Paying Bills or Credit Cards???

$$$$$ on the Road

Checking your bank balance???

No matter how well you try to prepay your bills, there is always something that comes up while you are away. Obviously there are only so many dollars in the bank and we all rely on that weekly, fortnightly or monthly cheque from investments, superannuation or pension. Hence it is not always possible to have sufficient liquidity to prepay the big bills such as rates, especially if your income comes from several rental properties etc, before you leave home!
In the Christmas school holidays in 1999, Bob and I went to England and Ireland for six weeks. A simple equation follows - No quilting plus, no websites, no teaching in those six weeks equals no income other than our rental properties minus the obligatory mortgages etc. So to check if the rentals were deposited on time, internet banking seemed the best possibility. Very quietly, I organised it with our two banking institutions and had a trial run at home for about five weeks before we were due to leave. Not only could I check transactions, but I discovered BPAY, transferring money between accounts and even paying credit cards on line - now that definitely seemed the way to go for our overseas trip.

Much to Bob's amazement, when we got to London, I got on friends Gill and Graham's internet at Milton Keynes and checked the deposits, transferred money from the cheque account to cover what we had put on the credit card in Singapore and also paid a Telstra bill which ended up in my bag as it hadn't been due or paid before we left home. All you need is access to the internet, either through your own modem, friends or an internet cafe. Having a Telecard allows you to charge any phone call direct to your account - a nicer way to work when using a friends computer as timed local calls are the order of the day overseas. All you do is log on to your bank or financial institution by typing in their URL (internet address), put in your ID and password and away you go - it's all there and best of all it is totally up-to-date information. No more guessing what's the balance in this account - it's correct as of the close of business the previous day in Australia and you can really keep track of where you are at. If you get cut off, or there is some other interruption then the transaction generally does not go through. There are several time periods for payment - immediate - every week, fortnight, month or at a predetermined date in the future. In this way you can set up a transfer from, say, your cheque account to your credit card at the end of the month to ensure the minimum payment is covered. One of the biggest hazards overseas is to run out of funds on your credit card, but still have money in a savings or cheque account. This way you can make sure you're covered on all bases. All you have to do is check after the transfer date that it went through OK. This method of banking gives you more control of your accounts/credit cards than you have had in your life - you can check transactions, balances, deposits or withdrawals on line. The only thing you can't do is deposit cash!

You don't have to be a guru to do on line banking - the help lines are available by either phone or secure messages on the net. Since using it overseas we have used this system for 90% of our banking activities and best of all, the fees charged (so far) are considerably cheaper than the costs of writing cheques etc. Have a talk to your local bank person - you will find it is well worth the initial effort - even just for the convenience of knowing the balance of your account/s. Maybe one day they will be able to look through a little camera or there might be a special magnetic strip the computer can read for the real cash $$ notes you want to deposit and then you won't even have to go to the bank for deposits! The way things have changed in the last ten years - anything is possible in the future!

Chrissy