I completely understand your frustration.  The agreement with verizon in order to get the discount is to sign up for auto pay and paper-free billing; this is what I have done.  I set-up auto pay however, I too wanted to use a credit card and was advised by a verizon rep to just pay ahead of the auto pay posting.  I was doing this for sometime and still received the auto pay discount because the agreement for the discount was to sign up for auto pay.  Recently, I received a 15.00 late fee (this is how it showed up on my bill).  I spoke with a verizon rep and was told it was due to not being in compliance with their auto pay service.  The verizon rep said that at least a portion of your bill must go through auto pay and i said okay.  So on my next bill i paid only a portion of my bill ahead of time and let auto pay process the rest and still received a 15.00 fee on my bill.  I was never notified of the change and I think it should be honored as I pay my bill early.  Why not offer customers who pay early the discount?  I was told that the purpose of auto pay was to keep bills consistent and to ensure bills are paid on time.  I am meeting both those objectives therefore the discount should be applied even if i pay my bill early.  How crazy does it sound that I am receiving a fee or being penalized for paying my bill early.