The fees section of a monthly cell phone bill is always a somewhat murky affair, but Verizon Wireless has created on an additional charge: if you pay your phone bill online with a one-time payment instead of enrolling in an automatic payment program, they will charge you $2. That’s right, the phone company is going to start charging you money for you to pay your phone bill. It’s kind of like the fee Sallie Mae charges on your student loan bill to have a payment go through immediately instead of two to five days later. They call this an “encouragement fee.”
