Before the Internet and phone apps, how were car loan payments made?

[KCRoadFan]

I'm currently making my car loan payments through Chase - they are processed via auto-pay, and I check the remaining balance on the Chase app every month when the payment goes through. That made me wonder: for those who have driven long enough ago to remember such a time, how were car payments made in the days before banking apps - or the Internet more broadly - became commonplace?

Having previously asked this question on Quora, a Q&A website, I remember that some of the respondents on that site mentioned coupon books that the bank (or whatever the lending entity was) would give the driver upon receiving the car, and the driver would then mail in a coupon every month along with the check for that month's payment, until the loan was paid off. What was your experience like? Anything similar to what I described?

[JayhawkCO]

The same as every other bill. They mailed the bill to you and you mailed a check back.

[Max Rockatansky]

I even sent car loan checks monthly during the internet era.  A lot of banks had a processing fee for making payments online with a debit or credit card.  Usually, I would pick a day out of every month and just bail out my bills all at once. 

[roadman65]

Usually I walked in to the Credit Union Branch and paid in person. I loved that concept as you received a receipt and were videotaped on their camera. So if a clerical error took place and they tried to claim you didn’t make the payment, your receipt (and if needed ) also the camera showed the exchange of money as well.

Plus instant credit for payment as it usually got posted before 2 PM or if you paid after 2, the following business day at 2 PM.

[akotchi]

The same as every other bill. They mailed the bill to you and you mailed a check back.

Or, in my case, mailed out coupon books and envelopes that upon occasion did not fit right.  I sent the payment in with the monthly coupon every month.

[Scott5114]

My mom always had her car loans through a bank she had an account at, so she would just go into the bank and tell the teller she wanted to pay such and such amount on the loan from whichever account. (She also, to this day, pays the electric bill by going to the electric company headquarters and handing them a check in person so she doesn't have to use a stamp.)

[GaryV]

The same as every other bill. They mailed the bill to you and you mailed a check back.

Or, in my case, mailed out coupon books and envelopes that upon occasion did not fit right.  I sent the payment in with the monthly coupon every month.

Mortgages had the coupon book as well. Although as I recall, I had to supply my own envelope.

[1995hoo]

The same as every other bill. They mailed the bill to you and you mailed a check back.

Or, in my case, mailed out coupon books and envelopes that upon occasion did not fit right.  I sent the payment in with the monthly coupon every month.

Mortgages had the coupon book as well. Although as I recall, I had to supply my own envelope.

I've never had a coupon book for a mortgage. It's always been a paper statement with a perforated stub; if you want to mail a check, you tear off the stub, fill in the amount paid, and send that with your check.

Our HOA sends a payment book every year with twelve payment coupons. I never use them because I pay electronically through the bank's bill pay system, but I do double-check the account number, payment address, etc., every December when the coupon book comes.


Edited to add: My mother only started using electronic bill payment earlier this year after having problems with mailed checks being stolen. I convinced her it was safer, faster, and more reliable to pay electronically. There are plenty of people out there who don't "trust" electronic payments or who won't use them for various reasons.

[hbelkins]

Ditto on the coupon books. I'm not a fan of automatically-deducted payments. If something comes up that you need the money for, you aren't having to deal with the possibility of having it go elsewhere because you had an automatically-scheduled payment.

[Big John]

I had a coupon book.  I sent in the payment with it but never got confirmation of the payment.

[1995hoo]

Ditto on the coupon books. I'm not a fan of automatically-deducted payments. If something comes up that you need the money for, you aren't having to deal with the possibility of having it go elsewhere because you had an automatically-scheduled payment.

I don't like giving anyone else (other than Ms1995hoo) access to my bank accounts for any reason. I don't like making it any easier than it has to be for some miscreant to alter the payment amount I set up, pull an extra payment, etc.

[jeffandnicole]

Coupon books; monthly invoices, I've had both depending on the bank or loan company.

I've also called in and made the payment over the phone.

[MikeTheActuary]

For the one car loan I've had, a coupon book came in the mail a week or so after I signed the paperwork.

My wife's student loans also had a coupon book.

Having online access to my bank account, and the ability to just tell them to send money (either electronically, or they cut the check and mail it) has been a significant quality of life improvement.

[Rothman]

Ditto on the coupon books. I'm not a fan of automatically-deducted payments. If something comes up that you need the money for, you aren't having to deal with the possibility of having it go elsewhere because you had an automatically-scheduled payment.

