In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Isn't there some osrt of basic acct at the PostalBank that costs less? I seem to remember someone talking about this before...you don't get any checks with the acct, and I'm not even sure if you get a debit card, but it sounded perfect for a situation like this one...just paying bills. Perhpas you could speak to the manager at your local post office.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Umbria Lover, thank you for your reply. I think the account we have is the low cost one - EUR30,99 per year plus EUR8.55 per quarter for imposta di bollo.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Once you have residency at least a few accounts are "free". Mine from Banco San Paolo costs me nothing if I don't use the bank building. ATM card and internet use are all free. IIRC I could even apply for a revolving credit card. There is the bollo.
I think various other banks have similar schemes but you need to be resident.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Hi Masca
We gave up on the Italian banks, part of the problem with costs is the Italian tax (bollo) we had it to good in the UK.
We have had 3 bank accounts and the post office account, not only the costs but you cannot rely on them.
We now use our Nationwide credit card online with Enel...with no extra charges either end.
The Gaia payments you really have to do them at their Bank, which is on the payment form, then you do not pay a handling fee.
Gaia do not even except payments at their offices.
good luck
Brianm
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=Brianm;83215]Hi Masca
We now use our Nationwide credit card online with Enel...with no extra charges either end.
good luck
Brianm[/quote]
Hi Brianm,
I haven't been able to use my Nationwide visa or any other visa credit card online with Enel or Telecom IT for the pass 6 months.
Just wondering is your card a visa or a mastercard.
Libero.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=libero;84106]Hi Brianm,
I haven't been able to use my Nationwide visa or any other visa credit card online with Enel or Telecom IT for the pass 6 months.
Just wondering is your card a visa or a mastercard.
Libero.[/quote]
Ciao
Yes, our card Is Nationwide Visa, we just recently paid the last Enel bill and it went through ok.
I must admit though their site is very spasmodic, we have just had to pay a bill for some friends at the post offfice as their card did not work online from the uk.
Brianm
[url=http://www.tuscanyexperience.co.uk]Main Heading Goes Here[/url]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Libero,
I have had the same problem with Nationwide Visa - all ok until about 6 months ago and now neither ENEL or Telecom IT (or to my son's horror the Ferrrari site) will accept it. Called Nationwide card services and problem is not of their making.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
For what it's worth -- we went directly to our Bank Manager at Monte dei Paschi di Siena, and having run all the purchase $$ through the account for properties over the past few years, we negotiated a much cheaper rate, i.e., NO monthly bank charges, ten transactions by cheque per year for free, no ATM fees if using their machines. No way around the tax, I'm afraid.
I went in to close the account, and the manager really bent over backward to keep us in-house -- admittedly, this is small town Puglia, and by now he knows us quite well, but I always think it's worth a try -- remember how many things are negotiable in Italy? Speaking some functional Italian definitely helps, and remember that your bank contact person is connected to literally tens of other handy professionals.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
if anybody needs to pay there enel bill, as i understand it there online service for paying with visa etc from abroad was temp suspended however you can pay by direct transfer using the following acc numbers,
Facendo seguito alla Sua e_mail del 8/01/08 Le comunichiamo le coordinate bancarie per
effettuare il pagamento delle fatture mediante bonifico bancario, pregandola di inserire nella causale il
numero cliente ed il numero fattura di riferimento:
Abi 03002
Cab 04006
Conto corrente 000001641131
Iban IT70G0300204006000001641131
you may want to contact them to confirm that this is still in place, using the email at the enel website
ciao Marco
La informiamo inoltre che è stato chiuso il servizio per i pagamenti con le carte di credito
emesse all'estero.
Restiamo a sua completa disposizione per qualsiasi chiarimento in merito telefonicamente al
numero verde gratuito 800.900.800, da cellulare numero non gratuito 199.50.50.55, per fax gratuito
numero 800.900.150, per lettera a Enel Servizio Elettrico casella postale 1100 - 85100 Potenza o per
e-mail attraverso il nostro sito internet [url=http://www.prontoenel.it]Enel SpA - Enel Servizio Elettrico[/url]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
If you attempt this internationally, just be careful - there could be bank charges (possibly at both sending & receiving ends) which could easily add up to more than your electricity bill. On the other hand it could be "free" if both banks are up to snuff - worth clarifying before you go down that route.
