> Borrowers who use autopay pay off between 8% and 17% less of their monthly credit-card balances compared with customers who make manual payments, according to the study... When credit-card customers sign up for autopay, they typically have three options for monthly payments: the required minimum, the statement balance in full or a custom amount. Most people who enroll in autopay choose either the minimum payment or full balance, said Wang.
In other words, if you're already in the financial position to set it to full balance, then you're doing great, and autopay isn't making you worse at anything.
While if you set it to minimum payment, your financial position is obviously not great, and you're paying more in interest. But there's no evidence autopay is the cause here. Your lack of money is the cause.
If you're somewhere in the middle where you can pay more than the minimum but not the full balance, obviously you're not using autopay, because the amount probably changes each month based on what's left over from your other expenses.
The idea that autopay is the cause of not paying your bills is absurd. Causality runs in the other direction -- people who are already among the worst-off and can only afford the minimum, turn on autopay. (As well as those who can afford the full balance, of course.)