Bill Me Later

Written by nickel - 33 Comments

I just ran across an interesting blurb by Asa Fitch in the July issue of Money Magazine about a service called “Bill Me Later.” Apparently an increasing number of e-commerce sites, including WalMart.com, Apple.com, Hotels.com and over 400 others, have begun offering this as an alternative payment option for people that are concerned about online security. Rather than submitting your credit card number, you’ll instead receive a hard copy invoice and you then write a check and mail it in.

Sounds pretty harmless, doesn’t it? Well… The first time you select “Bill Me Later” you’ll be asked for you date of birth and your social security number. Guess what? You’ve just applied for a revolving credit line which comes complete with a 19.99% APR and late fees of up to $39. To be fair, there’s really no other way to set something like this up — if they’re going to send out the product without having received payment in advance, then they’d be fools not to secure it with a credit line.

So how necessary is a service of this sort? Not very… As it turns out, less than 1% of all cases identity theft begin with an online transaction. In fact, far more ID thefts start with stolen mail, so you’re really not protecting yourself if you select “Bill Me Later.” And if you can’t afford to pay for whatever your buying, then you should probably wait until you have the cash on hand before buying instead of relying on “Bill Me Later” as a credit line.

Published on July 6th, 2007 - 33 Comments
Filed under: Credit Cards, Online
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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

Hello. This is part of Wal-Mart’s move into the finance/banking industry.
Comment by J at Home Finance Freedom — Jul 6th 2007 @ 7:44 am
“for people that are concerned about online security…….you’ll be asked for you date of birth and your social security number”

Huh? I’d much rather have someone steal my credit card number vs my DOB and SSN. Getting your credit card stolen poses next to no risk and is actually pretty painless
Comment by MyFinancialJourney.com — Jul 6th 2007 @ 9:47 am
I agree with comment #2, you can shut down a credit card but your personal info is your personal info and can’t be changed overnight.

As far as I’ve read, the BML service isn’t owned by Wal-Mart, but may be they took funding. I am wondering what makes comment #1 make the accusation that Wal-Mart is anything but a user of the service (vs. ownership).
Comment by mapgirl — Jul 6th 2007 @ 10:20 am
I would run away from this as fast as I could, if I were likely to use those companies in the first place.
Comment by Blaine Moore — Jul 6th 2007 @ 10:27 am
People who are concerned about online security should just shop at the store.
Comment by Nathania — Jul 6th 2007 @ 10:47 am
no one has ever had money stolen by sending a check in the mail… ’snort’
Comment by rocketc — Jul 6th 2007 @ 10:53 am
Great business move! (Am I the only person that thought that?)

On the other side, not so great for the consumer. I bet a lot of people don’t even think about it, then sign up with 10 of these under the guis of “security.” Meanwhile, their cradit score tanks, and they wonder why they can’t get an inexpensive loan. Ugly.
Comment by Patrick — Jul 6th 2007 @ 11:38 am
Thanks for outlining this … I’ve seen it many times but haven’t bothered to look at the details. Not a great credit line since you don’t get cash back!
Comment by FamilyFinanceBlog — Jul 6th 2007 @ 12:51 pm
“Bill Me Later” should be rename to Screw me Later
Comment by Moneymonk — Jul 6th 2007 @ 3:12 pm
I have seen the bill me later option many times and have actually clicked on it. Nothing more than an online credit card with a high APR in my opinion.
Comment by tiredofbeingbroke — Jul 6th 2007 @ 3:18 pm
Mapgirl,

Hello. Wal-Mart has been trying to acquire a bank, bank charter, or FDIC access at least since 1998 but has been blocked by laws such as the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. It is at least politically easier if Wal-Mart lets another entity run its BML or Visa-debit card (even “non-profit” financing would tend to increase profit through sales volume) but Wal-Mart is planning to open 1,000 “Money Centers” in stores before 2009.

