Why Don't We Get Discounts for Paying Early on Council and Water Rates ?

treeman on 11/05/2016 - 19:29
Last edited 12/05/2016 - 09:14 by 1 other user

I've been meaning to put this question out there for a long time.

Whenever I receive my Council rates at the start of the year there is no incentive to pay early. The rate for 12 months is the same as it is for 3. I would be happy to pay it annually rather than quarterly for a minimum of 5% discount or better similar to how Car Registration works, but nothing is on offer.

This too annoys me with Water Bills, no discount for paying early or on time, like gas and electricity bills. Why should water be any different? I therefore again wait till towards the end to pay.

Anyone else get annoyed with this?
Or am I the only one?

• 

  scrimshaw on 11/05/2016 - 19:34

  +6

  Maybe because there is no competition = monopoly.

  • 

    treeman on 11/05/2016 - 20:01

    No competition for Rego.

    Doesn't make it right.

• 

  Mad Max on 11/05/2016 - 19:57

  So pay everything on the second last day before the due date…

  • 

    treeman on 11/05/2016 - 20:00

    Which is why I try to do that.

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  PVA on 11/05/2016 - 20:03

  +2

  we get a discount if you pay early/before due date.
  Gold Coast Council.

  • 

    treeman on 11/05/2016 - 20:31

    Lucky!
    Should contact my council.

  • 

    charzy on 11/05/2016 - 20:39

    How do you know the pay before due date figure isn't the proper figure, and the 'normal figure' is the late fee figure….

    • 

      PVA on 11/05/2016 - 21:42

      it may be, but the late fee is more the interest the councils charge when you are late.

      its always been advertised as a discount if you pay before the due date

• 

  [Deactivated] on 11/05/2016 - 20:32

  +3

  Council rates are worked out based on the council budget. The council doesn't get any more or less money for you paying early so they are not going to offer a discount. They need to know exactly how much money is coming in from year to year in order to plane their services.

  • 

    fruit on 11/05/2016 - 21:05

    I'll take what is time value of money for $500

    • 

      braskic on 12/05/2016 - 07:55

      That would be why they charge interest if you chose to pay your rates quarterly.

      • 

        treeman on 12/05/2016 - 12:41

        They don't though, same figure whether you pay quarterly or yearly.
        This is South Australia.

      • 

        Looking4Bargians on 12/05/2016 - 14:32

        +1

        @treeman: Same here in VIC. Same figure whether you pay early or before date or quarterly or yearly. No benefits whatsoever.

• 

  Euphemistic on 11/05/2016 - 20:41

  +4

  I get a discount for paying on time, or another way of putting it is that I get charged interest if it's late.

• 

  coco1458 on 11/05/2016 - 20:45

  Discounting for early payment does sound good, there's no benefit for paying early, they'd just most likely rack up interest on the money you've already paid

• 

  StewBalls on 11/05/2016 - 20:50

  Two words: Gubber - Mint. :P

• 

  poboy on 11/05/2016 - 21:38

  +1

  Some councils offer an early payment discount for rates. They make a provision for this discounted revenue in their balance sheet. So paying early effectively reduces the revenue that council receives. I did the sums and worked out the money was better sitting in an offset account for a few months rather than having it pay the rates early. So I never pay them early, even with a discount.

  • 

    PVA on 11/05/2016 - 21:45

    really. its hard to believe that you would make $70 or so for $800 in an offset for 2 months.

    • 

      poboy on 14/05/2016 - 14:25

      The first installment is due 31 August. Or you can pay it all mid Feb. So that's 5.5 months. And you only get a 2.5% discount. It also depends on your rates balance.

      • 

        PVA on 14/05/2016 - 15:58

        ok, say 6 months. doesnt that work out getting up around 20% interest on the rates amount per annum.

        council gives 10% for where we are.

• 

  Cheeper on 11/05/2016 - 22:27

  Council offers say 5% disc for early payment then raises rates by 5% to cover their loss… :-(

  • 

    poboy on 14/05/2016 - 17:00

    +1

    You're getting negged. But what you say is correct. It's a cost that council budget for.

    • 

      Cheeper on 15/05/2016 - 08:31

      This is what they dont realise… :-( It's like the supermarket cards… it's not free.. you do pay.

• 

  taurenpally on 12/05/2016 - 09:30

  My council offer a discount of a whooping 0.5%. I just pay in installments and keeps the money sitting in savings XD

• 

  Seraphin7 on 12/05/2016 - 10:21

  Doesn't make much difference either way to me. Just schedule the payments on the due dates and away they go. If there's a discount great, if not they can wait for their cash.

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  momov3 on 12/05/2016 - 12:41

  Good question, my council does not offer discount either, so I pay quarterly. When you consider the same with University fees, since Gillard reduced the upfront discount for paying lump sum, many people just place it in HELP debt. Paying Uni fees upfront would have to be the dumbest thing to do,considering some never ever have to pay the debt due to different circumstances in their working life.