You know, when you live in the Philippines, almost every experience in life is different from what you are used to. Even a very simple activity is not like you did it “back home.”
Paying the bills is something that nobody enjoys doing, right? At least I know that I don’t. In every place that I’ve ever lived, though, paying the bills is a simple matter of once a week or so getting out your checkbook, sitting down and gathering the bills together, filling out checks and mailing them out. It’s a simple task, about the only hard thing is seeing all that money being depleted from your checking account!
Paying the bills in the Philippines, though, is not the same! Oh yes, your money will still turn out a little less than what you had before paying the bills, but other than that you can probably forget the whole procedure, because it’s not done the same here!
It all starts with how you get your bills. There really is not regular mail service like what you are used to. Very few companies send your bill in the mail (actually, I know of none that send bills in the mail). Instead, a delivery person will come to your house with the bill. For example, when PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone) has your phone bill ready, they either send one of their own employees to your house with the bill, or they hire a delivery company to deliver the bill to you. You get these delivery people coming by your house regularly delivering all kinds of letters, bills, sale fliers and such. It’s rare to ever see a mailman.
So, as the bills are delivered to you, then you make out a check and send it to them, right? Wrong. You get the cash ready, and you go to the company to pay. For example, speaking of that telephone bill, you get the money for payment (cash, they don’t take checks), and you go to the PLDT office. You sit there until it is your turn, and then you go up and pay. You might wait 30 minutes, you might wait 2 or 3 hours, it just depends on how busy they are.
Yes, a few places will take a check for payment of your bills, but it is done in person. And, actually using a check is not common. This is a cash society after all.
For things like this, in most cases, neither Feyma or I take care of it. We have one of our nieces or a maid go and pay. Actually, it’s been so long since I’ve been involved in paying a bill, I basically know nothing about it anymore. When we were in the States, paying the bills was my job. Now, I don’t have to worry about it.
I’m glad I’m not the guy who has to go sit there waiting to give somebody my money!
Things work different here. Welcome to the Philippines!
Amen Bob Amen on that one.I'm glad my wife pays them now but soon that will change.Ohhh sorry that won't change 🙂 ..I heard a lot about paying bills when I was there ..Very glad I didn't have to go with her she asked me to I said no I'm on vacation 🙂 .. 4 hours for the electric bill , it was crowed she said . hee hee .. I was told that we needed a Philippine drivers license and a address to get a post office box cause they don't deliver ..But her uncle gets all his mail delivered to his house,the post office will deliver it when he has mail… go figure ..Phil n Jess
Hi Phil – Yeah, it's amazing how stressful it can be just to go pay the bills, and I'm not talking about the money end of it either!
Yes, it is true that they deliver mail to your house. Just last week, I had the mailman come and drop off some green coffee beans that I had ordered from the States. However, we only see the mailman a couple of times per year, because that's about all the mail we get! It's rare for people to use the post office for sending mail here!
Morning Bob,
Crazy, isn't it? Just another factor that contributes to holding these countries and their economies back. No so bad for those that can afford paid servants. If everyone's lot improved then who would do these menial chores? Just like roads and railways, a postal service and a medium of exchange other than cash is essential in a modern world. I gather you can't pay these bills by internet, either? Given how technology and associated "progress" has exploded in our time, do you think that such outdated methods can continue well into the future? We can all avoid progress for a while but then you end up getting bit on the ass if you don't eventually update. What do you think, Bob? Have you sat and thought about it from this perspective?
Bob: We go to the Bayan center at SM to pay all the bills at once. Does SM Davao have such a place? Still in person, and they charge a 7p service fee, but only one queue once a month. The only one of ours that can be a pain there is Meralco (Manila electric), which can only be done at Bayan center if the due date is within 5 days.
Hi AussieLee – Paying on the Internet? Ha ha… afraid not! As far as I know of, there is nothing that you can pay over the Internet in the Philippines. As far as I can see, I think that the Philippines, as a society, is very resistant to change. I personally doubt that the kind of progress that you describe will become visible within my lifetime here. If it happens, that would be great, but it would surprise me!
Bob can you send your niece or maid tyo pay my bills too ? 😉
Hi Bob! In Metro Manila, bills can already be paid online or automatically debited from your account or through the Bayad Centers. I wish we can do that too in Mindanao. Sure would save us a lot of time traveling and queuing. Filipinos are actually hardheaded. Example, when they can pay through banks for their Philhealth or electric bill payments whene there is no line, they still go line up in the offices.
….perhaps a private postal service is in order Bob…..I can see it now…Post Master Bob.
