How do you pay invoices?

21 comments

1. All of them are via direct debit. The bill comes in my email and 14 days later it’s automatically paid from my bank account. The last time I manually paid a bill was sometime during the early 2000s.

   The only work i did was to set up some realistic upper limits, just in case there’s a billing issue and I end up paying way more than I consumed. In those cases, i have to manually pay online.

   I never used this upper limit feature in the past 15 years, but it’s nice to have.

2. Most things like rent and the phone bill are direct debit (you authorize the company to take money from your account) or standing orders (monthly sending money to the companies account).

   Only one-off things I do manually, but everything is online. Some companies do still give you paper payment forms you could take to the bank, but these days the banks charge you money if you want to do in person. I just scan them in the app.

3. All my regular bills are automatically deducted from my account without me doing anything, and all other bills can be paid in either my online bank or mobile payment app (Vipps).

   In general, all bills in Norway are paid digitally.

4. Digital invoices via e-mail. Many companies will have an agreement with some payment provider and a “pay now!” link in the e-mail itself, but that typically incurs some handling fee (not to mention being a good phishing method), so most people will pay manually through online banking, or just set up a standing order.

   Direct debit is also an option, though it largely fell out of favor, replaced by automatic card payments.

   If everything else fails, you can always make a transfer at the post office.

5. Some companies will charge your card directly, some will send to your online bank, and some will let you choose but add a small additional charge for one and not the other. Sometimes you get copies of invoices in physical mail and it’s mandatory to send a copy of the invoice if it’s overdue and ends up in collection.

6. Direct debit always for utilities and services: rent, mortgage, credit card, energy, water, Internet, phone, gym, insurances, … whatever.

   Some companies only offer alternative payment methods for the first payment and for missed payments. Almost all of them have direct debit as their default payment method and you have to insist ant take manual routes if you want to pay in other way.

7. Direct debit on anything that’s roughly the same each month and manual “ok”-check on stuff like the credit card in my bank app.

8. Either via BS (payment service, which is an old system where your bills would be sent to your bank and then automatically paid, predates the internet), today more companies prefer to just attach to a card of your choice, so my bills are spread about 50/50 on these methods.

9. Invoices are usually sent digitally (or on paper, for the old folks) with bank account details to pay. Alternately, you can authorise a company to do direct debit from your account – these are often utilities.

   For stuff that’s the same every month (such as rent or a mortgage), you can set up a standing order.

   Banks typically don’t offer “pay bills” as a service at physical banks with a teller. They usually have separate machines that look very much like ATMs, but they have a full AZERTY keyboard and a little built-in indestructible ball wheel mouse. You put your bank card in, and you can pay bills from there 24/7.

10. The only invoice which isn’t automatically paid by modern banking setups, either direct debit, or standing order, are invoices for things like plumbing or boiler repair, or building work. Those are usually invoiced after the fact and paid manually by bank transfer.

11. Directly through my online bank, and have done so for the past 20 years. Some invoices I get through regular mail, and some I get electronically, but I pay them all online.

12. Direct debit for things like (mobile) internet, electricity & heating, insurance and mortgage.

    When shopping online, paying with iDeal is the most popular. You click “pay” in the shop, scan a QR code that opens the bank app, verify the amount and recipient and click “pay” in the app. It only takes a few seconds and the recipient instantly gets a notification that the amount is paid.

    Sometimes you get invoices in the mail that have a QR code and work the same way. That’s how I pay some (local) taxes for example.

13. Direct debit is common if you are the owner.. As a tenant, I get paper bills, pay them with mobile app with that QR kind of thing…

14. Most invoices are payed by direct debit (Bankgiro) where you don’t need to do anything. Some are electronic invoices (E-faktura) that pops up in your bank app and you have to swipe/tap on on and then it’s automatically paid. In extremely rare situations, you get an actual bill you need to manually pay. It’s done by opening your bank app and scanning the bill and then paying.

15. I log into my bank app on my phone, press pay and insert the OCR-number and more often than not the Bankgiro number well they’re usually saved like contacts kinda so you just pick them out of your saved contacts. Although most of my bills are charged through autogiro, so it’s done automatically. Only rent is manual because I dont want to set it on automatic. I get all bills through email, physical invoices is for the most part, a thing of the past.

16. I haven’t received an invoice by letter since I lived in the Netherlands. In Germany, either invoices arrive by email and I do a SEPA transfer from my ebanking site, or more commonly we set up a SEPA Direct Debit so they pull the money rather than me pushing it.

17. Basically, bills that are **exactly** the same amount every time (such as the internet bill) are deducted automatically in my online bank. All other regular bills such as water and electricity require my approval, because they fluctuate and I like to have oversight. I do get irregular bills as well, and some of them come physically by mail.

18. Since this month you can’t use the paper forms anymore, so online banking is basically your only option, whether it’s on your phone or PC.

19. Some are automatically charged, some are sent to an online mailbox (Which I never asked for!) and basically OK’d, and some by regular mail and paid “manually” in the bank app. I could have more automatically paid, but I have strange hangups from when I was a broke student, and like the illusion of control to prioritize.

20. Depends on how you set it up – and where you shop and how they send the bill (e-mail, paper mail).

    Most common is bank transfer via IBAN. Either manually (“Überweisung” – bank transfer) oder automatically, if you allow them (“Einzugsermächtigung” – direct debit mandate). Both of these things can be done digitally online or in person at the bank.

21. I have a mix of three ways.

    I get one directly to my bank. There’s a list of e-invoices in my banking app and I pay them by clicking on a button. They aren’t paid automatically, I have to confirm payment for each one.

    I get some emailed to me. They are basically the same as the paper versions, but are PDFs attached to an email.

    And I get a few on paper, by mail. I pay them by scanning a QR code so I don’t have to manually copy things to my banking app.

    The first one is my preferred way but when I was setting this up (years ago now, probably close to a decade) only one company was offering it. It’s probably possible for most nowadays. I’ll have to take the time to change it for as many as I can.