Paying your bills while deployed can be seen from two different perspectives. The first perspective is from the service man or woman that is single, and the second is from the service man or woman that is married. When married, it becomes a matter of trust. Do you trust your spouse to take care of the bills while you are gone? If you answered yes, then there are still a few things that you have to consider before going on the deployment. You have to contact all of the businesses that you have arrangements with to make sure that you spouse can indeed take care of them in your absence. It used to be that if you were married, you were covered in this regard, however, in the world today, many creditors will speak only with the person who is on their paperwork, no matter what the circumstances.
Often times, a simple power of attorney will take care of these issues. However, having the power of attorney in hand will still lead your spouse through much bureaucratic red tape. If you contact your creditors prior to your deployment and let them know that you spouse will be taking care of things while you are deployed. letting them know that a valid power of attorney is in hand, then a great deal of the problems can be alleviated.
The other side of the coin, so to speak, is if you are a single service man or woman. If you are single, there are programs that you can look into that will allow the creditors and other agencies to be paid from your paycheck without you ever having to see the money. Many of these programs can be initiated with a simple visit to your banking institution, whether it be a bank or a credit union. Also, there are forms that you have to fill out with the Comptroller to get things rolling in the right direction. It is advisable to do these things months in advance of your deployment date as it can take considerable time to get through the red tape and actually make these things happen.
Also, while you are deployed, if you are single, you may want to consider turning off things that you just don’t need. If you are not going to be home, then why do you need such things as cable, power or water? Do you honestly need a home phone to be working while you are deployed? You can often make arrangements with the service providers to have these just suspended until you return rather than having them “shut off”.
These are just some of the ways that you can pay your bills while you are deployed. In the world today where deployment is not something that might happen, but will happen, it is good to keep a plan in mind to take care of things on the home front while you are away protecting the freedom that allows you to have things to take care of.