Paying The Bills - Chile Forum 2/6/18, 5:15 PM

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Paying The Bills

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Paying The Bills -

Britkid
Rank: Chile Forum Citizen
, by Britkid » Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:30 pm
Posts: 1417
This is intended mostly for people who are coming to Chile soon or just arrived Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012
6:59 pm
in the last few months. Location: Talagante area,
Chile

General Tips: Contact: +

1. Before getting a bank account, pay bills in person at a Servipag/Sencillito
(generic pay point found in/near shops and supermarkets). Take cash incase
they don’t accept card or it doesn’t work. Take the physical, printed bill with
you and give it to them to avoid dictation errors or confusion about which
reference number they have to use. Go a Tue/Wed/Thur in the middle of the
month when it is quieter, never at the start of the month when people have just
had their salary and there are huge lines.

2. If you need to pay money to a business or person before you get a bank
account, you can in effect do a bank transfer by going in person to their bank
with their bank details and handing over cash.

3. A bank account (usually Banco Estado cuenta RUT which is much easier to get
approved for than most other accounts) is recommended if you are in Chile 1
year+. Sooner or later, you will need it for something or other. If you are in
Chile 1 year+ I’d also recommend getting a “clave de transferencia” card to do
transfers and pay bills and a “tercera clave” to do bank transfers. The first is a
physical card with a grid where A1, B2 corresponds to a specific number to
validate your payments and the second is where it will prompt you for a code
sent to your phone or in an automatic call to your phone. Without them the

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Paying The Bills - Chile Forum 2/6/18, 5:15 PM

account will end up being limited, annoying and maybe even useless. Ask for
them immediately that your account is open. Do not expect them to be offered
to you unrequested. This is all a hassle to sort out; you may end up going back
and forth to the bank 2-3 times to sort it all out. However if you are staying 1
year+ you will probably make the time back in avoiding travelling to and
queuing up at the bank or at Servipag to pay for things.

4. If any form in the online banking asks for Nueva Cuenta Inscrita, try writing
the person name. That worked for me once. Person’s names are one first name
then one surname in most cases.

5. Figure out over time the one day of the month when you can pay all the bills
on that same day so you only have to login to the bank once a month. You need
to find the one day when all the bills are available to pay but none have yet
gone over the due date or threatened to cut off your services. Alternatively, see
other strategies below.

6. Direct debits/automatic bill paying doesn’t seem to be common here,

although it appears that some banks offer a feature. John posted here that he
used “Banco de Chile's pago automático feature” viewtopic.php?t=13705

7. Bills are usually monthly rather than quarterly.

8. Zeronz posted in 2010 that in the online account of the bank BCI you can
“add all your accounts to the list, and once a month you hit "get me the amount
outstanding" and then hit the "pay now" button, two clicks, everything paid,
Gas, power, Water, Tv, Internet, Mobile, Tolls, you name it..”
viewtopic.php?t=4636

9. Otravers posted in 2016 that you can consolidate various bills on Servipag
into a single payment: viewtopic.php?t=13705

10. Paying extra months in advance will usually not work online or at a pay
point. Perhaps if you visit the utilities at their office, but then you would have to
do each one individually.

11. If you get error messages, the error messages in Chile are often wrong. For
example it may say you have the account number wrong if you have the account
number right and something else is wrong. Just treat an error message as a
generic error message and consider other possibilities. (Same is true for ATMs,
credit card payments.)

12. Write down the specific routings within your bank account to pay each bill
as it’s a pain to remember it all. Keep this all in a file. I'll post some examples in
a separate comment, article is getting too long otherwise.

In 2014/2015 I blogged about my life in Chile. http://web.archive.org/web/201601121940 ... age_id=268

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Paying The Bills - Chile Forum 2/6/18, 5:15 PM

Re: Paying The Bills - Britkid

Rank: Chile Forum Citizen
, by Britkid » Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:39 pm
Posts: 1417
Specific routing (what I click and in what order) to pay certain things in Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012
6:59 pm
Banco Estado (I have Cuenta RUT): Location: Talagante area,
Chile
Create a file with all this written down otherwise before I did that I could hardly Contact: +
navigate through all the different options. If you only have a few bills or you
have consolidated them, this may not be necesssary. I have tons of bills
because I work from home in a professional, customer-facing capacity so I need
to maintain multiple phone and internet connections so I have backup and
never get cut off.

Here are some examples:

Movistar combo (phone/TV/internet), go to: Pago En Linea section: Telefonia

Fija – Movistar Recarga Fijo Online, then Pago Cuentas no Inscritas, then
Telefonia Fija, Movistar Hogar/Negocio(s), for identifying number I use the 9-
digit phone number of the landline which is in the service.

Combo Bill or Landline Entel: Pago en Linea. Choose “Telefonia Fija” “Entel
Hogar” for combo bill on the first screen. Second screen type in these options:
“Your Name”, “Telefonia Fija”, “Entel Hogar”, “RUT”.

Internet Entel (USB dongle type) only bill), Pago en Linea. choose “Telefonia
Celular” and “Entel PCs” on the first page and then on the second “Your Name”,
“Telefonia Celular”, “Entel PCs”, “RUT”.

Mobile phone Entel, Pago en Linea. choose Telefonia Celular, Entel PCs. Then
Entel again in second section.

TAG (toll roads), Use “Pago en Linea” “Pago de Servicios” and then choose
“Autopistas” and “Pago Total TAG” (covers Costanera Norte, Vespucios,
Autopista Central all at once) and then “Pago Cuentas No Inscritas” to pay
autopista. For identifying number use RUT. Remember to check both cars
separately if you have two. Suggest don’t bother to pay your TAGs every month.
That is a waste of time since they don’t do anything if you’re only a few months
late; they just add on like 50 pesos interest or something. Whenever I get a
physical bill I just put in the bin and just do the Pago Total TAG once every 3-4
months. Incidentally, if anyone knows how to stop the physical, postal bills
from coming at all, let me know. The only time you need to pay promptly is
when you are selling the car soon to keep the record clean and up to date.

