<prompt> Human: Some background; I worked for a well known hated cable company for about 10 years. I started in an operational role, then eventually moved to an analytical reporting position. I specifically handled churn data how many people connected and disconnected service in a month. I have been out of the company for a year, but I had an acquaintance reach out for help recently, as he was getting nowhere.This well known hated company had just started a policy of giving out discounts on new sales if you signed for for an auto-draft payment option note, the advertised price INCLUDES that discount. So, if its a 29.99 internet price for a year, if you dont do auto-draft, it ends up being 34.99, so check everything before you sign up.I know a lot of redditors are younger and have cut the cord, but anyone that still has cable and kids - ill get to this later please take heed.Remember, when you use ANY cable company at least in the US you pay 1 month ahead. This is an important detail.REASON 1 - PROMOTIONS ENDINGAs they are famous for, cable companies boil the frog. Fees rais every year; some part of your plan, some not. There could be things like a raise in cable box prices usually not part of the core promotion people sign up for, or some stupid fee that they cant explain. They had just implemented the local broadcast fee and local sports fee, each 5.When a draft happens, its usually on the first of the month. The kicker is, the company knows the amount, BEFORE the consumer gets the bill. So, when they send their draft amount to the banks we used Chase, but that could vary by area, the amount that is going to be drafted from a bank account is known BEFORE the consumer gets to see it. So, if there are any arguments about when the promotion is ending, or whatever fees, the company would always take whats on the bill, regardless of any changes made that month.REASON 2 - SURPRISESThis wasnt as common, but it did happen from time to time. PPVs. They are super easy to order now. Things like kids movies, MMA fights, and porn get ordered all the time. A dozen times a month we would have someone call in with 500 in PPV charges. We could verify what cable box they came from, and it was usually a kid or guest that didnt know what they were doing or the ever elusive, my cat must have stepped on the remote 40 times.Again, when the charges are incurred, the amount goes to the bank BEFORE anyone can see the bill, so that 500 will come out of your bank account. Hope you enjoyed My Little Pony - The Red Express 6 times, or Backdoor Sluts 3 and 4.REASON 3 - EQUIPMENTThis is the most dangerous one, by far. With the other two, you have some leverage, as sometimes the company will want to keep you as a customer, and waive the fees. Note though, they generally wont return it to the bank account, it just means your next draft will be much lower. With equipment charges, you are generally screwed.So, when you get the service, you may end up renting some pieces of equipment. Usually a few cable boxes, maybe a modem, and with some new services, there is a home alarm system.When one disconnects their account, equipment must be returned in 7 days. If its not, you get charged for it. And if you had a newer box especially DVRs, guess what, thats 300-500 PER BOX. So, if you turned off the service, accidentally packed the boxes in your move to Florida, they will charge you 2000. And maybe you have heard this before, IF YOU ARE ON AUTODRAFT, THEY ARE TAKING THIS MONEY. When you RETURN the equipment, it will come off the account, but you get a check back 4-6 weeks later they wont return draft the funds back to you.Thats a best case scenario. What if you have lived in your home for 7 years, and about 3 years ago you had a lot of trouble, and said company came out and swapped some of your boxes? Well guess what, the technician didnt do his job right, and left the old equipment on the account too. So even if you return everything you own, company still thinks you have the older boxes, and guess what, its drafted. Then you have to go through the rigmarole to prove you dont have the equipment anymore. You can guess what happens next.We did about 20k disconnects per month in my region. Unreturned equipment was charged to about 16 households.If you want to do auto-draft, either for ease or discounts, USE A CREDIT CARDtldr Dont do bank auto-draft with cable companies.  <response>: On the topic of automatic payments - or storing any form of payment with any company in general - this is something that you should review at the very least YEARLY! Examples: Had paypal linked to facebook because I used to to Facebook Ads - someone hacked in and used my paypal to pay for 97 worth of stuff that for privacy reasons facebook wont give me any details about, and it took 3 weeks of back and forth and several hours on the phone to get all the charges refunded. I hadnt used that facebookpaypal linked payment method since 2015 . During trying to fix all of this - I also realized I had 5 addresses stored with amazon, 7 credit cards and some gift card credit I didnt realize I had loaded into my account - and I hadnt changed that password in a decade . Found that my American Express had my address from apx 6 years ago and a phone from nearly 11 years ago. this list could go on forever Moral of story : Updating security, updating contact info, deletingblocking accounts or merchants who you havent used in years, making a budget and keeping track of your finances all should happen on a regular basis! 