I'm not sure if paying online is any worthwhile for "credit card bill payment" type of activity. I have stopped doing this a long time ago.

Several years back, I made an online bill payment through Citibank (account now closed) when I realised I had made a minor mistake in the amount. On the same day, I called up Citibank to ask for the payment to be stopped so that I can reinstruct with the correct amount. They say it's not possible to stop on the same day. Because a CHEQUE will be printed overnight and POSTED (yes, Singpost!) to the bill payee organisation.

So the only way to stop such a payment is to wait for the cheque to be printed first overnight, then call back the next day to instruct a stop-cheque payment!

I was dumbfounded beyond words. (Dwarf behind the ATM scenario springs to mind.)

That got me thinking, why should I allow the bank to earn interest while my account was debited on the same day but the cheque makes its way to the payee organisations? I might as well have written my own cheque, put it into the business reply envelope normally given by the payee organisations - and earn (whatever little) interest float for the duration...