Hi brian – Hmm… if I take the job, then do I get to go through the packages and pick out the stuff that I want? 😀
Hi Bob – I'm with you: the maid pays the bills. Of course, in our case, it's impossible for us to pay via "long distance." Our trustworthy maid, however, has it all down to a routine. As most bills are paid in the provincial capital 15km away, she gets to take a "day in the city" taking care of everything she can then enjoying the "big city" taking care of what she needs to or thinks she needs to take care of. We pay, but she's worth it. Never had a problem (crossed fingers knocking on nearest wood!) and she always has enough time for herself. 😉
I think that Filipinos (mostly those that are not exposed to the conveniences of technology/convergence), are afraid that the payment would not actually go through. (Yup, yup). They think that the other payment options are not going to actually pay for the bill. Well, that's my theory. 🙂 Or maybe they just do not know. At the same time, I don't think that the agencies lacked in effort in terms of letting people know where else they can pay.
Hi Bob,
This is a surprise and interesting. So you are saying that the delivery person will put your mail in the mail box and you have to be there at that Co's office before the deadline and pay in cash? How many days do they usually give you before the deadline? I know you pay electric and phone bills, but what about water, sewer, and trash?
I wanted a place more behind times and laid back I guess this is the place I need to be and hope I can find a good honest maid.
Thank you I enjoyed it!
Dale
Kamusta ka Bob,
This doesn't sound too bad, and Rose has explained this to me about how they pay the bills there, just about everything is cash…CASH IS KING there of course.
So Bob, since you have this all down pat..I can just send you my bills or just have them forwarded to your address, doesn't matter if I am not on the same island as you..lol..and you take care of them…lol…theres a simple solution to everything..hehe..lol.
Salamat kaayo,
Danny
Hi Bob,
Just curious. In the Philippines is it called a cheque or have they adopted the american version of check? I understand in Spanish it is cheque. It is curious how words change especially since american english obviously originated from England where it is still called a cheque. I guess someone couldn't spell and check became accepted use like nite instead of night.
Hi Danny – Happy to lighten up your day!
Can relate to all of the above . In fact just this am found my water bill lying in the driveway mud . 🙂
My wife won't let me go pay the water or the electric because she knows i don't have the patience of Job but i do often pay our cable with little waiting .
Last time i was with my wife she dropped in to pay the Electric bill and there were row after row of people waiting . Two people servicing customers . 🙂
So she finally pitches one of her " controlled tizzy's " as i call them and low and behold 4 more customer service reps appear . People awaiting start applauding .
My only thought was why did all those people sit there so long instead of having their own " tizzy " . 🙂
I let my sister in law pay our bills when I am there plus she has been taking care of our house payment, taxes, and lot payment. She is a great resource for us. I'm sure when we move there for good she will be taking care of it for us as well. It's good to 100% trustworthy people to take care of this stuff because were talking over 2 million in transaction she has handled for us. As I believe it was Feyma's article on maids will make you think twice about that option.
I have seen the insane lines at the water and cable, And I will say I just don't have the patients to wait in a long line with no AC with people trying to cut. It's always nice when you can have someone else do it plus no language barrier.
Speaking of hot check your facebook Bob. 🙂
Hi dans – Nope… it's not my browser!
Hello Cathy, Bob, My wife told me that she one time paid at her PLDT bill at the bank then later got a notice from PLDT that she didn't pay the bill. She told them she did and she had to bring a copy of the transaction to PLDT. Of course that took time. So she figures she just should have gone to PLDT in the first place and stand in line.
One thing good I can say about the way they pay there is you don't have to worry as much about someone getting your personal imformation and stealing from you. I do pay online here but am still concerned about someone hacking into the system and stealing my imformation.
I hope that when we finally move to the Philippines I won't have such a busy life that waiting in line would be such an inconvience.
hi bob,
Bank Efficiency, if only the bank can show the people that they are efficient depositing the payment to pldt or any company, people would use them, as it stand now, people are very skeptic with the banks service.
Hi David J – If you pay your bills online, you don't really have to worry about somebody hacking in and getting your info. That is an SSL connection, and highly encrypted these days. The odds are much higher that somebody will get your personal information while paying in person (by overhearing or peaking over your shoulder) than through an SSL connection.
Hi dans – especially after seeing all the banks collapsing worldwide, I can see why people are skeptical of banks service. After all, if they can't even safeguard their own operations, how can they make sure they pay your bills for you? 😯
Hi Bob . Seems like going back in a time warp. Cannot pay via the net . cannot pay via debit order cannot pay by cheque. Only cash mmm what about salt can you pay in salt. Only joking folks. I am fully aware of how long one can stand in line to pay bills. A country can never progress while the infastructure is little removed from the dark ages.
hi frank,
no, we don't take salt for payment, but we do take live stock like chicken as a payment lol!. if you live in a province you would find doctors and other professionals taking live stocks as a form of payment.
lol!
