Paying Bills Over the Internet while away from home?

[Dlish]

So... I was thinking of enrolling in this online billpay service from Paytrust.com that allows me to pay all my bills (paper or ebills) from any of my accounts while I am away from home. It appears that Paytrust.com sets us a PO. Box for you and scans in your paper bills so you can pay them online from anywhere this is big for me because not all my bills can be paid on my banks website.

I was wondering what other people use to pay bills while they are away from home. Keep in mind that I have paper bills that come to my home as well. Does anyone use Paytrust? Your insights on this issue will help greatly!

Thanks!

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

We have arranged to avoid paper bills altogether - just about everybody can accomodate electronic billing now. For those that don't, you can still pay them if the bill is a regular fixed amount. I have phone that is variable that I pay a fixed amount on every month, based on my average bill. Then I catch up after I see the details.  If none of those methods work for you, a phone call will usually get your current balance. We pay from our bank accounts, all of which offer a bill payer service for free.

If you really cannot avoid a paper bill and have no way to work around it, something like Paytrust may be your only option.

 

[geodrake]

Hello Dlish and welcome to the forum!

If we are going to be on the road for a month or more we have our mail forwarded to us using the post offices Premium Mail Forwarding.  That catches infrequent bills and gets checks etc. to us.  Regular income goes direct deposit and we pay bills on line from the bank web site.  Like Gary we frequently make an educated guess as to the amount owed, pay it, and catch up later.  We also forward our home phone to a cell phone.  As long as we have internet service there is no problem nor no hassle.

 

[ArdraF]

When we started taking long trips we opened a special checking account and got all our utility bills and the like automatically deducted from that account.  For some things such as our satellite TV we have those put on our credit card so they don't have access to our checking account.  The credit card, in turn, is deducted from that special checking account.  Once in a while we buy something online and can use Paypal where no one has access to either our checking account or our credit card.  Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable with someone else handling all my personal billings and, to be honest, I don't see the need for it.  I'm sure they would not be doing it for free, so why would you want to pay for a service that not only can be done automatically but at no extra cost.

Most of us have had paychecks or Social Security checks or whatever put into our checking account automatically.  Bill paying is the reverse and nowadays there aren't many places that can't handle it.  An alternative that we did before the automatic deductions was to "guesstimate" how much each bill would be for the number of of months we would be gone, write them a check for that amount, and prepay it.  That routine was a real hassle and automatic deductions are MUCH easier!

When we're gone a long time we have someone forward our mail about once a month.  In that mail we get the paper bills to double-check against our checking account and credit cards.  Meanwhile, most of us also check our bank accounts at regular intervals.  With the proper security in your laptop and internet it is possible to have secure connections even while traveling.  Some of the people on this RV Forum are fulltimers and they're experts on handling these things electronically.  They may not have utility bills like those who have stick houses, but they still have to pay vehicle insurance, health insurance, licensing fees, and the like.

ArdraF

 

[DonTom]

this is big for me because not all my bills can be paid on my banks website.

I don't understand why. I bank with US Bank (it's free when you have a free checking account) and have even sent on-line payments to private parties. No need for an account number, but they like a phone number, which can be a cell phone or home phone of who you're trying to send the payment to.

I can also use my Wa-Mu (uh, I mean JP Morgan Chase) free checking to pay bills with. I have not sent an on-line check from this account to a private party, but I assume it would work too.

With my US Bank account, I have paid  my bills on-line from mainland China, as well as Mauca, Hong Kong, England, Canada  and Costa Rica. I won't leave home without a small notebook computer. It has come in handy way too many times, especially for getting a better rate when switching hotels. You can set up most of your bills to see them direct from US Bank. Something called "E-Bill". But some companies do not support E-Bill but I can look at all my accounts on-line one way or another to see how much I owe to whom.

It seems every company that we could possibly owe money to has a website where you can view the bill. The biggest problem is passwords and user names as each seem to have a different rule forcing us to write each one down (or have a program that stores them all).

I only like automatic payments from checking accounts for accounts that never change each month. If they can change, I will have them sent to a credit card account and then pay the credit card on line.

-Don- SSF, CA​

 

[BernieD]

I have been using Quicken for many years to automatically pay my fixed monthly bills that are paid on the same day each month for the same amount, like mortgage. This is done automatically and shows up on my Quicken check register a couple of weeks in advance of the payment.

All of my other recurring bills are paid automatically thru the company, either direct debit from my checking account or charged to my credit card. I get a notice from most that the bill is viewable on the website and/or an emal as to the amount and date of payment. I am able to view all of the bills online to see if there is any errors. I also download daily all transactions to my checking accounts and credit cards so that I can track what gets charged and paid and when.

