Paying bills when not at home

[Meadbh]

My payment preferences go like this:

1) auto pay via credit card (love those cash back rewards)

2) auto pay via checking account (this includes entire CC balances each month)

3) pay online with credit card

4) pay annual, semi-annual online via checking (for example, my property bill, and vechile registration allows for this)

5) pay via good old fashion checking

When traveling, if a bill is due that I really have to pay before I get back, I pay it online. So far, I haven't been away long enough to miss a bill payment. I try to go with paperless bills when possible.

This is what I do too. For income taxes (personal and corporate) I have to pay instalments, so once my accountant tells me what I will need to pay I just write all the monthly postdated cheques for a year. As the cheques are cashed, I can see them electronically on my bank's website. For credit card bills, I receive a text on my BB when a bill is issued, and I go online and check it. I save the bill as a PDF so I have a record, and I set up a transaction postdated to 2 business days before the bill is due (and always for the entire amount). If the account requires topping up, I set the transfer for the day before the bill is due.

This strategy saves $$$ in stamps, envelopes, etc., ensures that everything is recorded, and avoids surprises.

 

[Nords]

- Estimate the amount based on past usage and send a check for slightly more than that amount? You will overpay for the month but the gas co will credit your account for the difference.

That's what I used to do for 1980s submarine 90-day patrols...

 

[Animorph]

This is what I do too. For income taxes (personal and corporate) I have to pay instalments, so once my accountant tells me what I will need to pay I just write all the monthly postdated cheques for a year. As the cheques are cashed, I can see them electronically on my bank's website. For credit card bills, I receive a text on my BB when a bill is issued, and I go online and check it. I save the bill as a PDF so I have a record, and I set up a transaction postdated to 2 business days before the bill is due (and always for the entire amount). If the account requires topping up, I set the transfer for the day before the bill is due.

This strategy saves $$$ in stamps, envelopes, etc., ensures that everything is recorded, and avoids surprises.

You can pay (IRS) taxes online via www.eftps.gov , including scheduling estimated tax payments.

 

[Meadbh]

You can pay (IRS) taxes online via www.eftps.gov , including scheduling estimated tax payments.

Useful information for people in the US. As I live in Canada, my taxes are paid to Revenue Canada. I could submit them electronically, but this is just the way I choose to do it.

 

[W2R]

How does anyone handle any bills that can't be received online -- paper only -- and that don't allow online payment?

We receive one bill -- natural gas -- that there is no ability to even see the bill online or to receive it any way other than mail. You can pay it by mail or by dropping it in the dropbox. There is no ability to pay online.

Wow! How dreadful. And here I thought that Louisiana was far more backward than Texas. At least we can pay all of our utility bills automatically.

In the unlikely event that you get bored in your semi-ER status, and if you haven't done this, you could always try going down to their office. If necessary, you could stand in line with those paying in person, or whatever you have to do in order to talk to a real human being face to face instead of on the phone. Then you could explain your dilemma. It sounds like a PITA and might not work, but then one never knows.

 

[Helen]

One thing kept me from switching to autopay. I've heard about people who had trouble with autopay when they either tried to cancel a service (e.g. switching cell phone providers or gyms)...and the older provider kept deducting from their account even after the switch to the new provider.... or incorrect amounts were deducted.

Has anyone had these types of issues (or any others I haven't heard about)?

omni

We've had one problem with an autopay. Our cats knocked the DirectTV receiver off the television and it broke. We ordered a new receiver, but they billed us for 3 of them. The bill was automatically deducted from my partner's checking account and she ended up bouncing checks.

We called them and they said right away that it was a mistake and they should only have charged us for one receiver. We couldn't get them to refund us the money, they wanted to hang on to it and deduct our future bills from it.

After 3 months of phone calls we told them to cancel the service. All in all, it took six months for us to get the money back.

I snail mailed a polite letter to DirectTV's VP of customer service to inform him of what had happened. I never received a response from him. That sealed it for me that we would never be a customer of theirs again.

Too bad because we had been very happy with DirecTV before that.

 

[meierlde]

How does anyone handle any bills that can't be received online -- paper only -- and that don't allow online payment?

We receive one bill -- natural gas -- that there is no ability to even see the bill online or to receive it any way other than mail. You can pay it by mail or by dropping it in the dropbox. There is no ability to pay online. Now if I wasn't here I could use bill payment through my checking account to mail a payment. The problem would be if we took any long vacation that we would not see the bill since we couldn't look it up online.

How does anyone handle that kind of situation?

(For other bills I usually get bills electronically or I can look up online and I usually pay online. I usually don't do automatic payments although a few people require them to pay online and for those I do automatic payment).

Of course you could pay the bill by bill pay once you find the amount, billpay i.e. push the bill is better IMHO than the vendor pulling the amount, as you control when the bill is paid. The bill pay at my bank will go to the USPS if an electronic link is not set up. I suspect you could call and get the amount also.

 

[Animorph]

Of course you could pay the bill by bill pay once you find the amount, billpay i.e. push the bill is better IMHO than the vendor pulling the amount, as you control when the bill is paid. The bill pay at my bank will go to the USPS if an electronic link is not set up. I suspect you could call and get the amount also.