I don't like giving anyone else (other than Ms1995hoo) access to my bank accounts for any reason. I don't like making it any easier than it has to be for some miscreant to alter the payment amount I set up, pull an extra payment, etc.

That's two things I've never had to deal with in decades of using automatic payments.  Let's count off more...

Sure, if you're scraping by, paycheck to paycheck, the automatic payments are not for you.

And I've never had my accounts messed with due to automatic payments.  In fact, I've had much more trouble just with paying with credit cards in person.  Had a waitress skim my card once and then other places overcharge me...never been out any money because of it, though.

[1995hoo]

Glad your way works for you.

[ilpt4u]

I was offered a coupon book when I bought my current vehicle financed thru a local credit union...and I declined and made the monthly payments in person either with a live teller or dropping it in the night depository

[jeffandnicole]

Edited to add: My mother only started using electronic bill payment earlier this year after having problems with mailed checks being stolen. I convinced her it was safer, faster, and more reliable to pay electronically. There are plenty of people out there who don't "trust" electronic payments or who won't use them for various reasons.

I don't like giving anyone else (other than Ms1995hoo) access to my bank accounts for any reason. I don't like making it any easier than it has to be for some miscreant to alter the payment amount I set up, pull an extra payment, etc.

But isn't this also not trusting electronic payments?

[1995hoo]

Edited to add: My mother only started using electronic bill payment earlier this year after having problems with mailed checks being stolen. I convinced her it was safer, faster, and more reliable to pay electronically. There are plenty of people out there who don't "trust" electronic payments or who won't use them for various reasons.

I don't like giving anyone else (other than Ms1995hoo) access to my bank accounts for any reason. I don't like making it any easier than it has to be for some miscreant to alter the payment amount I set up, pull an extra payment, etc.

But isn't this also not trusting electronic payments?

Not really because you're not giving your banking info, and the ability to withdraw money, to a creditor.


Edited to add: I've very rarely paid bills by check within the past 20 years, but in only one instance have I ever used a creditor's website to pay and that was a now-defunct credit card (Revolution Card) that I found was much slower to process payment coming from my bank compared to using their website. Interestingly, though, I've found that if I want to move money between our accounts at different banks, writing myself a check and then using either mobile deposit or the ATM to deposit it is faster than doing an electronic transfer between banks. If, for example, I were to write myself a check today, the money would post and be available tomorrow. If I were to do an electronic deposit, the money would likely be on hold until at least next Monday. I've never bothered to figure out why it takes so much longer because all that really matters to me is the knowledge that it does.

[kalvado]

Interestingly, though, I've found that if I want to move money between our accounts at different banks, writing myself a check and then using either mobile deposit or the ATM to deposit it is faster than doing an electronic transfer between banks. If, for example, I were to write myself a check today, the money would post and be available tomorrow. If I were to do an electronic deposit, the money would likely be on hold until at least next Monday. I've never bothered to figure out why it takes so much longer because all that really matters to me is the knowledge that it does.

That's what puzzles me.  Zelle to yourself may be a faster option (I never checked that, though). But overall.... Which century it is right now? Are  messenger pigeons still the thing?

[jeffandnicole]

Interestingly, though, I've found that if I want to move money between our accounts at different banks, writing myself a check and then using either mobile deposit or the ATM to deposit it is faster than doing an electronic transfer between banks. If, for example, I were to write myself a check today, the money would post and be available tomorrow. If I were to do an electronic deposit, the money would likely be on hold until at least next Monday. I've never bothered to figure out why it takes so much longer because all that really matters to me is the knowledge that it does.

That's what puzzles me.  Zelle to yourself may be a faster option (I never checked that, though). But overall.... Which century it is right now? Are  messenger pigeons still the thing?

No, but bank scams are.

I can't speak to the above because I only transfer money within my own bank. But banks have hold periods before they may release deposited funds depending on which bank the check originates from, the amount, deposit method, time of day, day of week, and other qualifiers.  These will all be mentioned in your banking agreement found online and at the bank.

As far as paying bills online, I prefer to pay via the entity's website whom I'm paying and have them draw from the bank, rather than go thru the bank and draw from the entity.  2 reasons: My money sits in the bank longer, since the entity has to pull it from the bank. Also, if there's a transmission issue at an entity or via the national transfer systems (rare but occurs...I'll see this with wires transfers at work), the entity knows I paid. If I pay thru the bank, the entity doesn't know I paid them until they receive the transmission from the bank

[1995hoo]

I've only ever had a problem one time, and that was with the now-defunct credit card mentioned in a prior post. With that said, when I have a new creditor–say, last month when the mortgage servicer sold the loan–I program the first payment or two a couple of days earlier than I might otherwise as a way of testing how long they take to post payments (in their case, I programmed the payment a week earlier than I would normally have, and I found they posted it the same day it left my bank account).

