Paying bills while away

We put most of our bills on autopay. I changed my Target credit card to a debit card.

I can pay all my credit cards on-line. Other bills are on autopay, and some I can pay directly from my bank's website.

If you don't use autopay or can't pay online using the creditors website or app while on the road (most hotels have wifi that you can access on your phone if you don't have data service overseas) mail the check before you go, post dated. My phone and electric bills are on autopay and I just get an email message and text alert when it's paid.

I have almost all our bills on autopay. I do have to think about our estimated tax payments, which I must mail in early (or pay online.) I also pay bills for a relative, and while I have most of her bills on autopay, at least two of her utilities can not be set up for that, so I will be checking her bank account to make sure it can handle this, then pay early for May and June. It's a bit of a "yikes," but I'll make sure the bills are covered.

I also have to calculate an educated guess on what our credit card bills will be while we're gone. I have our accounts set up to pay off the balance every month, but since we'll be traveling, I'll have to keep an eye on how much we are likely to put on our cards, and have enough in our checking account to cover likely expenses.

It's not difficult, but it does require some forethought.

Post dated checks can be cashed before the date on the check.

Like most here, we have every bill possible set up for auto pay. Or we may prepay them early. Outstanding balances on credit cards are paid before we leave. If we will be gone longer than the next billing cycle, we will often estimate our charges and put that much as a surplus on the account. While I dont like to do online banking from an unsecure site like a hotel's wifi, we have used data to pay off credit cards when we're away for extended periods.

I also put all of my bills on autopay. And that includes my estimated tax payments.

If I do have to pay someone unexpectedly, I now use Zelle.

I haven't written a check in years.

I do have to make sure my checking account has enough money in it to cover the automatic payments.

If you're concerned about using a hotel's wifi to pay bills, use a VPN. It encrypts everything outgoing.

And that includes my estimated tax payments.

Clearly no state income tax is involved.

If you don't use autopay, you can still log into your CC accounts and schedule the date you want to make a payment. (You do have to have your bank info there)

I’m able to schedule a full year of state estimated tax payments in advance online for automatic payment on the due dates. Perhaps it depends on the state.

toby, in Oklahoma, we do have estimated state income tax payments, as well as federal.

And Frank II, I will look into having the estimated payments on autopay; I didn’t know that was an option. Thank you!

Mine are all on autopay- it's all digital now. Credit card bill just pops up on my bank app, and I can just click a button to pay.

hey hey epltd
i have all my bills on autopay with no issues, best thing i have done. i get a message on my cell phone that bill paid.
hopefully you can schedule all this with your debit card to bill pay. no one will have access to my account. hope all works out for you and all be paid for and taken taken of. ask you bank
aloha

You develop a system that works for you. I am not a big fan of auto pay since it can be very difficult to change or cancel. For us the only thing on auto pay is the mortgage and HOA dues (all three HOAs). We have reduced our credit/debit cards to four issuers all due on the 17th of the month and close on the 20th. Via the internet each month those credit cards will be scheduled for payment the Friday prior to the 17th. Big hits like quarterly taxes and property taxes are prepared in advance, placed in envelopes with mailing instructions for local son to mail at appropriate time. I know, I know, that is a weak link but so far failure rate is zero. All most all of our venders use a two-step authorization so it is fairly safe to access these accounts on the road just to make sure everything is functioning properly with min effort on our part. So far it has worked well for us.

PS. -- Forgot to add, our two sons have fully access to all of our financial accounts and codes. We had a really bad access experience about 20 years ago when older son arrived in Madrid for a study abroad program and his university credit union froze his accounts. Initially the cu would not talk to us because we (parents) were not on the account. We were desperate because he needed access to pay bills. Finally after much pleading the CU's president caved in with the statement, "I could go to jail for doing this." Since then we have made sure that everyone's account have a secondary access.

I'm another one who has my bills on autopay. I finally realized I was spending so much time keeping track of them each month and scheduling a payment, that it was too much work. I still go through them quickly to make sure there are no irregular charges, but autopay is the best thing I ever did.

And I have not had any problem canceling the auto pay if I needed, it's just a couple of clicks and it's done.

It is a mix, some autopay, the few others I pay while traveling. There are apps for many creditors (probably your mortgage, most credit cards) that you can pay off your phone, and I always travel with a small light laptop that I use for lots of things, set up with a VPN, I can keep up with finances.

Another thing you can do very easily is that most all online bill payment systems for just about every bill, allows you to schedule payments. For example, if your credit card statement date is May 7th, you can schedule a payment (one time) for May 12 for the statement balance (whatever that balance may be) or for some amount you are comfortable with. This might be better than "paying ahead" as it keeps payment within the billing cycle. Now if you are still in the mode of getting a hard copy bill and writing a check to put in an envelope and mail...then I do not have much advice.

The IRS Direct Pay program allows you to set up automatic payments. I've used it for years. They even send an email notice a few days before the payment to let you know.

https://www.irs.gov/payments/direct-pay-help

Some types of insurance policies can't be auto-paid or scheduled easily for remote payment (at least mine can't and I've tried; No CC accepted), but those are two annual bills that I can manage when I am in the US easily enough. Even our city will take CC payments because its cheaper for them to get the money promptly, although the CC fees must cost them lots.

