Developing Country: A Continuing Series - Paying Bills

One of the joys of living in a developing country is paying bills similar to American life 50 years ago.  Actually, I'm not sure if this was ever the means of bill-paying in America, but the method here is physically taking the bills to the bank and waiting in line to pay.  This is simply how it is done.  There is no place to mail in the payment (for most this would mean mailing a wad of cash), and there is certainly no online means to pay.

The bills come in the mail as a simple piece of paper (not in an envelope), and there is no envelope provided to mail the bill to the service provider.  So after I collect all the bills for the month I head to the bank.  One nice thing is that banks are ubiquitous here in Moldova (as well as ATMs).  This is likely because the economy is mainly cash based (I've only seen a credit card used twice in my almost daily trips to the store).

But back to bill-paying.  I found out the hard way that it is unwise to wait until the day the bills are due (or the last couple of days) and head to the bank.  My first bill-pay experience necessitated that I wait in line for 45 minutes.

Picture the scene of walking into a bank with only two teller stations open and a room with people everywhere.  No organized lines, but somehow each person seems to have knowledge of who is next and to which teller they are waiting.  I have little ability to ask questions and figure out the chaos, but I know which teller I want to handle my transaction (she speaks a little English) but I don't know how to get there.  So after 45 minutes, and one loud irate woman (not directed toward me - thankfully), I finally forged ahead to pay my bills.

I learned my lesson from this first bill-pay experience...go to the bank in the morning, mid-week, and well before the due date.