[SP Cook]

- My car loan came with a coupon book.  Dealer used a small bank in another part of the state and they mailed me a coupon book.  I just tossed it in a drawer and set up an electronic payment via my bank.

- Electronic payments.  There are two ways to do electronic payments.  One is to let the biller withdraw things from your account.  The other is to pay bills from your account, which you can do monthly or make automatic in the case of a steady bill like a car payment, via your bank's website or app.  With one exception, I always do the later.  Possession is 9/10ths of the law, as they say.  You hear the horror stories of people that get four figure water bills and the like due to some mistake.  Letting a biller withdraw from your account means it will take that money and then you have to fight them to get it back.  With you paying via the app, you just don't pay and make them fight you.  The one exception I have made is Allstate.  In my state it is very difficult and expensive to cancel somebody's car insurance.  You have to send multiple certified mailing, have to tell the DMV on a particular form, and the insurer is still on the hook for the non-payer for several months into the non-renewal period.  For that reason, Allstate gives me 15% discount to let them just take it from my account.  Too good a deal to pass up.

[kkt]

I had a coupon book.  I sent in the payment with it but never got confirmation of the payment.

Getting the cancelled check back with the lender's endorsement on the back is confirmation.  (I supposed these days you'll have to settle for your bank statement.)

[kalvado]

Interestingly, though, I've found that if I want to move money between our accounts at different banks, writing myself a check and then using either mobile deposit or the ATM to deposit it is faster than doing an electronic transfer between banks. If, for example, I were to write myself a check today, the money would post and be available tomorrow. If I were to do an electronic deposit, the money would likely be on hold until at least next Monday. I've never bothered to figure out why it takes so much longer because all that really matters to me is the knowledge that it does.

That's what puzzles me.  Zelle to yourself may be a faster option (I never checked that, though). But overall.... Which century it is right now? Are  messenger pigeons still the thing?

No, but bank scams are.

I can't speak to the above because I only transfer money within my own bank. But banks have hold periods before they may release deposited funds depending on which bank the check originates from, the amount, deposit method, time of day, day of week, and other qualifiers.  These will all be mentioned in your banking agreement found online and at the bank.

As far as paying bills online, I prefer to pay via the entity's website whom I'm paying and have them draw from the bank, rather than go thru the bank and draw from the entity.  2 reasons: My money sits in the bank longer, since the entity has to pull it from the bank. Also, if there's a transmission issue at an entity or via the national transfer systems (rare but occurs...I'll see this with wires transfers at work), the entity knows I paid. If I pay thru the bank, the entity doesn't know I paid them until they receive the transmission from the bank

I would buy scam-prevention thing, if the bank was serious about working with it. For one as of now, their transaction-alert texts arrive next day, if not two  days after. 
And there are certain things that may be implemented - like shorter hold for repeat transfers. I guess that too much data to carry for those pigeons, though.

[bulldog1979]

I'm currently making my car loan payments through Chase - they are processed via auto-pay, and I check the remaining balance on the Chase app every month when the payment goes through. That made me wonder: for those who have driven long enough ago to remember such a time, how were car payments made in the days before banking apps - or the Internet more broadly - became commonplace?

Having previously asked this question on Quora, a Q&A website, I remember that some of the respondents on that site mentioned coupon books that the bank (or whatever the lending entity was) would give the driver upon receiving the car, and the driver would then mail in a coupon every month along with the check for that month's payment, until the loan was paid off. What was your experience like? Anything similar to what I described?

I have payment books from 5/3 Bank for my current auto loan. I pay online, but I do have the books to mail in the coupon with a check to process payment. Now, because I don't bank with 5/3, I have to manually initially every payment online. If I had a checking or savings account with them, I could set it up to autopay.

With previous loans through my credit union, I had direct payment set up. Every two weeks on payday, the credit union processed a payment for half a monthly car payment. For that, I got two interest rate discounts (one for the direct deposit on my paycheck, one for the direct payment). I also made 26 half payments per year instead of 12 full payments, so I paid one loan off 6 months early and saved on total interest paid.