Paying household bills while on the Camino

[Melensdad]

We've taken several 30 day trips away from home, each time I just prepay the recurring monthly bills.

But looking at a 45-ish day trip to walk the CF, not sure that pre-paying bills before departure is the smart way to do things.

How do you pay your household bills while you are on the Camino? Do you leave someone behind and have them take care of the bills? Do you pay everything on-line and simply log in and pay on-line while traveling? Other?

 

[Kitsambler]

I do a combination of leave-someone-behind and pay-online.

 

[pudgypilgrim]

I have all my regular household bills set for autopay, even when I'm at home.

 

[MTtoCamino]

The logistics of actually finding time off & paying for it was probably the most difficult thing of all.
I was blessed to have it in my savings & I had over 300 hours of vacation time built up. The biggest concern was my employer letting me take that amount of time. The pieces just fell in place. "The Camino provides"

My wife could not get the time off, so she maintained the finances. I will not walk this again until she returns with me, in the year 2023. When we go we will have our adult children send the payments as there is full bank access online as you walk.

 

[whariwharangi]

We've taken several 30 day trips away from home, each time I just prepay the recurring monthly bills.

But looking at a 45-ish day trip to walk the CF, not sure that pre-paying bills before departure is the smart way to do things.

How do you pay your household bills while you are on the Camino? Do you leave someone behind and have them take care of the bills? Do you pay everything on-line and simply log in and pay on-line while traveling? Other?

I've prepaid for several months on some of the longer trips. No problem. Its also easy to log in and pay while traveling ... though there is small risk of a security breach. Just be careful to log out properly.

 

[jirit]

Twenty years ago when my wife and I travelled around the world for a year, we had to "mail" posted dated "cheques" to various companies in advance of our departure. We had to think about every bill that would be due during the next 12 months. We carried a few extra spare blank cheques just in case we missed an invoice.

While we were away traveling, in order to ensure we had enough money in the travel bank account, I had to mentally calculate the withdrawal in Canadian dollars for each withdrawal of foreign currency, using the exchange rate found in the "printed" newspaper, but then days earlier, "hand write" a "letter" and "mail" it to our local bank branch requesting that they "manually" transfer money from our savings account to our travel account, to cover the transfer. I carried a little black "ledger"of withdrawals and transfers.

Today, 20 years later, while we are away traveling, using my iPad, I just go online and pay whoever, whatever, whenever.

 

[pudgypilgrim]

using my iPad, I just go online and pay whoever, whatever, whenever

If you have a data plan for your ipad or something like a mifi, that's all fine and good, but using public wifi for this is extremely insecure, just FWIW. I would never use hotel wifi to pay bills, for instance, since it's pretty easy for anyone who knows how to intercept your communications.

 

[Sarita Louise]

I set up my bills on auto pay for the estimated 2-3 billing cycles I planned to be away.

 

[Jacobus]

I set up my bills on auto pay for the estimated 2-3 billing cycles I planned to be away.

I receive and pay my bills on line. When I have wifi at a cafe or albergue hotel or pension I take a few moments to check bills and pay if necessary.
My wife does not go on pilgrimage with me and picks up the mail and looks after any hard copy bills that come to the house like property taxes etc.
I ensure to log on and off properly and only keep my accounts open as long as necessary to complete the task.
On a related note always always always inform your bank, your credit card companies and any other important financial people of your where about a and the duration of your trip. And don't use a bank machine if the bank is closed. If it eats your card you can deal with it only when the bank is open!

 

[NicoZ]

If you have a data plan for your ipad or something like a mifi, that's all fine and good, but using public wifi for this is extremely insecure, just FWIW. I would never use hotel wifi to pay bills, for instance, since it's pretty easy for anyone who knows how to intercept your communications.

Depends on your bank. Knowing my account number and password isn't enough to log into my account. The bank issues a device that generates a random second level password. With out the device you won't get far.

 

[cher99840]

I have all my regular household bills set for autopay, even when I'm at home.

So do I. Everything goes on my credit card so that I get air miles. That just leaves the credit card to be paid off every month and a family member performs that duty for me when I am traveling beyond the 30 day period in which I have to pay. In a pinch I could do it myself using wireless, but having heard several sides to the security issue, I opt for "an abundance of caution".

 

[Singingheart]

I've anticipated this problem and have set up all of my accounts (including all of my utilities), everything, online, so they are paid automatically, each month, the balance on the account. I keep enough in my credit account to cover everything. That way, I'm not going to worry when I'm gone for two months in the fall.

 

[MTtoCamino]

Yes folks do attempt gaining access to your bank accounts as mine was attempted, when I was walking. The security in depth my bank had stopped it. As discussed above the wifi we use is not secure. I think if you can set up auto payments that should work, but it definitely helps to have someone back home.

 

[smj6]

I work overseas, so I have a combination of autopay, and on-line banking transfers, and occasionally an adult at home if required. Obviously this means that if you want a techonology-free Camino, then you will want to find another way of handling the second method (on-line banking).

