Paying bills while on the road

For those of you making extended trips, I wondered how you handle paying your bills. Do you feel secure enough using a RV Parks public service or McDonald's, etc. to transmit your bills on line?

I only have a pre-paid cell phone, because I hardly ever use it unless I have to travel. I need my land line at home for business reasons, faxes and I don't want to have to remember to charge a phone up all the time.

I know I could set up automatic withdrawals for some bills, but not all, but I hate the idea of that anyway, especially with AT&T who love to mess with the bill every month it seems.

Having to spend an additional $50-$60 a month now just so I can pay my bills is not setting well with me. Do any of you do it from public wifi?

There's an app for that.....

[Bill]

We have had good luck simply pre-estimating the bill, and paying it in advance. This is most important for the big bills, of course, to keep the late fees down, so we intentionally overpay them by a bit. But it works with all bills. We have yet to find a biller that is unwilling to accept money in advance. Then, when we get back home, we let everything get back into sync.

This works for trips of a couple months. Of course, if you are going to be out for six months, this is less practical.

Bill

[cochise]

All my credit cards are on auto pay. I get an email telling me that the invoice is available, and I can check it. Auto pay can also be set up for most other monthly payments, phone, utilities etc.

Besides that I keep all my passwords on a USB stick, and it is only used when I connect. So yes..I think it is reasonably safe, and like I said most can be on auto pay.

I use a laptop with a IPASS USB air card to access my accounts, pay bills, etc... This one comes with my work computer as I travel a bit and must be able to access corporate data while on customers sites. I am sure there are similar air cards that one could purchase.

[Wavery]

Personally, I would write a check (you remember those things, don't you?) and mail it before I would access my bank account on an unsecured network (anywhere public).

I was out of the country for 14 years (pre-WWW.anything.com). I wrote checks, mailed them and never had an issue. Just allow enough lead time.

My brother got my mail for me and I called him once every week or two for updates on my mail. If I was going to be incommunicado for a month or more (out at sea), I just gave him permission to pay my bills for me. I had him set-up on my checking account.

Every bill we get is now sent to us via email. Or at least a notification is sent and then we go to the web site to view it.

Some trusted companies (like the power company) we allow to automatically withdraw from our bank account, but not many. All the others I pay electronically through my bank's web site (TD Canada Trust). It is very secure. I haven't written a cheque in years.

Of course you need web access for that. When traveling in the US, we use Verizon's Mifi router and our personal computer. When traveling in Canada, we use Rogers Rocket stick and our PC.

Would I use a public WiFi access site for accessing my email and bank's web page? I have, but I don't make a practice of it. I'm not sure what the dangers are.

Would I use a public computer for this? *NEVER*. Even if the it is a secure bank website, the computer could log your keystrokes and steal your passwords.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by brulaz

Would I use a public WiFi access site for accessing my email and bank's web page? I have, but I don't make a practice of it. I'm not sure what the dangers are.

Would I use a public computer for this? *NEVER*. Even if the it is a secure bank website, the computer could log your keystrokes and steal your passwords.

Joseph and Wayne -

I think this is the real issue. You can't even review your bill, let alone pay it, without logging on somehow. And if there is a password stealer in the neighborhood - either on your machine, or listening in on your computer's wireless conversation - well, you are up the creek. I don't know any way to handle this bill-paying operation in a secure way. Anyone? If you have to log on in some way to initiate a secure connection, then I think you are are insecure.

Bill

I know some have mentioned not wanting to spend money to pay bills, but I for one will pay for internet security. We had an ATT air card, and would not recommend it due to the overage cost.

But after doing a lot of research on secure internet, we bought a Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go device. We first bought the USB unit, but that only allows one laptop to be connected. We now have the MiFi unit which acts as a hotspot for up to 5 devices (laptop, my wife's Ipod, phone etc.)

Regardless, the cost is the same. $40 gives you unlimited use for one month. Or you can set it up as your primary internet source and pay $40 ongoing. It uses the Sprint 3G network and we have been very pleased with its connectivity. I even used it to update a friend's Wii unit at home before he got a wireless router set up.

I prefer this method to risking an open internet connection on a public Wifi. I have been hacked before, and eventually most everyone will.

Originally Posted by Bill

I think this is the real issue. You can't even review your bill, let alone pay it, without logging on somehow. And if there is a password stealer in the neighborhood - either on your machine, or listening in on your computer's wireless conversation - well, you are up the creek

Secure web sites do use https when asking for your password. So there is some encryption going on that provides password protection over public Wifi. I'm just not sure how good it is. Or how much of a problem any exploits are in the real world.

A public computer though could have a keystroke logger tracking every keystroke of your password before it gets encrypted. Not good.