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Paying bills while cruising



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 18th, 2009, 12:15 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Judy Heuman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 44
Default Paying bills while cruising

In the past we have never taken a cruise longer than two weeks and
this was not a problem. But, we are planning a longer cruise for next
year -- a back to back -- taking 27 days plus a few days pre-cruise
and a day or two post-cruise.

I'm thinking ahead and wondering how we will pay the bills that arrive
while we're gone. Some of our bills are automatic payments and they
are no problem. But, I'm concerned about credit cards where the
amount payable is due each month and the credit card companies give
only 2 or 2 1/2 weeks in which to make the payment.

Reading this newsgroup I see quite a few of you have taken longer
holidays and I'd like to know how to solve the problem of paying the
bills while on a cruise. How do can we do this?

Is the only solution to do on-line banking knowing how inefficient the
Internet connections are while on the ship?

I'd appreciate your tips. Thanks.

Judy
================================================== =============
Judy Heuman
  #2  
Old July 18th, 2009, 01:01 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Joseph Coulter[_6_]
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Posts: 135
Default Paying bills while cruising

On Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:15:53 -0400, Judy Heuman
wrote:

In the past we have never taken a cruise longer than two weeks and
this was not a problem. But, we are planning a longer cruise for next
year -- a back to back -- taking 27 days plus a few days pre-cruise
and a day or two post-cruise.

I'm thinking ahead and wondering how we will pay the bills that arrive
while we're gone. Some of our bills are automatic payments and they
are no problem. But, I'm concerned about credit cards where the
amount payable is due each month and the credit card companies give
only 2 or 2 1/2 weeks in which to make the payment.

Reading this newsgroup I see quite a few of you have taken longer
holidays and I'd like to know how to solve the problem of paying the
bills while on a cruise. How do can we do this?

Is the only solution to do on-line banking knowing how inefficient the
Internet connections are while on the ship?

I'd appreciate your tips. Thanks.

Judy
================================================= ==============
Judy Heuman

Inefficeint maybe but they aren';t that bad. On the other hand you
could arange to prepay your credit cards. But I would just take the 5
minutes to get the job sone with the ship's internet. Paying bills is
not somehting that I would do at an internet cafe ashore as much as I
like saving mone on internet costs.
Joseph Coulter
Joseph Coulter Cruises and Vacations
www.josephcoulter.com
  #3  
Old July 18th, 2009, 01:03 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
JCarnaghie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 36
Default Paying bills while cruising

Judy Heuman wrote:
In the past we have never taken a cruise longer than two weeks and
this was not a problem. But, we are planning a longer cruise for next
year -- a back to back -- taking 27 days plus a few days pre-cruise
and a day or two post-cruise.

I'm thinking ahead and wondering how we will pay the bills that arrive
while we're gone. Some of our bills are automatic payments and they
are no problem. But, I'm concerned about credit cards where the
amount payable is due each month and the credit card companies give
only 2 or 2 1/2 weeks in which to make the payment.

Reading this newsgroup I see quite a few of you have taken longer
holidays and I'd like to know how to solve the problem of paying the
bills while on a cruise. How do can we do this?

Is the only solution to do on-line banking knowing how inefficient the
Internet connections are while on the ship?

I'd appreciate your tips. Thanks.

Judy
================================================== =============
Judy Heuman

Dear Judy,
While the internet connections on the ships
are indeed often slow and frequently
non-functional, I have managed to find "internet
cafes" in virtually every port we have stopped at;
even some of the really small ones. You can then
do your thing, but you may want to talk to your
bank regarding "one time passwords" or the like.
For credit cards, I have contacted the card
companies and told them I would be out of the
country from day such and such to the end of the
trip. I then arranged for a payment to be made
from my checking account to arrive before the due
date. I estimated how much would be on the card,
and gave them a little more - I hate those high
interest rates.
I am sure you can work something out with
your credit card company in the time remaining
before your trip. One point - Debit Cards do not
have the protection of credit cards.
Cheers,
John in LALALand (On the Left Coast)
  #4  
Old July 18th, 2009, 01:09 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
JCarnaghie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 36
Default Paying bills while cruising

