Quick question about bills

jackquontee · Jun 7, 2005

Folks, I have noticed on occasion that people talk about going to the DR, and other places, and staying for various lengths of time. I'm talking from a couple of weeks to several months. With the exception of those who basically put their lives on hold in the states, I have been curious about how it is that they continue to pay their bills back in the states, or wherever it is they might be from.

I have been thinking that it would be great at some point to do a 1-2 month stay in the DR. The problem I have is not being able to figure out how I would continue to pay my bills while I'm gone. I don't mean that I wouldn't have the money to pay them, but that I have many bills that need to be paid, i.e., credit card bills, various utilitie bills, auto/boat bills, etc. So, my point is there are many bills that need to be paid while I'm away. I'm assuming that others have encountered this issue as well. Could you please share what your solution(s) may have been?

Oh, as some background info, I am single and live alone so it's not like I have someone "at home" to take care of these things while I'm away.

Secondly, no, I don't know anyone else who I could entrust a check book to. Just about all of the people I know would empty my bank account, and I'm talking about my immediate family, never mind casual acquaintances.

I have talked previously about some day moving to the DR and, based on some posts here, I have been thinking that it might be a better idea to, at times, do somewhat lengthy stays rather than continue to do the week-at-a-time tourist thing.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

2parrotheads · Jun 7, 2005

We presently pay more than half our bills via online banking, and we seem to add another one every month. That's what I'm anticipating to do when we start to spend more and more time in the DR. As long as I have the internet available, we should be okay.

Bailarina · Jun 7, 2005

online statement notices and online payments

most any bank gives you online banking and nowadays most places have automated debits monthly for your utility and other debts. I pay everything online and have automated payments set up for every possible thing PLUS i get online statements emailed to me on my credit cards, etc. not sent to me via usmail.
you can be virtually anywhere, never receive mail and yet be kept on top of almost everything.
I'm just waiting for them to digitize someone and upload a person to the internet. might take a coupla t-3s...

jackquontee said:
Folks, I have noticed on occasion that people talk about going to the DR, and other places, and staying for various lengths of time. I'm talking from a couple of weeks to several months. With the exception of those who basically put their lives on hold in the states, I have been curious about how it is that they continue to pay their bills back in the states, or wherever it is they might be from.

I have been thinking that it would be great at some point to do a 1-2 month stay in the DR. The problem I have is not being able to figure out how I would continue to pay my bills while I'm gone. I don't mean that I wouldn't have the money to pay them, but that I have many bills that need to be paid, i.e., credit card bills, various utilitie bills, auto/boat bills, etc. So, my point is there are many bills that need to be paid while I'm away. I'm assuming that others have encountered this issue as well. Could you please share what your solution(s) may have been?

Oh, as some background info, I am single and live alone so it's not like I have someone "at home" to take care of these things while I'm away.

Secondly, no, I don't know anyone else who I could entrust a check book to. Just about all of the people I know would empty my bank account, and I'm talking about my immediate family, never mind casual acquaintances.

I have talked previously about some day moving to the DR and, based on some posts here, I have been thinking that it might be a better idea to, at times, do somewhat lengthy stays rather than continue to do the week-at-a-time tourist thing.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

planner · Jun 7, 2005

An additional option

You can always prepay the bills. Just go in and pay for 2 or 3 months if you are going to be gone that long. It simply appears as a credit and absorbs the next months charges. That would only apply to those you can't pay on line...

Bob K · Jun 7, 2005

payments

Can't think of anything that we don't or can't pay on line or with paypal. We are slowly converting it all over so when we are in the DR full time we can continue to pay our bills in the US all of it on line

Bob K

MommC · Jun 7, 2005

All of the above!!!....and then some.....

When we first started staying more than 6 weeks in the DR (I prepaid for the 6 weeks) there was NO online banking (now I do a lot of that!), but there was automatic withdrawal from your checking acc't for some bills so I used that for the bills that were able. I also would send out post-dated cheques based on an average am't for those that couldn't be "automated".