Thank you.
Comment by J at Home Finance Freedom — Jul 6th 2007 @ 5:37 pm
I guess Uncle Wally trying to make an extra buck. I’m sure many people (poor people) think that Walmart is trying to do them a favor. lol
Comment by Hustler — Jul 7th 2007 @ 12:40 am
I recently made a purchase at apple.com and didn’t notice that option, but I DID note the ability to pay on more than one card… as if, perhaps, they are used to seeing consumers needing to split a purchase up in order to “afford” it. Pretty interesting.
Comment by beth — Jul 7th 2007 @ 4:41 pm
I agree, I shop online at walmart, there are things there that I can’t find at the local store and at a pretty descent price. However, I don’ shop there unless I have the money, they don’t have anything that I could not wait on that is for sure.
Comment by jackie — Jul 8th 2007 @ 1:14 pm
Bill Me Later is an option at AirTran too. I think it is useful if you see a very low web-only fare that you want to book before it goes higher. As we all know fares have a tendency to increase from day to day. The Bill Me Later option at AirTran had a promotion of no payments and no interest for 90 days. Of course, I would pay before those 90 days are up.
Comment by Lynn — Jul 11th 2007 @ 5:27 pm
Much to the chagrin of Wal-Mart haters and conspiracy theorists, Bill Me Later is a payment option offered by CIT. CIT is a large, publicly traded, financing company. Like many publicly traded companies, its largest shareholders are money managers. Barclay’s, Neuberger Berman, State Street, Vanguard and Mellon are the top five and collectively they own about 35% of the company. The first comment here is completely inaccurate, Wal-Mart is a subscriber to this service not the owner.
Comment by Research Pays — Jul 16th 2007 @ 3:40 pm
Hello.

No one here claimed Wal-Mart ownership of the current BML, or conspiracy, or hate.

Wal-Mart has been trying to expand financial services and financial options, either by acquisition or (as here) by sub-contracting.

Thank you.
Comment by J at Home Finance Freedom — Jul 16th 2007 @ 11:08 pm
I bought from tigerdirect using bill me
later option.
They asked for only last 4 digits of ssn
and date of birth.
I doubt anybody can misuse that.
It appears like any other credit card
(ie statement, late fees, online payment)

Its nice to have choices.. credit card,
BML, paypal etc.
Comment by zel branco — Jul 20th 2007 @ 10:38 pm
Just putting it out there, its not the full social security number that you put in there…that would just be begging for trouble. it’s the last 4 digits. and yes, they have to ask for your birthday cause otherwise you could pick your fave 4 numbers and run with it. I have been a customer since 2002 and I use it as often as I can and continue to do. And credit card theft DOES happen. After 4 months I finally finished a dispute with my Credit card company about a reoocuring charge i had for an online service i never heard of in my life…cant even pronounce! it took 4 months to finally get the money back and get it resolved (after weeks of trying to get ahold of the “merchant” whos phone number ironically was not in English) to prove to my CC company I wasnt lying. Then i had to close the account and get a new card…whichs is annoying. This aint for first time either OY, and i hardly use my card and i’ve only had a credit card for 5 years! so I’m all about BML!
Comment by nikki — Jul 28th 2007 @ 10:00 am
This is Walmarts way to act like a bank. Give them time and they will have a full service banking and mortage department.
Comment by Cap — Jul 31st 2007 @ 11:51 pm
Bill me later is a scam. I unknowingly clicked on a link asking to be billed later. next I knew I was repeatedly billed $14 for a $3 charge for something that I did not order. Every month it would be credited and then charged again. They violated the fair credit collections act by calling my pregnant wife 3 times a day. I eventually sent a letter to the attorney general and copied them. This stopped them for 2 months and now they are back at it. This is extorsion. They are a criminal organization that should be put out of business. please call them and let them know your displeasure.
Comment by Spencer — Oct 8th 2007 @ 4:49 pm
Spencer, I work for Bill Me Later and came across your comment. I’d be happy to help you with your issue. Feel free to email me at heather.fields@billmelater.com or call me at 443.921.1961.
Comment by Heather — Oct 9th 2007 @ 6:09 pm
Ok,

