Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

Just bought a home and closing coming up...trying to figure out how to pay for monthly expenses and mortgage payment since I am only going to be there for 4 months out of the year...how does everyone do it? Pay on line through bank account in my home town or open up a new bank account in the TV and transfer money to that account ...I need help figuring this out making it as simple as possible.

Re: Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

WE pay ours via bank drafts on our bank-which is in a state we've never lived in. Each utility and the VCCDD has their own way of setting it up with the bank once you've done the paper work. The only check we write is for the lawn guy.

Re: Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

We bought two years ago, but are still full-time Long Islanders. We come down as often as we can, usually one week at a time. We opened a checking account at the bank in Sumter Landing when we bought and arranged for our mortgage payments to be deducted automatically. All Villages bills (cable, utilities, landscaper) are sent to our Long Island address and we pay them, either on-line or by check, using that checking account. Periodically we mail a check down from our Long Island checking account to keep the Villages account funded. This seems to work for us, and allows us to keep track of what our Villages home costs.
Hope this helps

Re: Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

bills can always be paid by automatic bank withdrawal or online banking. but keeping some money in a local tv bank as well as a summer residence bank makes cash atm withdrawals easier and generally free.

Re: Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

We use web banking from our bank here in North Carolina to pay all bills for our place in The Villages. Great for keeping records for tax purposes.

Re: Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

We opened an account at Citizens First and the gal at the bank helped us get all the utilities, amenities, etc set up on auto pay through our checking account. I still get copies of all bills etc at home in Michigan, they are just automatically deducted from account on due date. I have a couple hundred bucks deposted from each pay to the Florida account, there is also a small of over draft preotection but I never used it.

Re: Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

DO IT THE EASY WAY.........SET UP A LOCAL ACCOUNT AT CITIZENS FIRST BANK (owned by tv I believe but very good) AND THEY WILL HELP YOU SET IT ALL UP.......JUST SEND YOUR ACCOUT SOME MONEY ONCE IN A WHILE AND ITS A PIECE OF CAKE...........

Re: Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

Same as I did. Opened up account at Citizens at Lake Sumter. Do the online banking and auto house payment. Just added my lawn guy to online pay. Hope he knows it's from me! Very easy to do and allows me to see how much TV home costs me per month.

Becky

Re: Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

Just let Citizens First set it up when you open the account. It's easy. Everything is paid but the lawn guy.
I pay him a few months in advance when in TV. Have some funds deposited each month to cover the expenses.
It's a snap.

Re: Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

All mine is done by Electronic Funds Transfer. SECO, TECO, LSSA Utilities, Telephone, etc. I believe I went through each agency and set up the necessary transfer processes. You can use any bank. It does not have to be a Florida bank. Although having an open account at Citizens First Bank does get you free ATM usage at their ATMs at the mail stops as mentioned above.

Re: Snow Birds...best way to pay Utilities/Lawn Service...Open an account at TV?
 

We live in Canada. We don't have to write and mail cheques. We opened an account at Citizens in LSL and keep money there. We can easily pay bills from Canada, even non-company bills like the lawn guy .. just by pulling up our Citizens account online. We plan to set up automatic deductions in the future to make it even easier.