That took care of most bills but what about birthday cards etc??

Enter my financial advisor (she actually just carries out my instructions but what the hay! - her title is "advisor"). I usually visit her just before I leave for an extended period to take care of any business that needs to be done and any tweaking that's appropriate. I asked her if it would be possible to leave cards - ready to mail, bundled with mailing dates on them - with her to be sent out at the appropriate times.

"No problem" she says.....(after all with the money I pay her each year she really does need to provide some service!). They have a "bring forward" file just like I do for those things that only need go out occasionally and the secretary pool looks after it. So I just bring everything in to her- ready to go- and my friends and family members get their cards, if not a little early, on time!

Might be worth looking into.......

suarezn · Jun 7, 2005

As people have already mentioned you should be able to pay pretty much everything online. Most banks will allow you to pay online even to those customers that do not receive electronic payments. For the mail that will arrive at your house, you could open an account with EPS and have your mail forwarded to The DR, this way you don't miss any of this mail. In my case almost all the mail I get is junk mail as I have also elected to receive statements online from every place that offers it (mortgage, electric, cable, etc)...So I have no interest to this junk (pun intended) forwarded to me.

Ken · Jun 7, 2005

You have gotten good suggestions. If your bank has a website, you can probably sign up and get your statements on line. Credit card companies also offer online statements and paying your credit card by authorizing withdrawal from your account. The bank I have my account with offers bill paying for reoccuring bills, and also you can have them pay other bills as well.

PayPal is another possibility you could investigate.

And their are businesses that specialize in handling the payment of bills, forwarding of mail, etc., for people who are away from home, e.g., people cruising the Caribbean or other waters in boats.

jackquontee · Jun 7, 2005

Great suggestions

Thanks to everyone for your advice. I am aware of the online payment route, but have always been reluctant to try it as I am one of those people who, if I don't receive a written notice every month, tend to forget that a payment is due. I need that reminder. I am also aware that not all bills can be paid online.

I think what I'll have to do is explore those that can be paid online, and pursue some of the other options that have been mentioned for those that can't be paid online. I have time to do further research as I have a number of week-long trips planned between now and November, and wouldn't be able to take a month(s) long vacation until after then. But I believe in doing my homework well ahead of time. I also have a fishing addiction and, considering the fact that I live in the Northeast, need to take advantage of the weather while it lasts. LOL

I am curious about one additional thing. My assumption is that for those bills that can be paid online, I would have to take a list of online addresses, user ID's, and passwords to access the sites. Is that assumption correct? Please forgive my ignorance, but I'm one of those people who find technology to be a necessary evil and try to avoid it outside of communicating and informational research.

Ken, you mentioned "businesses that specialize in handling the payment of bills". Would you by chance have any names that I could research?

Again, thanks all.

Escott · Jun 7, 2005

I can pay any bill online including my wife who gets money for my child. I go online and send money to whomever I want to send money to. First I put is all on a credit card and get frequent flyer milage and then pay it a month later via online bank payments.

Cool!

Bob K · Jun 7, 2005

reminder

reluctant to try it as I am one of those people who, if I don't receive a written notice every month, tend to forget that a payment is due. I need that reminder.

If you have something like Quicken it will automatically remind you when your bills are due. It has saved my bacon more then once. It will also help organize your on line banking.

Bob K

jackquontee · Jun 7, 2005

Thanks so much

Well, after further research based on the recommendations given here, I think I have it figured out.

I will first compile a list of all my bills.

Secondly, I will set up recurring payments for those bills that are of a fixed amount every month.

Thirdly, I will seperate out those bills (mostly utilities and credit cards) whose websites I can access and pay online from my savings account, as these vary in amount from month to month.

Lastly, I will seperate out those bills that may not have electronic payment available, but for which I can make a payment through my banks "Bill Pay" feature which simply sends a check when payment is due. It's a damned shame that I didn't even know this feature existed. Oh well.

I've got some work to do. Again, thanks everyone.

