Paying Bills the Indonesian Way

I can’t believe I’ve been here 2 ½ months already and I think I’ve finally figured out the way to pay my bills.

I am responsible to pay for my own electric, telephone, water, internet, security and garbage removal.

First, the relatively simple ones- the security and garbage removal. Or at least it should be relatively simple. The guards come and knock on your door around the 8th of the month requesting the payment of 40,000 rupiahs. Not an unreasonable sum at all since it translates into $4.00 a month. However, for the past three collection cycles, the guards have knocked not on my door, but the other American’s door, Anna. She has repeatedly told them to come to me to collect the fee, but it appears that they are “shy”. Which leads me to wonder – if I need security help in anyway – are they going to be to “shy” to respond? So each month, Anna pays both her fee and my fee, then I reimburse Anna.

Now, on to the other bills. The water, electric, internet and phone companies do not send out monthly paper statements. What people do is go to the different companies, wait in line to see how much they owe, and then hopefully, they have enough to cover the bill. If not, they come back and pay the next day. Or, for those of us working, you can hook up with someone to pay your bills for you (for a nominal fee, of course). So for the first two months, I gave a high percentage of my weekly pay to a stranger (who came recommended, but a stranger, nevertheless) who then took my money and brought back the “change”. Call me crazy, but this went against my grain.

Talking with Regina, she informed me that I could pay my bills online. Now we’re talking, where do I sign up? As with many things in Indonesia, it is a process. First I needed to activate my debit card via the ATM machine. Next, I had to apply for and pay for a keypad to pay my bills. Finally I had to get the keypad, which required me to go visit two banks sites before I was given the keypad. When I finally was handed the keypad, I was also handed the instructions booklet. Which of course, was written in Bahasa. When I asked if they had an English version, the bank teller could only respond, “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
This took an entire month to complete, so once again, I gave the stranger my hard-earned money and off he drove on his motorcycle.

This past Saturday, I was bound and determined to get the bills paid on-line. Regina sat with me and explained the process, and I was good to go!

Not so fast! It appears that out of the five bills that I must pay each month only three of them can be paid on line. The one that baffles me the most – I can’t pay my internet bill via the internet. Go figure.

So, I am back to paying the bills the Indonesian way – handing my money to a stranger who will then pay, and perhaps return change or need more money each month…..it takes bill paying to a new level of adventure. Anyone in need of a keypad? Used only once…..like new.