business ethics aside, I have to hand it to Heather at bill me later. After I posted my origional comment, she contacted me. They made sure that my account was clean etc… It shows that they are watching and listening. I will remove the “Bill me Later” Voodoo doll off of my desk and quit fantasizing about bombing their offices.
Comment by Spencer — Oct 10th 2007 @ 4:44 pm
Very unhappy with bill me later! I have my account set up online, due to the fact that I am rarely home. I recieve an online statement each month and have it set up to be paid directly from my bank account. I had it set for the minimum payment it was when I set up the bill pay. But today I recieved a phone call by a very nasty woman telling me that I have not paid my bill in 3 months! I went right online to check my bank and found that I was in fact paying each month. She argued with me, I asked when my bill is actually due and she said the 4th of each month. I looked and saw that my payment is sent out on the 27th of each previous month and gets there in plenty of time. She argued with me again and said that is not ontime….??? How on earth is that not on time?? I said “are you trying to tell me that paying the bill a week before the due date is not ontime? She then told me to hold on and I waited….waited….and finally she came back on and said…well I see you have been paying the bill ontime but it is not the full minimum payment. I then told her I was paying what they said my min pay was and she said “it goes up each month”. I was now being charged a 39$ late fee for the last 2 months when I had been paying ontime. I then asked why I was not informed she said they tried to call before. I explained to the nasty rude woman that I obviously have it set up online for a reason. Why didnt I recieve any emails about it? I recieve emails from other emails from them selling stuff and telling me where to shop as well as an email telling me when my payment is due but nothing about it being supposedly “late”. They want you to spend $$$ but when they can slap you with ridiculos charges they do and dont tell you then! She told me that they did send emails about my supposed late payments and I recieved nothing! I would like for them to prove that they sent them because I know they didnt all I have gotten from them is offers about buying more stuff at high rates! I would definatly reccomend not doing bill me later!
Comment by stephanie — Oct 16th 2007 @ 9:51 pm
Stephanie, I work for Bill Me Later and I’d be happy to help you with your situation. Please feel free to contact me at heather.fields@billmelater.com or 443.921.1961. Thank you.
Comment by Heather — Oct 17th 2007 @ 9:52 am
I used billmelater to buy a camera from bhphotovideo.com. I really have no complaints. I needed the camera for a vacation I had coming up, and I did not have the money. Got either a 6 or 9 month no-payments no-interest plan. No minimum payments, and as long as you pay before the no-interest, no-payment time is up, no interest. Otherwise, you get hit with back-interest.
I think these special plans are only good on high-price purchases. I spent $1200.
Comment by chris — Dec 17th 2007 @ 6:53 pm
I overpayed a BML bill in December of 2007 by $50. I called in early February to find out how my refund was coming along. The customer rep said a refund check was sent on Jan. 23. I informed him I hadn’t received anything yet. He then consulted a colleague, without putting me on hold, and when he got back on the line he informed me it would take 3 weeks to receive the check, from the time of this phone call. I asked why his co-worker was laughing in the background and why he told me the refund check was already issued. Of course I could not get a straight response. I called BML today, March 19, 2008, because I still have not received a check or any correspondance in this matter and was told they would look into the matter and it could take 15 business days to resolve. It has now been over 3 months and I still can’t get my $50 back. What can I do to expedite this process and has anyone else experienced this rip-off.
Comment by Ed — Mar 19th 2008 @ 12:56 pm
Ed, I work for Bill Me Later and came across your posting. Please feel free to contact me at heather.fields@billmelater.com as I’d be happy to help you with this matter. Thank you, Heather Fields
Comment by Heather Fields — Mar 31st 2008 @ 10:10 am
Billmelater.com is totally untrustworthy and does not care about customers.
They only care about taking your money. It is just impossible to get them to correct a mistake. Their reps and supervisors just repeat the same thing each and every time from some script.”We are not responsible..call the merchant.”
Anyways, lets begin with this, I was entitled to a free product from Equifax due to Hillis/Slack Settlement and picked the billmelater option without realizing that I was openning an account with billmelater.com. I realized I made a mistake in the payment option and cancelled the order 2 days later with the Equifax. Equifax told me I would not be charged. However, I received a email from billmelater.com that a bill was on the way. I immediately called billmelater.com on it to inform them of the cancellation. billmelater.com keeps saying that they already paid Equifax the money and I would have to call Equifax and have Equifax refund the money back to billmelater.com. This did not make sense to me but I went along and called Equifax on it and told them that what billmelater.com told me, that billmelater.com wanted their money back from Equifax for the cancelled order. Equifax in turn, maintains that they never got money from billmelater.com for the cancelled order and to call billmelater.com back to inform them that the order was cancelled and to adjust the bill. So here I am getting the run around calling billmelater.com and Equifax back and forth with each sticking to their story that…we paid them…tell them to give it back to us…no..no.. we did not get any money…tell them to adjust your account..so and so on. I decided to logon to billmelater.com to check on my account status. I saw the original charge or $9.95 has gone up to $16.95. Wow, I thought this is outrageous. billmelater is charging interest of 19.99% plus late fees because I have not paid it. Another thing I found is that they do not accept credit card for payment online. They will only take money through electronic funds transfers from your bank account. It is puzzling to me that payment options here are so limited. From one of my many calls to billmelater.com, I was told that I could dispute it online but when I logged in to the billmelater site there is no such option. You have to download some dispute form and mail it in. Now,I am so frustrated that I reported billmelater.com to BBB because I think billmelater.com is pulling a scam in trying to collect money they are not entitled to. I am thinking of reporting Equifax to the BBB too. They are just as guilty as billmelater.com because Equifax website promises to take care of their customers but all I got was run around. Maybe, I should contact Hillis/Slack Settlement people about this billmelater and equifax marriage. Someone is scamming someone…Could be another class action suit in the making for.
How can something so simple that should be have been easily corrected turn into a consumer nightmare??? Imagine if every time you made a purchase with a credit card…the only way to get a refund was to file a dispute with the credit card company?? This is how billmelater.com has decided to handle refunds from merchants. So buyers beware of…billmelater. Don’t click on that link…
Just google billmelater scams or billmelater fraud and you will see that I am not the only one that has been ensnarled by the billmelater trap.
Comment by Gene K — Apr 12th 2008 @ 11:50 am
Gene, I work for Bill Me Later and would be glad to help you with this matter. Please feel free to contact me at heather.fields@billmelater.com