Non-recurring bills are few and far between and they just have to wait until I get my mail forwarded. Some I expect, like insurance renewals and plan ahead for, the rest just have to wait

 

[joelmyer]

Hello Dlish and welcome to the forum!

.. We also forward our home phone to a cell phone. 

How do you do that?

Joel

 

[seilerbird]

I have been paying my bills online automatically for years. Best thing since sliced bread. I haven't been late on a payment since I started doing it.

 

[jackbetsy]

Our bill-pay feature (free) at our local bank offers what they call "shortcut" that lets me know, based on previous on-line bill paying, which bills are due and how much was paid the previous month.  We plan on taking advantage of that service when on the road next month.

 

[Marsha/CA]

Joel,

If your land line phone has a "forwarding call" feature, you just set up the phone to forward all your land line calls to your cell phone.  If they both are in the same calling area, there should not be any long distant charges.  At least there wasn't for us.  It really is a nice feature, because people think you are home and don't realize you are on the road.  With ours we did all the set up on the home land line phone just before we left, then turned it off when we got home.  Of course there was the time I forgot to set it up!  :

Marsha~

 

[Smoky]

We have done all financials electronically for the last ten years.  Not one regret, and dozens of improvements and catches of misbilling that would never happen in the old days.

Not sure why the original poster is fooling around with scanning.

If you deal with a large national bank you can cover any payment need possible.  One of my banks even sends out checks to individuals or makes electronic deposits when I give them the necessary mailing or account information.  Several people on this forum have received electronic funds from me or at least a partial electronic process.

Overall I find it far safer and far more accurate than any manual process.  When you integrate it with downloading and software like Quicken or Money you have the perfect system for full timing.

Just be sure to have a solid backup process and a backup computer.

 

[Wendy]

Marsha, Is it the phone or the phone line that has the forwarding feature? I think we need this. Last trip, we just put a message on the answering machine to call us on the cell phone and included that number. I like the idea that no one knows you're away by calling.

Wendy
rainy Cortez

 

[Ned]

Call forwarding is a feature of the phone line.  The only risk is if there is a problem with your line, or at the CO, while you're gone, the forwarding could get reset and there is no way to restore it remotely.

 

[Jim Godward]

Call forwarding is a feature of the phone line.  The only risk is if there is a problem with your line, or at the CO, while you're gone, the forwarding could get reset and there is no way to restore it remotely.

Sure there is, I just call my brother or the watching neighbor and have one of them do it. 

 

[Alaskansnowbirds]

Marsha, Is it the phone or the phone line that has the forwarding feature? I think we need this. Last trip, we just put a message on the answering machine to call us on the cell phone and included that number. I like the idea that no one knows you're away by calling.

Wendy
rainy Cortez

Wendy,

We're with QWest. I think they are in Colorado too. If they are your carrier check with them. I "bundled" our phone service, DSL service and DirecTV service with them. As part of bundling I could choose three services on our land line. I took caller ID, call forwarding and I can't remember the third.  If you want the service without bundling I think the monthly charge is $3.00 or $3.50.

It's easy to use. To forward your home phone just dial *72 wait for a second dial tone then dial the number you want the your calls forwarded to (like your cell), answer your cell and wait 5 seconds then hang up both phones. When you get home, dial *73 and call forwarding is removed. If calling your cell is a long distance call from you home then you will be charged the long distance fees for any calls forwarded.

 

[Wendy]

Thanks Don. We do have Qwest. I don't know about getting the bundle since we have Dish Network but I wouldn't mind paying $3 to get the call forwarding. And our cell is same area code as home phone so there wouldn't be any long distance charges. I guess I'll give Qwest a call.

Thanks
Wendy

 

[Ron]

Why not just dump Quest or any land line provider and just use cell phones.  Somebody calls thay have no way of knowing whether you are answering from home or on the road.  One less monthly bill too as well as one less number for the telemarketers to call.

 

[Wendy]

Why not just dump Quest or any land line provider and just use cell phones.  Somebody calls thay have no way of knowing whether you are answering from home or on the road.  One less monthly bill too as well as one less number for the telemarketers to call.

We've talked about it. But we use the house phone for sending and receiving work-related faxes when we're home. Maybe it's time to talk again about getting rid of the land line. BTW, no telemarkerters in Colorado - it's a no call state. Haven't had a single unwanted call since the election ended.

 

[Ned]

Wendy, you can use a service like MaxEmail to send and receive faxes as email attachments, no phone line needed, just an internet connection.  For low volume, it's very low cost, if you don't care what your fax number is.  I've used this for several years.

 

[Wendy]

Thanks Ned. I'll check it out. We've had eFax for years, the free version that lets you receive but not send. When we're working, our send/receive volume is less than 50. When we're not working it's close to zero. Come to think of it, the fax machine is out of ink right now....might be a good time to put it in the yard sale pile and switch to something else.

Wendy