Joseph Coulter wrote:

On Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:15:53 -0400, Judy Heuman
wrote:

SNIP

================================================ ===============
Judy Heuman


Inefficeint maybe but they aren';t that bad. On the other hand you
could arange to prepay your credit cards. But I would just take the 5
minutes to get the job sone with the ship's internet. Paying bills is
not somehting that I would do at an internet cafe ashore as much as I
like saving mone on internet costs.
Joseph Coulter
Joseph Coulter Cruises and Vacations
www.josephcoulter.com

Dear Joseph,
I believe the "threat" at internet cafes is
really overstated, but you should always be alert.
You are trusting the ship's and the
satellite providers processes when you use the
shipboard internet.
Cheers,
John in LALALand (Hacker's Heaven)
  #5  
Old July 18th, 2009, 01:23 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Rosalie B.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,575
Default Paying bills while cruising

Judy Heuman wrote:

In the past we have never taken a cruise longer than two weeks and
this was not a problem. But, we are planning a longer cruise for next
year -- a back to back -- taking 27 days plus a few days pre-cruise
and a day or two post-cruise.

I'm thinking ahead and wondering how we will pay the bills that arrive
while we're gone. Some of our bills are automatic payments and they
are no problem. But, I'm concerned about credit cards where the
amount payable is due each month and the credit card companies give
only 2 or 2 1/2 weeks in which to make the payment.

Reading this newsgroup I see quite a few of you have taken longer
holidays and I'd like to know how to solve the problem of paying the
bills while on a cruise. How do can we do this?

Is the only solution to do on-line banking knowing how inefficient the
Internet connections are while on the ship?

I'd appreciate your tips. Thanks.

We have gone away for four to six months on our boat. In addition to
having automatic payment for things like the phone bill, the satTV and
level payment plans (aka thrift plans) for the electricity and oil
bills, we handle the bills in several ways.

a) Have the mail forwarded to a trusted person (in our case it would
be a daughter, but there are mail forwarding services) who opens the
bills and pays them from an account we establish. Or in one case just
logs on to our bank account and pays them from there. Or emails us
with the amount and we do it on-line. This also takes care of stuff
that we didn't remember or expect like the safe deposit box payment.

b) Have one credit card automatically paid. We belong to a credit
union and we have a credit card from that credit union. Our bills are
calculated on the 5th so on about the 8th of the month the amount of
the bill is taken out of our checking account. When we do this we
stop using all our other cards at least three months prior to the trip
because sometimes the charges are not made in a timely manner. This
also assumes that you pay off your cards every month.

I absolutely do not use a public access computer for on-line banking.
I do not advise trying to find internet cafes as our on-line banking
cannot be done over a connection that is not secure and the internet
cafes I've used don't have secure browsers. I do not usually try to
do banking on the ship internet either, even using my laptop which I
find is marginally quicker than the ship computers.

There is also another possibility which I use rarely - mostly to get
cash from ATM machines, and that it is to use a debit card instead of
a credit card, both on the trip and before you go so as to clear out
the credit cards.
  #6  
Old July 18th, 2009, 02:42 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Bill[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 823
Default Paying bills while cruising

On 7/17/2009 8:23 PM, Rosalie B. wrote:
b) Have one credit card automatically paid. We belong to a credit
union and we have a credit card from that credit union. Our bills are
calculated on the 5th so on about the 8th of the month the amount of
the bill is taken out of our checking account. When we do this we
stop using all our other cards at least three months prior to the trip
because sometimes the charges are not made in a timely manner. This
also assumes that you pay off your cards every month.


Most credit cards allow you to set this up. Citibank, Chase,
American Express all let you set up Autopay on their website.
You can tell them to pay your bill in full (or something less if
you are foolish enough to do that) from a defined
checking/savings account on the due date each month. No need to
worry about mailing the bill or stuff like that. It's well worth
doing even if you're NOT going to be away for a while.

