As companies look to cut corners wherever possible, a growing trend is to require you pay extra if you want billing interaction with a human either by phone or in person. Comcast recently started charging customers $4 to pay their bill with a human by phone, and $2 to pay in person at a billing center. We mentioned in March that AT&T is prepped to start charging $5 in May if you want to talk to a live billing rep over the phone. MSNBC discovers the practice after an id theft victim (forced to close her checking account) was charged $2 for trying to pay AT&T in cash:"We want our associates to spend their time helping customers as they are thinking about their wireless plans or looking at phones," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel says. The concept of a human contact fee actually began at the National Bank of Chicago in 1995, when they started charging customers to speak to a live teller. It has since flourished in popularity as companies across industries seek to please investors by nickel and diming their customers wherever humanly possible.