My hubby is a technophobic geezer who won’t pay bills online or even look at the bank and brokerage accounts online. Plus he's anti-auto-pay since we had a problem years ago. So we write checks.
Since he’s not traveling with me, I leave him a list of which bills are due when, and when the few auto deposits (Social Security) and payments (Medicare Supplements) will post. He can handle that. Most bills send a text notice when the bill is due and done when the check posts.
The few credit card bills I pay online, I can pay via phone apps. I look at the accounts to see what has posted.
Old fashioned I know but we all do what we need to.

Adding: The few times we take extended road trips, I make double payments the previous month except the Visa bills.

I have everything possible on autopay. Years ago, while traveling, I had locked my credit and debit cards as a safety precaution. I had an issue with one of my autopays not getting paid. I called the company after returning home and they did not charge any late fee. With the increase of autopay usage and travelers blocking their cards to prevent unlawful use, this is no longer an issue for me. Autopayments go through even when my cards are locked. Like others have said, I receive notifications for each completed autopay transaction... most often from both the bank and the recipient of the payment.

Like the IRS, Illinois allows you to select the date to make estimated tax payments.

We pay most of our bills through online banking. I have default amounts set up for variable bills like credit cards, to insure that at least the minimum amount is paid in the event I forget. But generally I go into online banking several times a month to enter the correct amounts.

Last year we, and many others in our area, had checks stolen from the mail and altered. We were luckier than some; our bank questioned the check and we verified that it was fraudulent, so the crook didn't get any money. But we did have to close that account which was a hassle. Since then, I don't think I've put a single check in the mail. (Mailing them at a post office can decrease the risk, but in our area it may have been an inside job, so it's not a guarantee.) If I can't pay something through online banking, I can usually pay at the payee's website (either by credit card or bank debit). I already have all my estimated tax payments set up for the year, for both the feds and Maryland.

It is a bit of a pain since for some payees you have to create an account on their site, keep up with passwords etc, and of course things can be hacked online too. But whether we like it or not, it's the way of the future, so might as well adapt now.

Autopay except for water bill. I receive it online and can pay online as well.

I also keep a list of charges that may be quarterly or annual to make sure there are no surprises.

I pre-schedule all anticipated payments online before we leave on holiday. Most if not all our credit cards however prohibit paying more than the current balance, so might incur a few days' interest but avoid late-payment penalties. I refuse to put banking apps on my phone lest it get stolen by someone capable of hacking into it (such as a primary-school child LOL!) so in case of emergency need I suppose I would use their web access via my browser through a VPN set to a server in our home-country. Failing that I'd have our adult offspring back home make the payment.

I’ve had nearly all my bills setup for autopay via direct debit from my checking account since the early 90s. A couple of subscriptions are on autopay via credit card.

There are only a handful of bills that I have to pay by check (homeowner’s association and county property taxes) and those are due on the same dates every year. I know the amounts and due dates so I can pay those early if needed and have done that on a couple of trips.

Even if you want to keep paying the old-fashioned way, you could put together a list/spreadsheet of your bills and the dates they are due. For something like a phone bill, I suspect your bill is basically the same every month. If so, you could just send in a check covering two months before you leave.

I also autopay all of the regularly scheduled payments like utilities, taxes and health insurance. I have a dedicated bank account and dedicated credit card just for autopays. I once was hacked and it took two days to get the autopays straightened out. Because of the hack I do not pay my other credit cards online unless I'm on a known secure server. I won't use a hotel wifi, for example. Instead, since my credit cards are all issued by the bank I use, I call the bank and verbally, over the phone, authorize a payment from the bank account to the credit card. If that means having to pay international roaming, so be it. I'd rather spend the $10 or whatever than have to deal with another data breach.

My local power company once mailed a check back to me that I had post-dated.

I had used the due date on my check.

The bill was due Monday.
I dropped it in their night deposit Friday evening.

Apparently they are open on Saturday and some helpful person noticed that my check was dated for Monday, so they mailed it back to me and cited the date on my check.

I received it on Tuesday. The postmark was Monday.

So I made copies of their note and the postmarked envelope with a big arrow pointing to the date and dropped it back in their night deposit that same day.

The bank could not have processed the check until Monday anyway.

Ever since I've been paying that bill on-line or dropping it in their box on the due date. They don't seem to have an auto-pay option.
I guess if I know I'll be out of town and haven't received the bill yet, I'll have to call them to ask what my options are.

As others have said all of my bills except for CC are on pre-authorized payment or automatic debit from my account. All of my hotels have had password accessed wifi, so if needed I check that my transactions have gone through, there are no unauthorized transactions and can pay my CC bill via my banking app when I'm travelling. This is what I will do for my autumn trip as my CC bill total will be sent out by email while I'm on my trip. This is the modern world.

My CC has a three week interval from the date of receipt to final day of payment.

