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Comment by timeinput | Hacker News Reader

My preference is always auto pay, in preference order credit card, debit card, ACH. I only allow ACH access for my mortgage. I tend to use the merchants site to set it up, and allow them to draw. It would be nice if there was some kind of reach back where I could de-authorize these things with out interacting with each merchant.

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That's interesting, thanks for sharing! We're building Neon, a one-stop bill pay solution for all your essential bills and hence, we're interested in learning what else can be done to improve user experience. Would you think a centralized dashboard where you can add your bills once, and then can control such things (like payment methods or bank account), help? For some added context, we provide a credit line at 0% APR and automate payments using that credit line. We also consolidate all bills in a centralized location, on our dashboard.

The biggest reason I have my preference of CC first is points and to a lesser degree consumer protection.

I'm guessing you couldn't let me use Amex as a middle man between me and your service and not charge some fee, and I have a feeling I (personally) wouldn't be all that interested as the overhead of bill payment isn't that high (for me as just one person). Not to say it isn't an issue for some. I definitely know it was when I was younger, but I'm not sure how much of that was how available online payment was at the time.

Got it! We are providing a virtual credit line that is used to directly make payments on your behalf, so to answer your question - no you cannot use Amex to pay us. Our customers pay us directly from their bank account, pretty much the way they would pay for their other credit cards. We're different from traditional cards though, because we offer a credit line at 0% APR and no fees (overdraft fees, late fees etc.) and you can pay Rent using Neon (which is otherwise not possible using traditional credit cards or there are high fees). Besides, we do not charge any additional convenience or processing fees that traditional card companies do. As far as the points go, we'll be launching some features soon, that will far outweigh the returns you get from accruing points on your cards. :) Keep an eye out on our website, if you'd like to learn more: www.neonforlife.com

wow, I like your preference order thing... same for me CC seems to be most hassle-free, but then comes added fees with it for a lot of billers

Yeah if there's an added fee I reach for debit or ACH, the points I get back on the CC purchase never pays back the transaction fee for bill payment.

that's true, because a CC gives you points from its processing fee, so your reward won't be more than processing or transaction fee that CC companies earn

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