Best way to pay bills while on a long vacation

[artbcpa]

I have been gone for a month at a time, but this will be the first time I will be away from home for an extended period of time and was wondering what the best way to pay my bills while on vacation. I would love to get some input from the people who have experience going away for months at a time.

 

I am not a big fan of online banking, but know that is one option. The computer charges on most ships are quite expensive, but I could always pay the bills while in port at an Internet cafe. What other options do I have?

[Andee]

I love online banking, and I just pay bills before we leave, but enter later dates as when I want the bills paid.

[cb at sea]

If you want to write checks, write them all in advance, and have someone (trusted!) mail them monthly for you....that's what I do at our business when we're out of town! I just stick a note on each pile as to when it needs to go in the mailbox!

Or, some bills will allow you to set up a monthly bank draft...it will pay itself on the date you choose.

[mtwingcpa]

I have most everything set up on automatic debits or automatic charges to a credit card (which, itself, is programmed for automatic payment). Yes, there are risks in doing this. But, in my estimation, the risk of otherwise missing a payment is greater than the risk of (say) a fraudulent transaction slipping through.

 

Personally, I wouldn't try to make on-line payments from the ship because the connections are so darn slow (it once took over 5 minutes of expensive time just to LOG IN to my banking site) and I'm not totally convinced about the security of such transmissions. Naturally, your experience might vary. :-)

[LHT28]

We have only done a month away cruising also but seems the bills are in the middle of the trip

I just use my computer and do the online banking.

we are away for 3 months now (not cruising) & just use the online method.

 

You can always estimate what the household bills will be & pay in advance or set it up to come automatically from your account

[celle]

I have been gone for a month at a time, but this will be the first time I will be away from home for an extended period of time and was wondering what the best way to pay my bills while on vacation. I would love to get some input from the people who have experience going away for months at a time.

 

I am not a big fan of online banking, but know that is one option. The computer charges on most ships are quite expensive, but I could always pay the bills while in port at an Internet cafe. What other options do I have?

 

 

• Power, phone bills, SkyTV - all set up to be charged automatically to credit cards.
  
• Rates - paid 3-monthly through on-line banking.
  
• Sundry insurance premiums - paid by automatic deduction from nominated bank account.
  
• Credit cards - paid up to date (full amount) just before we go away. After that, accessed and paid through on-line banking.
  
• Any sundry creditors are paid by cheque just before we depart.
  

It takes several hours in the days before we depart, to make sure that bank accounts from which automatic deductions are to be made will have enough money in them to cover the payments. It's worth doing that, so that we don't come home and have to sit down and pay a lot of bills.

[CanWeGoYet?]

Some credit cards you can schedule payments in advance, to be made on a specified date. Or sign up for automatic payments, at least until you get back from your trip.

[phoenix1181]

I've been banking online since my bank made that option available six or seven years ago. I set up all my payments in advance so when we're traveling, there's no issue. Since I also use Quicken, I enter deposits as well as debits & I always know what my finances will look like while we're away.

 

The only thing I can't know the exact balance on is the credit card(s) we use while traveling so I set up payments based on what we "plan" to spend. Sometimes we end up paying some finance charges but we figure the peace of mind and convenience is well worth a few dollars.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have a separate checking account for just bills which are paid automaticaly each month from this account. We don't have to worry about a thing. From time to time I just move money from another account into the bill paying account.

[euro cruiser]

If you don't want to do the auto bill pay methods, you could hire the accounting firm that does your income taxes to be your bookkeepers for the time you are away.

 

If you use this method, I would open a new checking account exclusively for their use, and only deposit slightly more money in it than you think your bills will amount to while away.

 

Actually, you could do this with anyone you trust. Will you have a housesitter while you are away? You could set up a household account for their use and have them pay the bills as they come in.

[tomko2]

In the mid-nineties we travelled for 8 1/2 months but only had to worry about our credit card payments. We arranged with the bank for them to take the full amount every month from our chequing account. As we travelled we accessed ATMs (they were few and far between in some places) for cash and to check the balance.

 

When we are in Florida for the winter we use on-line banking and have our utilities, credit cards, property taxes set up so we can pay them anytime. Our telephone, internet and long distance bills are set up for automatic payment from our credit cards.

 

Have a great trip.

Kathy:)

[silentbob007]

I just did this in December when going to Australia ... I had a schedule of when everything would be due. I paid all that I could before I left, including logging in to websites to access bills I hadn't received in the mail yet. I then made a list of what would come due while on my cruise. The bills for which I knew future amounts (or close enough), I used my online banking account to schedule payments for when they would come due. The one or two that I had no idea, I made note of how to check and logged in onboard to pay.

[artbcpa]

Thank you all for your input. It looks like online banking and automatic payments is the way to go.

[Bamagal in FL]

I set up my payments thru my Credit Union's Online Banking Bill Pay. I have to option to set up my payments to pay on a specific date which most of you have talked about. Since I get most of my monthly statements/bills electronically, I can set up the Bill Pay to be triggered once a bill has arrived, either the full balance OR the minimum payment so that way I don't have to worry if the payment is different each month.

I LOVE IT and it works great. I have not had any issues.

[kitty9]

If a cruise for me is longer than a month, I have always over-paid certain bills. For example, if my electric bill is usually around $100, the bill I pay right before I leave, I'll pay double. Same for any credit card that I use on the ship---I just over pay the total amount and then I have a credit.

[PennyAgain]

I do a combination on online banking and pre-paying bills (as Darcie noted above). Works for me.

 

I get my credit card balances online on a daily basis so I know where I stand.

 

It's not perfect, but it is better than it used to be before online banking.