"I refuse to put banking apps on my phone lest it get stolen by someone capable of hacking into it (such as a primary-school child LOL!) so in case of emergency need I suppose I would use their web access via my browser through a VPN set to a server in our home-country."

I'm not questioning your security arrangements :) but I did want to note that bank apps are highly secure. They are normally secured either via biometrics or PIN (in addition to your phone PIN) and realistically are more secure than using a browser. Not to mention many banks now use apps rather than text messaging for two factor authentication because it is.more secure. I can't access any online banking via a browser without also having an app for 2FA.

You shouldn't need to use a VPN to provide a home country IP address - how do your bank's customers normally access online banking while overseas?

I don't know...was merely conjecturing. Been traveling internationally since decades before the internet and mobile phones, haven't yet had to pay a bill remotely whilst on holiday

Like the IRS, Illinois allows you to select the date to make estimated tax payments

I can do this also, but I think of autopay as an ongoing payment setup without monthly or quarterly intervention. I think the IRS allows autopay. My quarterly estimated payments are not the same so I have to calculate it.

I can't access any online banking via a browser without also having an app for 2FA.

I agree. All of my banks use 2FA and/or biometrics, and I don't have a problem logging onto bank sites while traveling.

All my bills are paperless, received by e-mail, and auto-pay.

Well, I was able to set up my April and June Oklahoma estimated tax payments online, but the IRS website locked up on me. Three times. I'll try again, or maybe just mail in my April check, and try the online payment again in a week or so, when perhaps they won't be as busy.

Whoops, 10 minutes later and I was able to schedule the next two payments with the IRS. Yay!

Thanks for you help, folks.

Clearly no state income tax is involved.

Wrong. My parents pay both US and OK estimated taxes quarterly (I know because I make sure they have the money in the right account that will be automatically debited).

Clearly no state income tax is involved.

Wrong.

As I stated above my state doesn't allow repeated estimated tax payments. Each quarter's payment has to be initiated separately. I think you are lucky if it's possible to set up ongoing payments at the state level. Looking at Oklahoma it does not seem to allow ongoing payment set up; each quarter has to be initiated individually.

Edit: I hadn’t thought about but it would be possible to individually queue up a whole year of 4 payments in 4 operations in one sitting, “writing” 4 echecks with different payment dates, and submitting them boom-boom-boom-boom. Kind of an autopay scheme.

First, move to Texas to avoid tge state income tax. Second for Federal, im sorry, why cant you log in and make a payment? I do.

The rest are autopay. I could be dead for years and no debit collector will know.

The slaughter house knows how many goats to pick up each month, the revenue goes direct to a bank account which has a repeating transfer to my credit card that is set up to autopay all the debts including the funeral policy.

In 2026:

I used to bring a laptop in case I needed to manage some home finances or admin while out of the country. Now most of it can be done on the phone.

For those worried about the phone being stolen and hacked, there are multiple levels of security you can use.

First, security of the phone itself. If you aren’t already using a passcode or biometrics to lock your phone, you need to be. Because your phone can be stolen in your home city too. I also set a short idle period before the screen locks, like 1 minute, so that if the phone is lost or stolen, a thief only has 1 minute to start hacking before the phone locks itself. (An effective thief knows that if they manage to swipe your phone on the street while you've been using it unlocked, they need to start hacking that phone ASAP before it auto-locks on them.)

Second, security of each company's account on the phone, like banks and utilities. If you manage them through a web browser, don't stay signed into any of those websites, sign out and close their tabs, and only sign in when needed. This way, if the phone is stolen and also hacked, when they open the web browser, your accounts are not already open and vulnerable, they'll have to figure out the login info for each one (unlikely).

Third, if instead you manage them through apps, like a banking app, understand that in addition to your username and password for the bank, see if your phone lets you turn on a security step to get a particular app open, like entering the phone password or passing Face ID. Apple iOS lets you add this requirement to any app you use. So that’s two different levels of security that a hacker would have to get through to access that account.

30 years ago (for those saying "no digital!") :

Before everything went digital, we would cover bills with the help of trusted friends/family. When as a young person I was away for a long Europe trip (with Europe Through the Back Door in my backpack), one of my housemates was my best friend, so I entrusted them with a short stack of signed blank checks and a list of upcoming bills and said "Watch for these bills in the mail, and when they come in, pay them." You can do the same with a trusted family member.

First, move to Texas to avoid tge state income tax.

Rick Steves' home state of Washington also has no income tax, and is a bit greener with fewer climate extremes... :)

Our trips are usually between 5 and 7 weeks.
All autopay except 1 or 2 that don't allow. For those we prepay a bit over what we estimate so as to not be short just as we are leaving and adjust when we return.

For tax estimates we set up state and federal online.

Then we calculate what we need in our checking account and set up cash transfers from our interest bearing money market or similar account to our checking account, allowing a bit extra just in case.

For back up we use a banking app that allows us to transfer as well. We use 2 factor and or biometric so am not too worried about security. We do not use a public wifi for that but rather our data plan .