it from going up.

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So it is convenient to have it
automatically in there and you

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don't have to worry about it.

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But it also makes it easier for
them to raise prices and so

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many people forget.

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So take it from me and I'm
gonna take my own advice and

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reach out to Xfinity and get my
internet bill lowered back down.

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So thanks for tuning in and if
you drop a comment in our

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socials, let us know how much
money you were able to save by

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renegotiating your contracts.

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Thanks for tuning in.

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This has been another episode
of Better Financial Health, in

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15 minutes or less.