As @jirit says, life was MUCH different a few decades ago when the internet didn't exist. I was juggling bank transfers and sending cheques by mail (again from a remote overseas location) and missed one 'ball' by about 2-3 days (i.e. transfer into my French account arrived AFTER a cheque was presented for payment). The cheque bounced, and I received a officious letter informing me that it was illegal to present a cheque with insufficient funds to cover it, and that I would be jailed for six months the next time I set foot in France (which was where my home was based!!!). Several frantic phone calls and letters later, I managed to sort things out, but it wasn't pleasant!!!

Thanks goodness for today's techonology!!

Buen Camino
Suzanne

 

[Singingheart]

I work overseas, so I have a combination of autopay, and on-line banking transfers, and occasionally an adult at home if required. Obviously this means that if you want a techonology-free Camino, then you will want to find another way of handling the second method (on-line banking).

As @jirit says, life was MUCH different a few decades ago when the internet didn't exist. I was juggling bank transfers and sending cheques by mail (again from a remote overseas location) and missed one 'ball' by about 2-3 days (i.e. transfer into my French account arrived AFTER a cheque was presented for payment). The cheque bounced, and I received a officious letter informing me that it was illegal to present a cheque with insufficient funds to cover it, and that I would be jailed for six months the next time I set foot in France (which was where my home was based!!!). Several frantic phone calls and letters later, I managed to sort things out, but it wasn't pleasant!!!

Thanks goodness for today's techonology!!

Buen Camino
Suzanne

Amen to technology.

 

[jirit]

If you have a data plan for your ipad or something like a mifi, that's all fine and good, but using public wifi for this is extremely insecure, just FWIW. I would never use hotel wifi to pay bills, for instance, since it's pretty easy for anyone who knows how to intercept your communications.

Wifi is not secure but the transmission from my iPad via the bank app to my bank is secure. And my bank guarantees my security.

A high profile hacker would be more interested in hacking my bank and less interested in hacking my transaction.

 

[basquelady]

We've taken several 30 day trips away from home, each time I just prepay the recurring monthly bills.

But looking at a 45-ish day trip to walk the CF, not sure that pre-paying bills before departure is the smart way to do things.

How do you pay your household bills while you are on the Camino? Do you leave someone behind and have them take care of the bills? Do you pay everything on-line and simply log in and pay on-line while traveling? Other?

ALL our regular bills are paid by "Direct Debit" (UK), whether we're at home or away. I presume the same sort of system exists elsewhere? I wouldn't want to log on to bank account when on Camino re security issues.

 

[Dreamwalker33]

We've taken several 30 day trips away from home, each time I just prepay the recurring monthly bills.

But looking at a 45-ish day trip to walk the CF, not sure that pre-paying bills before departure is the smart way to do things.

How do you pay your household bills while you are on the Camino? Do you leave someone behind and have them take care of the bills? Do you pay everything on-line and simply log in and pay on-line while traveling? Other?

I had auto-pay on all but a few. On those bills, I prepared 2-3 months out. One bill I wrote the check out and had my daughter mail it in the 2nd month we were gone at the appropriate date. If you have a house sitter come in, have them mail your prewritten- ready to mail bills on a certain date.

 

[Gil A]

This is what sons are for

 

[movinmaggie]

If you do end up having to pay on line along the way on a public computer, I would be sure you can delete the transaction in 'History" when your are done.

 

[jirit]

If you do end up having to pay on line along the way on a public computer, I would be sure you can delete the transaction in 'History" when your are done.

I routinely clean the cache and history files of my iPad and main computer each day, much like cleaning up the dishes after a meal.

 

[Eileen W]

All my bills are paid online, most of them by Direct Debit. The couple that have to be keyed in manually are small amounts payable fortnightly, so when I walk my Camino I'll pay them them ahead of time before going.

Something I just thought about. I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to inform my bank where I'll be so that they know there will be no ATM or card transactions in England during the period until I inform them I'm back. Has anyone else done this for extra security reasons?

 

[petitewalker]

I prepaid my bills several months ahead while I was gone fore 7 weeks.

 

[Kerry C]

I have all my bills set up on the bank bill pay service. Before I left, I programmed in the dates I wanted payments made and the amount. I only check my bank account when I'm on a password protected wifi. I did inform my banks of my travels or they would have cancelled my cards! I can't believe how much easier it is than when I traveled pre Internet.

 

[movinmaggie]

All my bills are paid online, most of them by Direct Debit. The couple that have to be keyed in manually are small amounts payable fortnightly, so when I walk my Camino I'll pay them them ahead of time before going.

Something I just thought about. I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to inform my bank where I'll be so that they know there will be no ATM or card transactions in England during the period until I inform them I'm back. Has anyone else done this for extra security reasons?

Hi Eileen, you should always inform your bank when you travel. I'm an oldie so I learned this years ago. Buen Camino