Just how does a military service member pay the bills from the middle of the ocean or from a foxhole in a combat zone? Hopefully this question was asked and answered before the service member went on deployment. Thankfully, due to the technology that is available today it is a lot easier to pay bills than it was in World War II or even 30 years ago!
The first thing the service member needs to do is set up an allotment for things like mortgages, car loans and life insurance payments. The military allotment is the safest and most secure way to pay things like that because the account cannot be overdrawn and a bank error is nearly impossible. In the rare case that some mistake is made by the bank, they will correct everything once the proper documentation is shown that the federal government was sending them your payments.
Then other bills need to be addressed. Many banks, including USAA (which has to be the best bank account for a military person to have due to their great policies), allow the account holder to set up an automatic bill pay so that every month a set amount is sent to the creditor and in some cases it is possible to have monthly bills set up that way and get them paid each month even if the amount varies, such as the utility bill for an apartment.
For those few bills that are impossible to pay on line, and it would be best to pay those off to avoid the hassle in the future, the service member may want to consider asking a close friend or family member who can be trusted to drop a preaddressed and stamped envelope in the mail each month that has a letter explaining what the check is for along with a copy of the last bill before deployment and the account number written on the check or money order. That may sound rather primitive and arcane but if that creditor or provider won’t take an online payment then that is what must be done. This is all the more reason to stop utilizing that creditor or provider!
Service members have a unique reputation for being reliable and trustworthy. Part of this is the earned reputation that millions of other service members have established in the past and it is up to the newest generation to preserve that reputation for the future.
So, just how does a military member pay the bills while on deployment?
By the old military standard: By whatever means necessary!