November 28, 2025 at 12:15 pm

A Customer Kept Getting Charged A Bank Fee For Not Using A Bill-Paying Service Enough, So They Set Up A $1 Payment to Themself Every Two Weeks To Avoid It

by Matthew Gilligan

man making a phone call

Shutterstock/Reddit

All I can say is that the person who wrote this story on Reddit might fall under the “Genius” category.

And you’ll see what I mean when you check out their story below!

Get started now!

Bank Fee Avoidance.

“This is about my bank.

They have bill paying service where they will actually generate a paper check and mail it to payees if they don’t support electronic funds transfer.

I can pay most of my bills online myself, but my water utility doesn’t have a way to pay online, so I use the bank’s bill pay for this.

What’s this?

One day, I noticed an odd $5.95 charge that was popping up at the start of each month. I called the bank to question it and they said that if I don’t use the bill pay at least twice a month then the charge is applied.

Since I only pay the water bill every other month, that’s why I was getting charged.

They had to get creative.

Since I needed to use it twice a month to avoid the charge, I figured out an easy way to satisfy the rules: The bill pay system allows you to set up regular payments to a payee, so I set myself up as a payee and scheduled a $1 payment to myself every two weeks.

Now I see a periodic $1 deduction and a few days later I get a $1 check in the mail which I immediately deposit with their phone app.

Net zero cost for me and $5.95 fee avoided!”

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person spoke up.

Screenshot 2025 11 14 at 8.57.40 AM A Customer Kept Getting Charged A Bank Fee For Not Using A Bill Paying Service Enough, So They Set Up A $1 Payment to Themself Every Two Weeks To Avoid It

Another individual shared their thoughts.

Screenshot 2025 11 14 at 8.57.47 AM A Customer Kept Getting Charged A Bank Fee For Not Using A Bill Paying Service Enough, So They Set Up A $1 Payment to Themself Every Two Weeks To Avoid It

This Reddit user weighed in.

Screenshot 2025 11 14 at 8.58.21 AM A Customer Kept Getting Charged A Bank Fee For Not Using A Bill Paying Service Enough, So They Set Up A $1 Payment to Themself Every Two Weeks To Avoid It

And another reader offered some advice.

Screenshot 2025 11 14 at 8.58.40 AM A Customer Kept Getting Charged A Bank Fee For Not Using A Bill Paying Service Enough, So They Set Up A $1 Payment to Themself Every Two Weeks To Avoid It

Hats off to this clever malicious compliance!

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.