Forum Support Tommy T. Posted July 12, 2020 Forum Support Posted July 12, 2020 (edited) Yesterday I finally attacked three projects that have been niggling me for a while: taxes, FBAR (foreign investment report to IRS), and Washington driver's license renewal. Well... it took a few hours, just because I am not so fast online as I could be, but I muddled through successfully. Fist stop was FBAR and it is mostly an intuitive website. It has little helper notes along the way so you can ask what something is about and whether it pertains to you or not. It was the fastest and easiest and all I needed was my bank passbook in order to list the appropriate numbers. Second was IRS....ugh. I have used the free Turbotax service for the past two years and used it again this year. I am not a fan of Intuit - the parent company for this service - but this system worked very well. It supposedly could even access my accounts to download the data regarding transactions, but that didn't work for me. It actually caused some issue with the investment firm which made me have to fuss to get online again later to access my accounts. So I had to enter the data manually. The coolest feature was that they retained the information from last year's return so I was able to crib a few sections that I was not sure how to complete. It walked me through the entire process right to the end and I was able to then submit my return information online. Within 30 minutes it was accepted by the IRS - success! No tax due, no refund due, so very easy for a single guy. It always helps to have all the data from income and debts right at hand. Lastly, I noticed that my driver's license was set to expire soon. Washington State now has an "Express" licensing system that helps speed along the process. You have to register for it (for free) with a minimum of information. It then called up much of the data from my current license, including photo, etc... I had to simply verify that I was not yet blind, dead or impaired and also my state address. The renewal was fairly quick and easy and they picked the payment directly from my bank account - saving me 3% fee instead of using a credit card. I printed out a temporary license and will receive the card at my mail handler within a week or two. I just mentioned these things because I am so pleased to be able to accomplish these tasks remotely - and cheaply - online without snail mail or personal visits. Once the home is finished and we move in, I plan on setting up online payments (I am not sure if any can be "automatic" like in USA) so I don't have to stand in interminable lines - for water, power, internet, cable or satellite TV. On Wednesday, L wasted an entire afternoon waiting in line to pay the water bill (all of P200!) and actually paid for another month in advance... Good idea! Then she went to hassle with Globe about a double charge after waiting in a line for over an hour. Then she went to another line to pay. When she got to the head of the line they said, "Oh...sorry (deer in headlights and sad face), we cannot accept payment here. You have to go back to the line where you were before." WTF??? Then she was redirected to yet another line for payment. For some reason, they implied that they could not accept cash payments there. And they would not accept Gcash or credit card. L was fuming and approaching critical mass by the time she was done shunting between lines and "service" people who offered anything except service. Eventually she had to return to the very first line and finally made the payment. Yeah... if it sounds confusing to you to read this, that's okay, she was confused when trying to pay and was even more confusing trying to explain it to me. She is fed up with Globe.... I am fed up with "Stupid." She has heard about a company called Direct Tech? or something like that. It supposedly is a newer, smaller company offering only fiber connections. But they don't reach everywhere and are more expensive - but we don't know how expensive. We need quality internet service so she can teach online and attend online seminars... Edited July 12, 2020 by Tommy T. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hk blues Posted July 12, 2020 Posted July 12, 2020 For online payments here, Tom, it depends on the provider. Yes, autopay is possible but again it depends on the provider. For example, I can pay Globe, Cignal and BPI Insurance via BPI online banking but not my electric or water bill or Philhealth - they have to be paid at one of the payment centres. Globe! Well, to me the desire to be efficient isn't strong here - the lack of competition doesn't help not does the fact that labour is cheap. Add to that the apparent love of being in a queue and you can see why things move at a snails pace. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Support Tommy T. Posted July 12, 2020 Author Forum Support Posted July 12, 2020 9 minutes ago, hk blues said: Globe! Well, to me the desire to be efficient isn't strong here - the lack of competition doesn't help not does the fact that labour is cheap. Yeah... Reminds me of the old motto that people used to attribute to Bell Telephone in USA eons ago when it was a virtual monopoly: "We don't care, we don't have to!" 