Even if you have your credit card bill paid automatically (which I heartily recommend), you still get the statements to check well before the payment is processed, and can ring up about any dubious transactions. Best of both worlds. I've been doing it (autopay AND checking through every statement) for decades - ever since I started travelling so much with work that I was likely to miss paying bills otherwise. I've had dubious transactions in that time, and dealt with them without major dramas. Autopay made no difference to that at all.