Escott · Jun 7, 2005

This has been my preferred method of payment for four years. I don't use stamps anymore. I try to get all my statements in EMAIL also. Citibank does it for my credit cards and I use the credit cards for recurrent billings.

Good luck.

lilcanadiangal · Jun 8, 2005

Sorry to hi-jack this thread everyone, I've just got a related question and didn't want to start a new thread just for that.

If I were to open a Dominican bank account, do those banks offer online banking? If not, how do you go about paying international credit cards online without just already having money in my Cdn bank account. For example, if I want to make a pmt of 1000 RD and can only deposit it in a Dominican bank account and can't deposit it in my Canadian acc from which I normally do my online banking and payments, how would I make the payment to the Canadian company? It is actually Scotiabank. But the banks are not actually related, right? Any suggestions greatly appreciated. :classic:

lilcanadiangal · Jun 8, 2005

Thanks

JDJones said:
I use it every week!
I also get my electric, water and phone bills on line.

For the bills I don't get on line, but pay on line, I use OUTLOOK calendar to set up recurring events. Very simple to use.
JD

Thanks a lot for that information! That makes me feel better. Banco Popular it is.

jackquontee · Jun 8, 2005

Learning some more

After further research, I'm finding that this isn't that simple.

It is no problem setting up recurring payments that have fixed amounts. However, I attempted to set up utility payments and either I cannot set them up using credit cards because many of the companies don't accept AMEX. Or, I can set them up for auto pay but must make sure I establish an amount for withdrawal that will exceed the monthly charge. Or, I can simply set up direct pay which will allow me to access the website and manually make the payment using a bank account.

I'm going to get this done, but it's not going to be pretty.

mountainannie · Jun 27, 2006

autopay

Take a deep breath - this is really much easier than you think. And you will delight in the freedom of not having mail. Your first resource is you home bank - if you get an account with a debit card, that is usually a mastercard or a visa as well and they just debit your account. You will find that working with the online statements is pretty simple if you set up the same user name and password for all of them. I do have paper copies sent to my sister's house and collect them once a year when I visit. But OHH the freedom of not having all the junk mail.... The only tricky part is making sure that your payment gets in before the closing date of the account. So pay early....

rellosk · Jun 27, 2006

jackquontee said:
I'm going to get this done, but it's not going to be pretty.

Going the route of setting up payments through each payees system is the difficult approach. The simpler approach is to go through your bank.

Depending on how your bank is set up, they will pay your bills electronically, or actually send a physical check to the payee. The payments could be set up as an auto-pay for the reoccurring monthly bills, or can be self-directed for those bills that vary monthly.

The only problem is finding out the amount that is due for the payees that don't have on-line access. For that, you would need someone to go through your mail and let you know the amount that needs to be paid.

jackquontee · Jun 27, 2006

Hehehehe

After posting this a year ago, I have worked out almost all of my payments. The odd thing is that none of the suggestions that were offered were used.

Several months ago I went to the electric and phone companies and explained my situation to them. I told them that I have the home there but that I lived in the US and would only be in the DR every 2-3 months (although I've been back on almost a monthly basis). I was told by the electric company that they don't have a system for credit card or online payment, and was told by the phone company that I couldn't even transfer the phone bill into my name until I had paid 3 months on the existing account (which is still in the previous homeowner's name, and I guess to establish some type of credit with them. The downside is that I've been paying on services that I can't use, e.g., cell phone and internet).They told me not to worry about it, and just pay whenever I came down. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Although on one hand I think to myself that it's no wonder the country is screwed up, on the other hand there is some benefit to it being so.

I talked to my watchman and told him that I was interested in setting him up for WU payment, but then found out that he wasn't eligible as he doesn't have a cedula. He told me not to worry about it as he has enough to feed himself during my absence, and that I could pay him whenever I returned.

So, things have actually worked out pretty damned well.

Chris · Jun 27, 2006

mountainannie said:
Take a deep breath - this is really much easier than you think.

Hi mountainannie - have not heard from you in ages. Welcome back to the board. Just check the dates of the threads that you are responding to ... they are old threads.

Quick question about bills

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