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Peterson Posted July 12, 2020 Posted July 12, 2020 6 minutes ago, Tommy T. said: "We don't care, we don't have to! Let's all remember where we are because that sounds like the Motto here too 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gator Posted July 12, 2020 Posted July 12, 2020 2 hours ago, hk blues said: For online payments here, Tom, it depends on the provider. Yes, autopay is possible but again it depends on the provider. For example, I can pay Globe, Cignal and BPI Insurance via BPI online banking but not my electric or water bill or Philhealth - they have to be paid at one of the payment centres. Globe! Well, to me the desire to be efficient isn't strong here - the lack of competition doesn't help not does the fact that labour is cheap. Add to that the apparent love of being in a queue and you can see why things move at a snails pace. And don’t forget about the extra fees you have to pay at the remote payment centers. For converge cable at a 7/11 an extra 7 pesos and for Angeles City electric an extra 10 pesos is tacked on. Doesn’t sound like much, but think of the thousands of ppl paying it. It adds up fast and is a gift horse for the owners of those payment centers. Paying online directly to the service provider would cut them out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hk blues Posted July 12, 2020 Posted July 12, 2020 8 minutes ago, Gator said: And don’t forget about the extra fees you have to pay at the remote payment centers. For converge cable at a 7/11 an extra 7 pesos and for Angeles City electric an extra 10 pesos is tacked on. Doesn’t sound like much, but think of the thousands of ppl paying it. It adds up fast and is a gift horse for the owners of those payment centers. Paying online directly to the service provider would cut them out. Yes. As far as I recall, SM don't charge for some but do for others - I forget which but definitely they charge for Philhealth, 10php. I don't see any charges when paying online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Youngster Posted July 12, 2020 Posted July 12, 2020 1 hour ago, Gator said: And don’t forget about the extra fees you have to pay at the remote payment centers. For converge cable at a 7/11 an extra 7 pesos and for Angeles City electric an extra 10 pesos is tacked on. Doesn’t sound like much, but think of the thousands of ppl paying it. It adds up fast and is a gift horse for the owners of those payment centers. Paying online directly to the service provider would cut them out. As for Converge, you can pay with cc on their website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Support Tommy T. Posted July 12, 2020 Author Forum Support Posted July 12, 2020 (edited) 19 hours ago, hk blues said: For online payments here, Tom, it depends on the provider. Yes, autopay is possible but again it depends on the provider. For example, I can pay Globe, Cignal and BPI Insurance via BPI online banking but not my electric or water bill or Philhealth - they have to be paid at one of the payment centres. I was perusing our monthly bills yesterday after reading these posts... At least here in Davao, it appears that one can pay water, electricity and others - except PhilHealth - online. However, these can only be done using a few specific banks or other means. I will not list them here, but will mention that BDO seems to enable payments for virtually any company that offers that service. So, after the home is done, I will open up an account at BDO just for this purpose. I still really like the service at PNB, but they don't support payments to everyone (although they do for many that we just don't use). I HATE standing in lines at any time, but especially when it is to pay bills. I feel THEY should stand in line to receive our money! Sorry, micro-rant there... Edited July 12, 2020 by Tommy T. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huggybearman Posted July 13, 2020 Posted July 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Tommy T. said: I was perusing our monthly bills yesterday after reading these posts... At least here in Davao, it appears that one can pay water, electricity and others - except PhilHealth - online. However, these can only be done using a few specific banks or other means. I will not list them here, but will mention that BDO seems to enable payments for virtually any company that offers that service. So, after the home is done, I will open up an account at BDO just for this purpose. I still really like the service at PNB, but they don't support payments to everyone (although they do for many that we just don't use). I HATE standing in lines at any time, but especially when it is to pay bills. I feel THEY should stand in line to receive our money! Sorry, micro-rant there... We use BDO. All our regular monthly payments are made online with them. They seem to be one of the best when it comes to online convenience. I too have an aversion to waiting in line to pay bills! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insite Posted July 13, 2020 Posted July 13, 2020 This is the company you are looking for Tommy - http://www.dctechmicro.com/dctech/contact-us/ I am told they are good and reliable but their coverage presently is limited to city central areas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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