How do you pay your bills while on the road for an extended trip of a month or longer? We pay our bills online from home but are leery of say logging in at a Starbucks on the road to pay bills. What's a secure way to do it?

We have used online banking for many years. We do not save log-in ID or passwords on computer. We normally use our air card for banking and bills. We have most bills on a bill payer type system so do not normally have to do any on the road.

We have unlimited data hotspots with AT&T and Verizon that keep us online everywhere we've been so far. Some of our bills are set up for automatic payment though. Our phones also have a hotspot feature that we can use as a backup if needed.

Fortunately my new 2019 truck has its own secure wifi hot spot. The only problem is the truck has to be running to use it. So if you see me sitting at the picnic table with my Ipad and the truck is running don't laugh.

Get a hotspot on your phone or tablet /computer or a mifi if you’re worried about it.

When I went on my RV trip to Alaska, I set up most of my bills to be paid via automatic transfers from my account and paid my mortgage in advance for the months I was gone.Logging in to your bank, etc. from your computer at, say, a Starbucks is not unsafe provided you don't accept any new trusted certificates from the access point (which reputable places will not even request). The connection to the bank is encrypted on your computer and decrypted at the bank; no one in between can snoop on the contents of the data. (You'll see the little padlock icon in the web browser, and the URL will start with https rather than http.) You should, of course, take care to avoid more basic things like someone standing behind you and watching your keyboard and screen over your shoulder.You could also log in via a phone using a cellular data connection rather than relying on some Wi-fi access point, if it makes you feel more secure trusting the phone company's connection rather than the coffee purveyor's or campground owner's connection.

How do you pay your bills on the road on extended trips?

Dtank
Explorer
Sep 24, 2020
Ron3rd wrote:
How do you pay your bills while on the road for an extended trip of a month or longer? We pay our bills online from home but are leery of say logging in at a Starbucks on the road to pay bills. What's a secure way to do it?

*ALL* my routine bills (inc'l charge card) are paid by auto deduct ("ACH") from my credit union acct. Ditto auto deposit/s. Easy to check and maintain balances etc., via toll free number.

Never found the need for online banking.

.
Edd505
Explorer
Sep 19, 2020
Ron3rd wrote:
How do you pay your bills while on the road for an extended trip of a month or longer? We pay our bills online from home but are leery of say logging in at a Starbucks on the road to pay bills. What's a secure way to do it?

Setup auto pay on all you can, everything I have to pay is setup that way as we are out about 3/4 time. I get emails, payment x will draft on what ever date so I'm aware of what goes out. I can log in to my banks at any time to check balance or up daily limits for a large purchase. Simple & works well for us.

You pay on line so hot spot your phone, it's about as secure as you going to get on the road.
wilber1
Explorer
Sep 19, 2020
I use a VPN. The VPN app encrypts your information before it leaves your computer so it doesn't matter who's wifi you are using.
bucky
Explorer II
Sep 19, 2020
Auto pay and auto deposit. All credit cards send a text and/or email on every use including amount and where.
Accounting is on Quick Books as needed.
ferndaleflyer
Explorer III
Sep 18, 2020
Lots of people send cash. I have sold people stuff in Europe and they sent CASH. We have a underground economy in our country that is fueled by cash.
2oldman
Explorer II
Sep 18, 2020
ferndaleflyer wrote:
Renters, send checks and money orders or cash,.
Cash? Who sends cash?
ktmrfs
Explorer II
Sep 18, 2020
ferndaleflyer wrote:
I have the latest I phone and it has all the options to do this stuff. The problem is I need to teach myself how to use it. Renters, send checks and money orders or cash, oil & gas royalties come in checks, SS is direct deposit. Then as it stands now I have to have the bills (mail) in order to pay them. Somehow years ago I worked all over the world and got them paid. Now I am limiting my trips to 15 days or less just for this problem.

you should be able to have the oil/gas royalties direct deposit. That's what are done with ours.
ferndaleflyer
Explorer III
Sep 18, 2020
I have the latest I phone and it has all the options to do this stuff. The problem is I need to teach myself how to use it. Renters, send checks and money orders or cash, oil & gas royalties come in checks, SS is direct deposit. Then as it stands now I have to have the bills (mail) in order to pay them. Somehow years ago I worked all over the world and got them paid. Now I am limiting my trips to 15 days or less just for this problem.
ktmrfs
Explorer II
Sep 18, 2020
ferndaleflyer wrote:
I see everything covered here EXCEPT how the money got into your account to cover the payments----for those of us without unlimited money in the bank and no direct deposit.

SS and pension are direct deposits to our checking account. If I need to move money from my investment account I do that online using MY hotspot and MY computer with two factor authentication. Normally before we leave I make sure there will be enough in checking to cover all expense and online payments.
Dutch_12078
Explorer II
Sep 18, 2020
We have direct deposit for our SSI and some annuity payments, but we also receive several royalty and other annuity payments by check. Our credit union and our bank both have a photo deposit feature that lets us make deposits online anywhere we have Internet service.