Fidelity Billpay has "eBill" that receives your bill electronically and can be set to pay it or remind you to pay it. I have a few bills set up like that. One problem with it is that it will only pay the minimum amount on my credit card bills. Needless to say that's pretty useless. But it's great when you can use it. No one else gets your CC or checking info and your bill gets paid automatically. Fido won't hassle you if you cancel that automatic payment.

 

[rbmrtn]

How does anyone handle any bills that can't be received online -- paper only -- and that don't allow online payment?

My water bill is like that. I still pay it via bank billpay, I manually set it up and a paper check is cut and sent. I could also setup an autopay for a set amount to cover it.

I put most everything on CC and pay in full each month. CC is a cash back rewards so its like getting a discount on everything.

I haven't actually written a paper check in many years.

 

[FreeAtLast]

I pay my bills on line. I have a couple automatic withdrawal from my checking. There are a few bills that I have setup as recurring payments which are the same each month. Some bills I still get in the mail, however, I now get cable, phone, and electric directly into my on line bill payer service.

 

[mickeyd]

I'm wondering how my fellow FIREees handle payment of their monthly (and semi-annual, like property taxes) bills while not at home, especially when traveling on an irregular and unplanned short-notice basis (which precludes mail-forwarding).

Hey omni.

I pay all bills automatically from my checkbook. I pay my annual property tax online, but it's not automatic. We write very few manual checks, maybe 3-4 annually.

I still like to receive paper bills in the mail also and have chosen to receive our Vanguard statements via mail also. As far as I know, no trees are killed or damaged due to this action. If I were to be offered a financial reward for going paperless, I would probably take advantage of the offer.

 

[markelp]

Has anyone looked at or tried Earth Class Mail?

Seems pricey (starts at $20 a month), but receives and scans all your mail for you to view online.

Might be a good solution for someone constantly travelling and wants/needs to get paper mail.

 

[Meadbh]

We have something like that in Canada, but it's free. For bills mostly. How would a comprehensive mail scanning service affect your privacy?

www.epost.ca

 

[someguy]

Do any of you have bills that you write off on taxes? How are you handling keeping a "receipt" for those if you e-pay them?

 

[easysurfer]

Do any of you have bills that you write off on taxes? How are you handling keeping a "receipt" for those if you e-pay them?

The bills that come to mind for me are property taxes. I pay them online with my checking account. I keep the original bill, and print out the online transaction record to a pdf file (using Cutepdf) as a record.

 

[someguy]

bills & taxes

Unfortunately we've got several a month that fall into the write-off category. Right now, we receive all paper bills and scan them to PDF and then file by year and then by payee.

The bills that come to mind for me are property taxes. I pay them online with my checking account. I keep the original bill, and print out the online transaction record to a pdf file (using Cutepdf) as a record.

 

[eridanus]

I appreciate all the responses.

One thing kept me from switching to autopay. I've heard about people who had trouble with autopay when they either tried to cancel a service (e.g. switching cell phone providers or gyms)...and the older provider kept deducting from their account even after the switch to the new provider.... or incorrect amounts were deducted.

Has anyone had these types of issues (or any others I haven't heard about)?

omni

Gyms are notorious for this. I've also had feuds with a nationally known alarm monitoring company that required me to do a "Stop ACH" and then pursue more litigious measures when they started sending paper bills.

I use Billpay "push" exclusively now.

 

[meierlde]

The bills that come to mind for me are property taxes. I pay them online with my checking account. I keep the original bill, and print out the online transaction record to a pdf file (using Cutepdf) as a record.

Does your jurisdiction have the tax bills on the web some do and some don't. So you could print out the bill, write an old fashioned check and mail it in. Typically these sites then have a report on the account online that would show the bill having been paid as well.

 

[easysurfer]

Does your jurisdiction have the tax bills on the web some do and some don't. So you could print out the bill, write an old fashioned check and mail it in. Typically these sites then have a report on the account online that would show the bill having been paid as well.

I get a paper bill in the regular mail twice a year (two payments per year). I can pay it the old fashioned way by check (yet, my bank no longer returns checks, so check images are online only) or process a payment online. Yes, online shows that bill is paid. But what I do is when I pay online, I just print of a copy of the transaction (with transaction number) and save that and my paper bill as documents I need in case the IRS comes knocking.

 

[pb4uski]

Most of my auto-pays would not be deductible items except for health insurance and mortgage interest. Medical expenses and property taxes I get a bill in the mail and pay electronically through my bank. For contributions I have my bank records and the acknowledgement letters that I get back from the charitable organizations.

 

[Alan]

Do any of you have bills that you write off on taxes? How are you handling keeping a "receipt" for those if you e-pay them?

The bills that come to mind for me are property taxes. I pay them online with my checking account. I keep the original bill, and print out the online transaction record to a pdf file (using Cutepdf) as a record.

+1

I also make pdf's of all my monthly financial statements (banks, credit cards and brokerages). Then if there is a computing banking disaster as happened recently with Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster bank, I have all my documentation up the end of the last month.

BBC News - RBS boss blames software upgrade for account problems

BBC News - RBS computer problems: MPs demand answers

The bank group has warned it will not achieve "a completely normal service" across all its banks until next Monday, due to the "significant stress" on its systems.
This means that the service will not be completely back to normal until almost two weeks after the software upgrade, which caused disruption for millions of bank account holders at RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank.