Saturday, June 19, 2010

Utility bills - Late or Can't Pay Them? Electric, Gas, Water, Phone About to Be Shut Off?


Tips for Paying Your Late Utility Bills

Are you late with any of your utility bills and can't pay them? Are you shaking in your boots because you expect your lights, gas, water or phone to be shut off at any minute?

During these difficult and stressful times of survival, sometimes the priority of the moment is buying food for the family, and buying gas to get to work, and other bills have to take a temporary back seat. For households that have always paid their bills on time when times were stable, it's difficult to deal with the reality of not being able to pay the bills on time.

If you have fallen behind with any of your utility bills, it's easy to jump to the ultimate worst case fear and dread that your lights, gas, water or phone will be turned off any day by the utility companies.

Most of the time, we're in fear because we don't want to look at the thing that scares us. We don't want to deal with it, we avoid it, and as a result, the "unknown" may hang over your head and seem much bigger than it really is.

Avoiding the Worst Case Scenario:

One thing is for sure, if you don't do anything about it, and don't deal with it, the worst case scenario will probably take place. At that point, if your electric, gas, water, or phone are shut off, you will have to come up with ALL the money owed, PLUS often a security amount too, and a re-connection fee, in order to get it turned back on. If you didn't have the money to pay it in the first place, now you will probably have to borrow money from family and friends, or get a payday advance in order to pay the total amount due.

But you can avoid this worst case scenario. If you know that there are things you can do, the situation is alleviated and you can breathe a sigh of relief.

Little Known Secret: Utility Companies Will Often Give You Payment Extensions, or Even Make Payment Arrangements!

You may not have known this, but most of the time, the utility companies will give you a payment extension, or even make payment arrangements for the amount that is due, sometimes even split into 2 or 3 payments that make it manageable for you, depending on the utility company.

The utility company representatives are your "11th Hour Angels" in this situation. They can help you.

Sometimes, even if you have received a "Shut Off" or "Disconnection Notice", you can still get a payment plan, and once you have a payment plan, your service will not be interrupted. The important thing is to follow these tips and communicate with them to let them know that you are having some difficulty, but want to make arrangements to pay your bills.

However, if you have received a "Shut Off" or "Disconnection Notice", and cannot make payment arrangements, there are services that will pay the bill for you, and you do not have to pay it back. However, you will need to ACT QUICK once you get the notice, because most of the times, these services can only help you BEFORE your service is disconnected.

Or, if you need longer term help paying your utility bills throughout the whole year, and are low-income, there are several government, nonprofit, and privately funded programs that will either subsidize, or lower your utility bills.

If either of these are the case for you, we have a list of the services, state by state, on the following page:
http://11thhourangels.blogspot.com/2010/06/utility-bills-financial-assistance-for.html

Here are some tips and suggestions that can help you get by, until you can make the payment.

1. Before You Call the Utility Company, Try to Make Any Payment You Can, Even if it's a Small Token Payment, to Show a Good Faith Effort

It always helps to make a small payment before you call, even if you only make a $20 or $25 payment, for example, when you owe $100, especially if you're behind a month or more. This way, you can begin the call to the representative on a positive note. For example, you can say, "Hello, I just made a payment on my account, and wanted to check if it shows in your records." The representative will look at your record, and will say something like, "Yes, your payment of $25 has been credited. How can I help you?"

Your call will go much smoother since you have made some payment that shows a good faith effort. Now, you can let the representative know that you would like a payment extension or to make payment arrangements for the balance. Sometimes they will ask you when you can make the payment. So be prepared with a calendar in front of you so you're not stumbling around and can ask for the date that you want.

You can either ask for a far-out date like a month away and see if they can do it. Or ask if you can split it into several payments. Sometimes they will put you on hold and check if they are able to go out that far. When they come back on the line, they will tell you if it's approved, or will give you the farthest date that they can go. But they should be able to work something out with you. By making the arrangements, your utility will not be shut off.

2. Before You Call the Utility Company, Get a Grip on What You Owe

Whether you missed a payment, or are late with the current bill, the first step is to get a grip on what you owe. To get a grip, it helps to make a chart similar to the one below, to help you see the whole picture. Go back 6 months if possible, or as many months as you want. There's a reason for doing this chart, even if you've paid your bill on time previously. We'll use an electric bill as an example.