Should go without saying but also note that you would need to include your ENEL client reference # and the invoice # within the transaction reference field as per the Italian blurb above ... otherwise your payment may get dumped into a suspense account at the Italian end (a big pot of money which they've received but have no idea who sent it or why, and therefore they can't credit your account with the payment)
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Hello again! I have another question re: GAIA. How many times do they bill each year? Our bills seem to be all over the place, and for a while they were going to the wrong address altogether! Also, just to be doubly sure - is there definitely no way to pay GAIA bills from the UK?
TIA!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]We gave up on an Italian bank account last summer - kept it for a year after purchase and cost a fortune. Tried to open an account at Banca Posta but that was very difficult in our very provincial post office. So far we have managed fine without. Paid two ENEL bills last autumn on line but since then no luck. I owe them for March and January but will pay those when I go over in 2 weeks. Have the bills on line and print off the payment slips then go to the post office. Our ICI we pay at the commune with our nationwide visa - no charge and the GAIA bills come whenever and I just go to the PO for these as well. The refuse I pay in a one off payment when it comes. The odd €1 charge at the PO is nothing compared with the horrendous bank charges we got for paying ENEL DD 3 or 4 times a year. I take the cash from the ATM with my nationwide delta (no charge and get the internet rate) and pop round to the PO. So far - touch wood - it has worked for us.[/FONT] :yes:
And have found no other way of paying GAIA - even tried to go to there office to pay but they sent me to the PO!!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
What are GAIA bills? I dont seem to have had any of those. Very interesting all this about paying bills. I often wish I could pay ENEL and AQUAM without having to have a very expensive bank account. I dont use it for anything else.
pam
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
GAIA provide our water. We have now closed our post office account as we only used it for one direct debit. However, I have yet to try to pay Enel online, and may live to regret the decision!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Are post office accounts any cheaper than bank accounts?
pam
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Alma, generally speaking, yes I think that the Post Office account is the cheapest account available. However, we still considered ours to be expensive based on the fact that we only used it for one direct debit six times a year!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Yes Pam the post office say you should not pay more than about €30 a year in charges However as Masca says that is too much. We have just returned from 3 weeks out in Lunigiana (very wet most of the time) and paid two ENEL bills and a GAIA (water) bill at the post office with the pay slip that comes with them. It costs €1 per payment so for the 6 ENEL bills, 1 rifiuti (refuse) and 1 or 2 GAIA bills per year, it costs no more than €9 to pay over the counter in cash - much cheaper than a bank account. On the subject of ENEL, one of the bills I paid was for November / December and they did not cut us off so even if you do not visit that often, you could still do it this way. It works for us anyway. [/FONT]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
We get our water bills (AQUAM) every 2 months. Is there no way of paying once a year like I pay ICI + Rifuti? I pay these at the post office with cash which, like you, I take out of the bancomat with my Nationwide debit account. Mind you, they keep changing their minds when the rifuti is due. One year it was 4 installments starting in feb, and the next the bill didn't arrive till autumn. I'm also panicking about all this I've been reading on the forum about tax on holiday property even when not let out. Talking of which, will anyone visit me in prison until I'm let out if I get in a complete muddle and dont pay what I'm supposed to.
Ignorance is Bliss
Alma
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I agree about the awful bank charges but do wonder if any of you have trusted friends locally? We are English and are here in Umbria all the time, so we collect the post and pay bills for friends and are then repaid. Many people have caretakers or gardeners who they trust to leave money with to pay bills. It does seem that co's such as ENEL, SKY. water rubbish and il Comune are no longer prepared to wait to be paid. Debt collecting agencies are being used and some people return to their holiday house and find debts and no electricity or phone!!!
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=alma;88559]
Ignorance is Bliss
Alma[/quote]
unfortunately the entrate will shortly be introducing a tax on bliss ... and it's 33% extra if you are a non-resident :-))
Back on banks - does anyone manage to use a French/German etc. bank to pay their Italian bills by D/D? I know there are better accounts in those countries in terms of account mgmt charges, always wondered if you could set up international D/D denominated in € without being hit by charges either side? I also had high hopes for ING bank - were they not threatening to shake up the Italian system with free(ish) personal banking a while ago?
Sorry, I have only just seen the thread ' Enel Bill - Paying online' which completely escaped my notice previously! Does anyone know whether the foreign credit card problem has been resolved yet?