Cost: $20.00/month + $2.00 per item

How does it work?

You place an additional amount of money in your separate bill paying account to cover the bills you are expecting Voyagers mail forwarding service to pay for you. You choose how much, whatever feels comfortable to you. You let us know what bills to expect by filling out the spreadsheet that came with this flyer (not included in the web version) and returning it back to us.

When your bills arrive we pay them for you. After it is paid we put the original into your mailbox with a check stub attached. We prepare a monthly summary of account activity for you, and place that in your box too.

What if an unexpected bill comes in?

If we catch it, we will pay it as long as it seems legitimate. As with all of your bills, we will try to contact you when we have a question. If we aren't able to connect with you before it is due, we simply use our best judgment. Here is an example. Unknown to us, one of our bill paying customers recently obtained a new credit card and made several charges. One of the charges was for a car rental and another was to a company called Fort Knox. We were unsuccessful in our attempts to contact them before the due date so we had to make the decision of what to do. We figured that the car rental was probably legitimate for two reasons. 1) We knew their last mail had been sent to the same area that the car had been rented from. 2) You have to show ID to rent a car. The Fort Knox charge, however, seemed a little odd to us. So what did we do? We paid an amount that equaled the total of the car rental charges that 'looked right', in order to prevent a late payment penalty and save at least some of the interest charge.

What if my account funds run low?

You are doomed. We don't offer any type of overdraft protection for you. And because it would be considered a cash advance by a credit card company, we can't take a credit card number and use it to fund your account for bill-paying. Some customers solve this problem by putting extra money in the account as a cushion. Others leave several checks with us (postdated ones are OK if you are on a monthly income), which we store in our safe, and we automatically add to their account every time it gets close to zero. If a bill comes in and there is not enough money on account, we will try to contact you if we can. Failing that, we decide what the best course of action is, on your behalf.

The address

We also ask that you have your bills sent to suite # 9-BxxxB (where xxx is your suite #). By using this separate address for your bills, this allows you to toggle the bill paying service off and on at your discretion. Many prefer to take care of the bills themselves while they are in the U.S., in order to save on our fees, then have us take over the payments when they travel outside the U.S., where the cost of getting your mail in a timely fashion could exceed our service fees.

FREE

If you have bills coming due, and you know what the amount is, we can take care of those for you free. Simply provide us with a stamped, addressed envelope, sealed up and ready to go (containing the check already filled out), and write the date you would like it mailed in the bottom left corner. Then you can get the envelope(s) to us to mail for you, and you don't have to worry about the risk of mailing it from overseas three months from now.

Logistics

Do you have a big insurance bill due every July? We do depend on you to keep your account funded for these little surprises, or to let us know when it's time to make the minimum payment on your credit cards for a few months. We don't know, or want to know, your financial status. We have wealthy clients who need everything paid in full every month, and we have others living on limited incomes. If you see a financial crunch approaching, you need to let us know so we can switch to minimum payments for a while. We aren't in the business of managing your money, or juggling accounts, but simply paying your bills as they come due.

Deposits

We also need to know what to do about checks coming in...if you want us to deposit them, send us deposit slips and a full address of the institution (some deposit slips have only a partial address printed on them). Otherwise, we will treat them as regular mail, and forward them to you. Making a deposit for you incurs the same fee as paying a bill. Speaking of which, finally...

Our fee

We charge $20 per month for any month that has any bill paying activity. In addition there is a per check/deposit fee of $2. While this may seem expensive at first glance for just writing a few checks a month, please remember all of the bookkeeping time, phone calls and legwork involved, especially when problems arise. Put yourself in our shoes for a moment, and try to imagine taking care of all of the bills for the last twenty sailors you watched sail over the horizon.

Our pledge

If we fail to make a timely payment on one of your regularly scheduled bills, we will reimburse your account for any late fees, interest, or penalty that you suffer as a result up to a maximum of $100.

Our commitment

Like every other service we provide to our customers, we intend to give you much more than the 'run of the mill' service that is becoming so commonplace in today's business world. As our bill paying customer, you can expect us to monitor your bills for unusual activity, go to work for you when something out of the ordinary pops up (an insurance claim, or hospital stay for example), and keep an eye out for bills you forgot to mention on the grid (no promises we'll catch them, though!). We will make more than a reasonable effort to contact you if anything seems amiss with your affairs.

How do I get set up?

First, fill out the spreadsheet, noting the instructions on the back (the spreadsheet is not included with the web version, call 1 800 860 9256 or email us at mailboat@vmfs.com and ask us to mail our bill paying brochure to you). When finished, you may want to make a photocopy for your own planning purposes. In any event, send it back to us. Then simply have your bills sent to suite # 9-BxxxB and send us a check to put sufficient funds into your account. As soon as the check clears we will pay your bills.

Finally

Are you worried that we are going sneak off in the middle of the night with your money? We don't blame you, there are people in this world who would do that without a second thought. Rest assured that we are not in that group. We are well respected by our peers in the local community.