Hi Frank – Read dans' comment below… he is absolutely right!
Hi dans – I know this to be a fact. It is absolutely true.
I think that the cash paid at various companies as well as the airport departure tax "only" paid in cash, is symptomatic of corruption. Creative books and skimming off money is so much easier with cash than with the paper trail accountability with using checks. How much cash is collected at the airports in Philippines as "departure tax" and where is the transparancy and accountabiliy for those cash tax collections from the airport departure tax?
Also, so much cheap labor! SM has how many staff at the cashier? One to pay, one to review the receipt and credit card slip, one to wrap the purchase and one to hand you the purchase? So, delivery services with real people, why not? The cost of labor is so much cheaper than upgrades to less labor intensive systems. It might be unpatriotic to have a system which reduces labor costs (jobs) and makes money skimming less likely in the Philippines.
hahaha.. would it be more a lot easier to pay your bills with chickens and eggs? at least you don't need to fall in line. LOL!
Years ago, when we were using travelers checks, we had a hard time changing them into chash at the bank, it would take some days 3-5, wich is not good. My wife got me out of the bank before I got to use words that I later would regret. Next day we came back with a brother in-law, who new the bank manager, and then no problem. There are rules and then there are rules. Good I did not bloww my top the first day.
Now I have learnt to smile and play it by the Philippine way, it makes life a lot easier.
Hi Meladee – I would agree that a cash only environment tends to encourage corruption.
Hi dans – if you pay with animals and they make you wait in line, there might be a mess on the floor to clean up!
Hey Bob i have gotten 6 new debit cards from my 2 banks in the last 3 years from hackers getting in to restricted sites …Buying online does this to people ,so nothing is secure..but it didn't cost me anything so far so good ..Visa is good to protect me ..I was reimbursed for a stolen card number ( mine ) by Visa a couple of hundred dollars.."maybe standing in line is better " …Phil n Jess
The last time I pay the PLDT bill in Ponciano they had an electric kiosk up front to just enter your account number and put in an envelope with the cash in it. Better than having to wait in line, but I still have to spend P10 to ride the jeepney from Buhangin to Ponciano. As for Davao light and DCWD I have it down to a fine art now what time I can goto their payment centers and not have to wait in line to pay. I think it's stuff like this that makes me like the Philippines more. When I was a kid I remember going out with mom to pay the bills here in the US… so old fashioned but at least you get to go out amongst your fellow people.
Hey there's an idea, egg and chicken money! Each note entitles the bearer on demand and set amount of eggs or chickens. Might be a popular replacement for the peso, who knows? 😆
Hi Bob,
Mail twice a year,wow sounds good to me.
Here i get mail virtually everyday,a good 75%+ is junk mail,what a waste of trees.
regards Chas.
Hi roy – 😉
Hi chasdv – There really is no junk mail, surprisingly, here. Sometimes delivery guys will come around with a flyer or something, but even that is rare. Now, there is something in which the Philippines leads the world!
Bob,
Elena waits until we have PLDT, Cable and Davao Light bills. I drive down there and drop her off since she knows I do not like sitting their waiting. I then head over to G-Mall for a cup of coffee and she is usually there before the coffee gets cold.
Yes, some times it takes a little longer but never more than an hour.
As you used to say "We are not in Kansas anymore"
Absolute agreement there, Bob. I can not believe how so many still have unfounded fears of online transactions. It's the safest way to transact I am sure. I have had three instances of provable credit card frauds against me over the years. (one was in the Philippines).
All of them were reimbursed by my card company … no out of pocket cost to me. All involved people apparently having access to my card and trying to 'piggy back' on legitimate charges I had made … running the card multiple times and then forging my signature to bogus charges. Unscrupulous restaurant employees, for example, are notorious for this.
Secure online for me is the only way to go. Better, faster, cheaper and much safer.
With all due respect, I believe a debate regarding computerized bill payment versus cash-in-person is worthwhile. I can see that a single identity theft over an SSL server is less probable and would occur less frequently than one via interpersonal transaction. However, every system no matter how modern, automated, or "secure" relies on human design and operational control somewhere. No system is fail-safe. Eventually and inevitably some clever tech-saavy hacker hell bent on theft, vandalism, rebellion, revenge, or mayhem for whatever reason will figure out a way to compromise the system. Often the designers themselves create a back door that only they know about and that they themselves can be tempted to abuse. Government agencies are especially suspect IMO.