EXAMPLE:
ELECTRIC BILL, and the current date is July 6th.

Date of the billAmount DueDate dueStatus
Jan 15$ 122.50Feb 10PAID
Feb 15$ 130.74Mar 10PAID
Mar 15$ 127.94Apr 10PAID
Apr 15$ 115.45May 10PAID
May 15$ 122.67Jun 10Past due
Jun 15$ 106.33Jul 10No yet past due

So your latest bill shows that the total amount due is $229.00, which seems like a lot of money since you can't make the payment. But by doing this chart, you see the the "past due" amount is only $122.67. And you see that the $106.33 isn't past due yet, since in our example, the current date is July 6, and this payment is due on July 10. So it's not as bad as it seemed, it's more manageable!

So let's deal with the $122.67 that is past due. If you make a small payment of $25.00 before calling the utility company, that leaves a balance of $97.67 to make arrangements on. The situation doesn't seem as bad now. Sometimes you'll get an extension for the past due amount, and then you will need to call later after the current bill becomes due. Other times, they combine the bills and make a payment arrangement for the whole amount.

3. Making the Payments:

There are a variety of ways to make your payments, but they're not all instant. So here's a guideline on how to get your payments credited to your account as soon as possible.

  • By Phone: Sometimes the utilities allow you to make the payment by phone by debit card or credit card, and these payments are credited right away. If it's free or the fee is inexpensive i.e. $1 or $2, it's usually the most convenient way to make the payment and it's credited immediately to your account. But all the utility companies don't have this ability, some only allow check payments by phone, so be sure to check with your utility company.

  • Utility Web Site: Many times you can make your payments on the utility company's web site. But check if the payment is credited instantly or not.

  • Check Cashing Centers: If you make your payments in person at check cashing centers that take payments for utilities and bills, make sure that the payments will go through immediately. Sometimes these check cashing centers accept the payments, but it takes several days for them to be processed. If you're on a deadline, this can be devastating. So ask the check cashing center if it's instant or how long it will take for the payment to be credited to your account. If you're in no rush, it's not a problem.

  • Authorized Payment Centers: But if you need the payment to be credited instantly, check with the utility company for "authorized" payment locations in your area. These authorized payment locations often have computers that are often tied in directly to the utility company, sod the payment goes through right when you make the payment. There's also often no fees to make the payment at these authorized payment locations.

  • KEY TIPS:

    Communication is Vital: The most important thing is to make contact with the utility company. Because once you make payment arrangements with the utility company, your account will not be shut off.

    Before You Make the Call: Take a minute to breathe deeply and relax as much as you can. Close your eyes and visualize the outcome that you want, see yourself thanking the representative for helping you with your situation, and maybe say a little prayer.

    Friendly and Nice: When you call the utility company, it's important to get somebody who will work with you. So be friendly, be nice, and realize that they are doing you a favor, they are your 11th Hour Angels. Don't be demanding, or offensive, or mad, etc.

    Abort the Call if it's Going Badly: When you call the utility company, sometimes you get a representative who seems to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. If the call is going badly, and they don't seem to want to help you out, don't get upset and argue with them, it's not worth it. Just ABORT the call by hanging up! They'll just think that the line was disconnected by mistake. They won't try to call you back, because they're in a call center so they will move on to take their next call. So just call back again and you'll get somebody new, usually a really nice person who will work things out with you.

    Sometimes the representative isn't helpful because they're a new representative and are going by the strict rules and they don't have the flexibility or ability or authority or knowledge to help you. Other times, it's just their rotten personality. The reason doesn't really matter. Again, don't get into an argument, the simplest thing to do is to just realize that you got a bad person on the line, and to hang up and try again.

    Jot Down the Payment Arrangements:Be sure to jot down the payment arrangement dates on a calendar so that you can make the payment by the due date.

    If You Can't Make It: What if you can't make the payment by the date you agreed to? Make a token payment and do the same thing again. Call the utility company and try to see how much more time you can get.

    Don't Whine and Complain: It won't help you to tell the representative how broke you are, or to complain how bad things are going. They only need to know that you are willing to make the payments, how much you're going to pay, and when.

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