How to Pay Bills While Traveling

How To Pay Bills While Traveling

You got a great travel deal and are packing for your travel fun. But, you are wondering how to take care of the day to day things, like paying bills? Learn how to pay bills while traveling so you won’t miss a payment. Missing payments can be a problem in many ways. One doesn’t want late fees, or to come home to their utilities shut off due to a missed payment. There are a few simple things that will help you pay bills while traveling.

There are E-asy Ways to Manage Bill Paying

“Bills and Pills; Bills and Pills” to quote Disney’s Pollyanna. No one likes them! But they are just some of life’s necessary evils. While I can’t give you a pain-free experience when paying your bills, I can help you make the actual mechanisms of paying bills a breeze and sometimes, that’s half the battle.

In this wonderful word of technology, we have great tools available to us but in most cases, they are categorically under used! Below, we’ll discuss some tools in the toolbox of bill paying that you can use to make the process easier.  We’ll also touch on the good and bad so you can decide which are right for you. Having a system, no matter what you choose, is the most important thing you can do to make your life easier.

Auto Pay

Using an auto pay is great because you set it once and forget it! Most places you need to pay will have an auto-pay option on their website. You simply enter the amount you want to pay, your routing and bank information, and date of debit, and you’re set up.  Your bills will be automatically paid each month.

If you run into some cash flow issues, you have to be sure to go in and change or cancel the debit date within the allotted period they allow you to change it, OR you will overdraft your bank account. If you have irregular pay dates, this may not be a good option for you.

Most vendors (places you owe money) have a grace period for due dates. Sometimes it’s as much as 10 days, but always check with your vendor. If you want to make sure to not end up overdrawing your bank account, set it to a date where you know you always have the  money available.

Online Bill Pay

Even if you are on the road, using an online bill pay system is easy. Many vendors have apps to pay your monthly bills right from any mobile device. They also usually offer text alerts that will remind you so many days prior to the payment being due.

Once an app is downloaded and set up, you could also do what I mentioned above and set up auto pay. If auto pay isn’t for you, then simply logging into your app and making payment on time is super easy. Online bill pay is great for those who aren’t paid on specific dates each month, or have irregular pay dates.

One of the most important payments a month can be ones mortgage. If you’ve gotten a hard money loan you will want to make sure you set up either an auto pay or online bill pay to pay on time. For us, we choose online bill pay for our mortgage.

Banking Apps

Basically, banking apps are the same as using online bill pay. But, the banking app is where you set up all your bills in your baking account and the bank then pays them on the due date. You can do all the things on your app that you can do on their website in most cases, but they are more user-friendly. The mobile banking app is convenient because you can utilize it while on-the-go so if you’re a multi-tasker, this is a great tool!

The only downfall of using a banking app, or any app for that matter is if you lose your phone. If you lose your phone or it’s stolen, you run the security risk of someone having access to your banking info. These days though, our phones are an extension of our wallets and we all know to treat it as such! Most phones also won’t open without a finger print or face recognition so that gives someone less of a chance of things being compromised.

Final Thoughts

Don’t cancel travel plans just because you have bills. These few ways will help you enjoy your travels stress free. You can even set things up prior to your travels. A tiny bit of planning each month, traveling or not, and your bills are taken care of. Simplify Life! There are many ways to get your finances simplified and many finance apps that can help.