Bill
  #7  
Old July 18th, 2009, 03:03 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Joseph Coulter[_6_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 135
Default Paying bills while cruising

On Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:09:49 GMT, JCarnaghie
wrote:

Joseph Coulter wrote:

On Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:15:53 -0400, Judy Heuman
wrote:

SNIP

=============================================== ================
Judy Heuman


Inefficeint maybe but they aren';t that bad. On the other hand you
could arange to prepay your credit cards. But I would just take the 5
minutes to get the job sone with the ship's internet. Paying bills is
not somehting that I would do at an internet cafe ashore as much as I
like saving mone on internet costs.
Joseph Coulter
Joseph Coulter Cruises and Vacations
www.josephcoulter.com

Dear Joseph,
I believe the "threat" at internet cafes is
really overstated, but you should always be alert.
You are trusting the ship's and the
satellite providers processes when you use the
shipboard internet.
Cheers,
John in LALALand (Hacker's Heaven)

It is indeed a matter of trust. I prefer to think that if my
transaction is comprosmised via say Celebrity's agent that I would be
in better shape than if the trust were to be breached by Sal's pizza
and internet.
  #8  
Old July 18th, 2009, 03:16 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Kurt Ullman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,653
Default Paying bills while cruising

In article ,
Judy Heuman wrote:

I'm thinking ahead and wondering how we will pay the bills that arrive
while we're gone. Some of our bills are automatic payments and they
are no problem. But, I'm concerned about credit cards where the
amount payable is due each month and the credit card companies give
only 2 or 2 1/2 weeks in which to make the payment.

Between personal and business, I have 5 credit cards and all of them
allow for automatic payments. Both Visa and the two company-specific
cardss with no problems.

--
Searching is half the fun: life is much more manageable when thought
of as a scavenger hunt as opposed to a surprise party.
Jimmy Buffett
  #9  
Old July 18th, 2009, 03:40 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Judy Heuman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 44
Default Paying bills while cruising

On Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:42:01 GMT, Bill wrote:

Most credit cards allow you to set this up. Citibank, Chase,
American Express all let you set up Autopay on their website.
You can tell them to pay your bill in full (or something less if
you are foolish enough to do that) from a defined
checking/savings account on the due date each month. No need to
worry about mailing the bill or stuff like that. It's well worth
doing even if you're NOT going to be away for a while.


First, let me thank all of you who have replied -- you have given me
much food for thought.

But, I'm asking about this autopay thing. I seem to remember that one
time our Mastercard offered such a set up to me and I turned it down.
After all, what happens if they make an error on your bill?

Somehow, I don't like to lose control of the oversight I can achieve
if the paper bill comes to me before I pay it. OTOH, it's becoming
more inconvenient since in our retirement, we are traveling so much
more often and for longer periods of time.

Do you know if it is possible to set up an autopay just for this trip
and then cancel it when I get home? Have you had any difficulties
with this autopay?

Judy
================================================== =============
Judy Heuman
  #10  
Old July 18th, 2009, 04:04 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Ray Goldenberg Ray Goldenberg is offline
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First recorded activity by TravelBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,639
Default Paying bills while cruising

On Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:15:53 -0400, Judy Heuman
wrote:

Reading this newsgroup I see quite a few of you have taken longer
holidays and I'd like to know how to solve the pr


Hi Judy,

I use a bill paying service (paytrust.com). I have all of my bills,
paper and ebills, go directly to them. They scan the paper bills and
offer them up electronically. I can see them anywhere I have internet
access. You then see the actual bill and can pay it or schedule a
payment as you wish. They pay those invoices either electronically or
by a paper check. They have been doing this for me for many years and
I have never had any problems with them. They do charge a small
monthly fee ($9.95) but I have a record and digital copy of all of my
bills going back for many years. They even make a CD available if you
would like every year that has up to 3-years of your bills and payment
history.

Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com
--
 




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