Paying bills while traveling ??

[Frank & Eve]

I do Bank Bill Pay on most of my bills but still receive paper bills. Some of these I can choose to go paperless and the bill will be sent to my online bill pay account. But what about those that are not? How do you get your bills paid while on the road ??

[ependydad]

We've only been gone for a maximum of 3 weeks at a time and simply let the bills wait for us until we get home. But I can literally count 1-4 bills that we can't pay online.

For longer trips, is there a friend or someone who can grab your mail periodically? They can forward it to you (or like we plan on eventually- scan it and email it).

[DXSMac]

If you are a "part timer" and you are going to be gone awhile, you can get by up to about three weeks. That's what I did.

THen, when I started taking LONG trips but still had a "home base," I used the Postal Service's premium forwarding. Now, this option only works if you are going to ONE location for an extended stay. You can't say, "ok, this week I'm here, next week I'm there..... etc."

Now, I am using UPS Store. UPS Stores or Mail Boxes etc will forward your mail and you can be a different place each week. The caveat is that you have to change your address and have all your mail go to the UPS store or Mail Boxes Etc. (I think UPS store bought out all the Mail Box Etc. stores...)

[WEMig]

Like Ependydad, I only have a few bills that are paper only. When we're away, I normally pay an estimated amount that will be higher than the average amount of the bill. For example, my water bill is paper only and normally ranges between $13.00 - $15.00 a month. I'll pay $20.00 and just receive a credit on my next bill. I do this with utilities since these amounts may vary, but I have a historical record of each per month.

[jbrostek]

Not all providers will send a bill through your banks system, but there is usually a way to get the bill and still pay through billpay. Some of my CC are that way, I still am paperless, but they wont send bill notifications to my billpay, only an e-mail directly to me, then I just send the payment through billpay.

I have one bill for city water/sewer that comes paper, but I know usually what the price is. And I have been gone from before the bill arrived and would not be back till the payment was late, a quick phone call and they gave me the total, I submitted the bill pay with no issue.

[VAlover]

Is it possible to phone the places you know that will be billing you, determine the amount owed and then put the appropriate check in the mail from wherever you are? You would not have to worry about missing a payment or paying a 'convenience' fee to pay by phone.

[jbrostek]

I didnt pay by phone, I did just that. Called for the ammount due, logged into my billpay and send the funds like I do every month.