I take screenshots of the “payment success” type screens. I’ve never yet needed
them though.

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Paying The Bills - Chile Forum 2/6/18, 5:15 PM

In 2014/2015 I blogged about my life in Chile. http://web.archive.org/web/201601121940 ... age_id=268

.

Re: Paying The Bills -

, by admin » Tue Feb 06, 2018 7:49 pm

Nice how to. Perhaps some others will add to it.

admin
Spencer Global Chile: Legal, relocation, and Investment assistance in Chile. Site Admin
For more information visit: https://www.spencerglobal.com
Posts: 15695
From USA and outside Chile dial 1-917-727-5985 (U.S.), in Chile dial 65 2 42 1024 or by Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006
cell 747 97974. 11:02 pm
Location: Frutillar, Chile
Contact: +
.

Re: Paying The Bills -

, by eeuunikkeiexpat » Tue Feb 06, 2018 8:10 pm

Advice is never to sign up for any auto pay in Chile or you may have created
yourself a problem that can never be resolved or turned off.

I pay my stuff in three groups as that is how the dates fall: (1) Rent; (2) Gas, eeuunikkeiexpat
Gastos Comunes, FONASA via Previred.cl and Pagos section of CuentaRUT; (3) Rank: Chile Forum Citizen

Agua, Luz, Internet. Posts: 7004

Joined: Fri Sep 01, 2006
1:38 am
If you do not have the physical paper bill for a utility (as sometimes happens), Location: Megalith of
unknown origin near my
keep a list of your client ID numbers and you can pull them up online at the
digs, south V Region coast
company's website.

Tercer clave for CuentaRUT is also needed to confirm the addition of new
accounts to your frequent account list (for me just landlord and condo fee). You
will need name, RUT, banc, type of account, number of account to make a
transfer or setup an account in your list. CuentaRUT charges 300 pesos for
transfers (not to be confused with utility payments which are free) to non
BancoEstado accounts.

I feel PDF saves are more professional than screen shots, on a Mac, hit the print
icon on the verified payment page and save as PDF.

Safari sometimes has issues with RedCompra payment window, usually

switching to FireFox works.

Remember there are multiple ways to pay for your utilities depending on who is
down or having problems on the front end. There is the company's site itself,
Servipag online and the payment options within the Pagos section of your Chile
bank account.

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Paying The Bills - Chile Forum 2/6/18, 5:15 PM

Generally, just a SPAM KILLER. You are on your own in this forum. My personal mission
here is done.

BUT when necessary, by way of ridicule and truth revelation we shalt do war.

--eeuunikkeiexpat
.

Re: Paying The Bills -

, by admin » Tue Feb 06, 2018 8:43 pm

I signed up for auto payments years ago, and could not be happier.

Once, after a particularly long day of standing in line making payments with my
admin
wife, realizing as I stood in line, that over half the GDP of Chile was standing in Site Admin
line with me (both in terms of cash and human productivity), along with our
Posts: 15695
wasted time, I said, "we are never doing this again". Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006
11:02 pm
Location: Frutillar, Chile
We hired a junior / secretary just handle paying bills. That position morphed Contact: +
over the years in to a lot of other things, but still one of the most important
parts of the job description.

I only have a vague idea how it works.

Money goes in to my account.

My wife automatically takes it out.

She sends it to one our secretaries.

somehow the payments all get made.

My secretary has exceptional job security because I think at this point only she
knows how all that all auto-magically translates in to the payments being made.

Every so often, as I am reviewing ways to cut costs in our business, and that
secretary position comes up, my wife reminds me that she the one that pays all
the bills. That ends that conversation for another few years.

Spencer Global Chile: Legal, relocation, and Investment assistance in Chile.

For more information visit: https://www.spencerglobal.com
From USA and outside Chile dial 1-917-727-5985 (U.S.), in Chile dial 65 2 42 1024 or by
cell 747 97974.
.

Re: Paying The Bills - Donnybrook

Rank: Chile Forum Citizen
, by Donnybrook » Tue Feb 06, 2018 8:57 pm
Posts: 3101
I agree that I would never pay my bills though automatic debit from the bank. Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011

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Paying The Bills - Chile Forum 2/6/18, 5:15 PM

(You can do it using your debit or credit card options). Once the utility's system 10:34 am
Location: Santiago, Chile
has a bank account number they never want to let it go. My water bill still has
my husband's name on it and says it is paid through the bank. It isn't. All the
others got changed with a phone call. But the water company wants a advisory
from the bank disconnecting the payment from an account which has not
existed for four years. If you pay through your bank/credit card it can be a
nightmare when you get a new cc and the number changes.

I like to get a physical bill and check it. I have found mistakes often enough to
like this way of doing things. I use Servipag in person (cheques), or online if I
am away. There is also a totem in larger Lider supermarkets (Servifacil) where
you can register with your RUT and list the bills you want to pay. It spits out a
paper slip which you take to any cashier in the supermarket and pay with cash
or debit card. I always used that for the electricity bill because Servipag would
not handle them. But recently Enel has been added to the bills you can pay in
Servipag.

If you have a TAG electronic reader in the car, you can dictate the RUT of the
person it is registered to in Servipag and they can tell you if there is any debt. I
get a paper bill from one of the autopistas and an online advisory for another. I
seldom use them so sometimes they wait a few months to consolidate the debt
into a respectable amount.
.
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