Yes, encryption and other measures may render instances of data theft or corruption over the internet less frequent than in face-to-face interactions. But when such instances do occur – and they always will – the adverse sytemic consequences of a security breach generally affect far more people and can be far more widespread, devastating, and multifaceted than in an old-fashioned, less automated processing system.
A deeper issue however has to do with the relationship between freedom and privacy. Now that financial, medical, and legal privacy, not to mention basic Constitutional rights, have been permanently eradicated in such countries as the United States, the United Kingdom, and China – owing largely to the immense capabilities of computer technology – one of tyranny's foremost weapons against the citizenry has been unsheathed.
Let us also remember that credit card usage adds another 3 to 5 percent to the cost of consumer goods and services. Let us futher remember that fiat money deposited into checking and savings acounts enables bankers to employ fractional reserve lending practices to inflate a country's credit base and money supply many times over, thereby inflating general price levels sooner or later, indulging in riskier and riskier resource-misallocating speculations, and making themselves vulnerable to "runs" when their immoral gambits fail.
Having just returned from my first visit to PI – Davao in paritcular – I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the cash-based economy. Its minor risks and occasional, but surmountable inconveniences notwithstanding, I found it refreshingly simple to pay as I go, to be spared the constant, annoying pressure to disclose my personal information, and to find people who instinctively, though not always knowingly, shared my distrust (repugnance, lately) for big banks. It is a saner, simpler way to live. My 2 bits from an irascible retired engineer. Regards.
Hi Bruce – Sounds like you have a nice system there!
Hi Dave – It is really true, no matter how many complaints there are… the USPS is really a quality service. Living in another country really makes that very evident, and obvious.
What you say about the electric bill being in the landlord's name is also almost universally the case if you are renting. It seems kind of strange to me, but that is the case for me too.
Hi Dave – Absolutely, online payments are a very secure and trouble free way to go in most cases.
Hi Andres – Paying online would certainly take a lot of hassle out of it. If you are here on vacation and have to wait a couple times that is one thing, but when you have to do it time after time, month after month… well, it is a bit of a hassle.
Take care!
Hi Dale – No, "Ayo" doesn't mean "mail." To be honest, though, I don't know exactly what it means literally! It is just what you holler when you are outside somebody's house and want to get their attention. I guess it's like saying "hey" or "hello."
Wow I'm a little confused now Bob ?????..What personal information do they see when you are paying with cash and a bill..If you are paying on line then no one see your information..If you go and pay with a credit card they may charge you an extra 10 percent to do that, then I can understand the threat of losing your information …the people in the office all ready know the information on your bill ..So what do you think Bob 🙂 have a happy day Bob …Phil n jess
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Hi Phil – What I am saying is that if there are a bunch of people standing there in line, or waiting in the chairs, you may not be able to get somebody's credit card number (can't be used to pay bills here anyway), but you can get private information. You can get a look at the bill and get address, phone number and possibly other information listed on the bill. Quite easy to get that just standing behind somebody in line. All of that type of information leads to identity theft, which is a big thing these days.
Hi Sir BoB, one thing that is so frustrating about living in the Pines is that some services are well into the 21st century and others are still in the 18th century. It took just over two years to get our water bill! The explanation given? That we have no street name or number let alone a mail box lol. They couldn't find us! We said all you had to do was ask around the barangay for Nita lol. So who on earth would want to be a mailman here in the provinces. Have you seen some the rabbit warrens they call houses here? A mailman would spend most of his time in just one Barangay, then they would have to send a search party out to find him!!
Thanks Gods they have air con, seating and cable TV at the light and power company. We are now serving ticket number 728, I look at my ticket number its only 836, wow I think only 100 or so customers before me lol.
Hi Boss – Ha ha… I hear you man. You know what? Here are my street there is another house which has the same address that I have. My house is at #4 Ruby Street, it is right next door to #2 Ruby street. About 3 blocks down the road there is another house that is #4 Ruby Street! People are always going to the wrong house!
I had someone steal my number online so I am not so secure about the technology anymore. Visa covered it but I would rather go back to the old days of cash. The more technology I get involved in the more stress I am feeling. They used to pay in shells a few centuries ago in the Philippines. Maybe they can to back to that form of payment. I can make a lot of money on the beach. 🙂
Hi David J – Going to the beach could be not only fun but also profitable! 😆
Yes,you are right ,thanks Bob ..
No problem, Phil.