Sincerely, Heather Fields
Comment by Heather Fields — Apr 13th 2008 @ 7:04 pm
Has anyone actually been helped by this Heather Fields who claims to work for billmelater.com? She seems to show up in a lot of postings offering to help people resolve issues with billmelater.com. Is she legit of is it another billmelater scam trying to trick people into believing they care? I emailed her on 4/14 but have yet to receive any reply back.
Comment by Gene K — Apr 18th 2008 @ 11:40 pm
I contacted Heather within the past 30 days about my bill me later account. some guy answers the phone I actually emailed her first and he responded back too me by calling me and leaving a mess on my phone then I later called him back!
really no help at all!

unless you want a big huge debt in the future with out control fees and high interest that will take you for ever too pay down! DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS CRAP! I did mine last Dec to help a good friend out so his kids would have a nice xmas. big mistake! recession hits and money is gone! I am on ssi fixed income so every penny counts now! I still pay the bill so it doesnt ruin my credit! they also stopped approving me credit once it reached under 1300. leaving me with a bal of 1,264.00 with a interest of 19.99%. I never missed a payment even after my 90s were up! How can people stay a flout and pay there bills keep a good credit rating score when stuff like this is going on in the world!
Comment by Melanie — Jul 4th 2008 @ 9:55 pm
Pls payoff what you owe to them. I made 2 payments ON TIME & online but they say they never got em . Now i am stuck with late charges & all sorts of Interest. We have usury law in Ca you know. i am going to print all my statements and send to the Attorney general just to make sure. I smell a class action suit her.
Spread the word. boycott BillMeLater & warn everyone you know. Use blogs, websites & word of mouth. They dont realize that in this age,word travels fast & it will hurt them.
Comment by N Gilani — Aug 19th 2008 @ 2:52 am