Bill Pay FAQs
General Questions
The font in version 4.1.1 is appearing too large (or too small) when my subscriber’s access Bill Pay. Do they have to adjust their settings?
How will my subscriber know that a payment can be made the same day or next day?
What are the browser settings for Bill Pay? If my subscriber has an older version of a Mac OS, what browsers are supported?
Why aren’t more browsers supported with the new version?
How can a subscriber tell which account any applicable bill pay fees, such as service fees or NSF fees, will be taken from?
Featured Questions
With the Account Number Masking feature, only the last five digits of the payment account are displayed. We allow our subscribers to choose from several payment accounts. How can our subscribers tell which payment account to use?
With the Account Number Masking feature, only the last five digits of the payment account are displayed. Our financial institution uses the account prefix to distinguish the type of account such as DDA Checking or Money Market Checking. All of our suffixes are the same. How can our subscribers tell which payment account to use, if they all appear to be the same?
My financial institution allows me to choose from multiple payment accounts for bill pay. How does the system determine the payment account that displays in the drop down box on the Payment Center?
How can I edit a ‘pending payment’?
Where can I view their Bill History?
Can I use Bill Pay in combination with Quicken or Microsoft Money?
Will I be able to transfer or move money from one account to another within our own Financial Institution?
The biller account numbers appear to be hidden, how can I make sure that they have the correct account?
Will the “Welcome” screen appear every time I log in?
Can I view bill history for a specific biller?
Maintenance Questions
Can I change personal information, such as name, address, phone number, or e-mail address?
How many e-mail addresses does Bill Pay support?
When setting up an account, can I put spaces in the account number field?
Payment Questions
When are payments sent by ACH, Corporate Check or Laser Draft?
Does Bill Pay support court-ordered payments or federal tax payments?
How does Bill Pay collect funds from an account if there are insufficient or no funds available?
Can an automatic payment be set up to pay a credit card bill in full each month?
How does a subscriber get a biller to accept electronic payments or to send e-Bills?
What happens if a biller rejects a payment?
If a payment is now listed in the “Recent Payments” section, why has my account not been debited yet?
The funds have been deducted from my account, why has the biller not been paid?
How will I know that a biller can send e-Bills?
How can I view an e-Bill that has already been paid?
How can I identify an ebill needs to be paid?
How can I identify an automatic payment? Can changes be made to an automatic payment?
How can I remove an e-Bill from the bill reminder section when the bill has either been paid outside of Bill Pay, the bill contains a credit or the bill has a zero balance?
Can I change, or get a refund of, a payment processed as an electronic payment?
General Questions
The font in version 4.1.1 is appearing too large (or too small) when my subscriber’s access Bill Pay. Do they have to adjust their settings?
This could be occurring due to the user’s browser settings associated with their Operating System and ISP.
For problems with font sizes, follow these steps:
1. Click on START and click on Internet Explorer
2. Click Tools on the top menu list
3. Click Internet Options
4. Go to lower right portion of Internet Options page and click Accessibility
5. Click the third check box Ignore font sizes specified on Web pages and then click OK
6. Click OK on Internet Options page
How will my subscriber know that a payment can be made the same day or next day?
The calendar icon will display the ‘Available Payment Dates’ in Blue. If the date in blue is the same day you are trying to schedule the payment, then this is considered a ‘Same Day payment’.
What are the browser settings for Bill Pay? If my subscriber has an older version of a Mac OS, what browsers are supported?
System and Browser Requirements for Bill Pay 4.1.1
The following list describes system and browsers that are classified as “Certified” and “Supported” for Bill Pay 4.1.1.
Microsoft Windows:
- Internet Explorer 6.0 (Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 98)
- AOL 9 (Windows XP)
- Mozilla Firefox 1.5 (Windows XP) (New for 4.1.1)
- Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6 (Windows XP)
Macintosh:
- Safari 2.0 (OS X 10.4x) (New for 4.1.1)
- Safari 1.3 (OS X 10.3x)
- Mozilla Firefox 1.5 (OS X 10.3x) (New for 4.1.1)
Browser Options:
- JavaScript must be enabled for the application to function optimally
Screen Resolution:
- 800 x 600 VGA or 1024 x 768 VGA
- Windows Display Properties Settings should be 96 dpi (Windows default)
- Browser text size should be Medium
Blocked Browsers:
The following browsers are programmatically blocked from use because the browsers affect the ability to successfully make a payment using Bill Pay 4.1.1:
- Microsoft Windows: CompuServe (Win 98, Win 2000, XP)
- Macintosh: Microsoft IE 5.1.7 (OS X all 10.x)
Why aren’t more browsers supported with the new version?
CheckFree will continue to provide support for rapidly adopted new operating systems and browsers in order to reach the largest percentage of Internet users possible. Currently, Bill Pay is compatible with at least 95% of the US markets browsers in use, and 90% of the in-use US market’s browser/OS combinations.
How can a subscriber tell which account any applicable bill pay fees, such as service fees or NSF fees, will be taken from?
Any applicable fees are automatically withdrawn from the account that is specified as the service fee account. To view the account, Click on “My Accounts” and select “Update service fee account.” The bill payment service fee (if applicable) and any additional payment fees appear on the monthly statement as a bill payment fee.
Feature Questions
With the Account Number Masking feature, only the last five digits of the payment account are displayed. We allow our subscribers to choose from several payment accounts. How can our subscribers tell which payment account to use?
You can go to the “My Accounts” screen where the full account number is displayed. Here you can choose to “Update the Name” of your account so it is easily identified in the drop down list on the Payment Center when you go to schedule payments.
With the Account Number Masking feature, only the last five digits of the payment account are displayed. Our financial institution uses the account prefix to distinguish the type of account such as DDA Checking or Money Market Checking. All of our suffixes are the same. How can our subscribers tell which payment account to use, if they all appear to be the same?
This new version allows you to associate a “Name” with each of your payment accounts. You can go to the “My Accounts” screen where the full account number is displayed. Here you can choose to “Update the Name” of your account so it is easily identified in the drop down list on the Payment Center when you go to schedule payments.
My financial institution allows me to choose from multiple payment accounts for bill pay. How does the system determine the payment account that displays in the drop down box on the Payment Center?
A The account that displays is the last payment account that was used during the previous bill payment session. The system now remembers the last payment account and displays this account during their next login.
How can I edit a ‘pending payment’?
In the “Pending Payments” section on the Payment Center screen, click the word Change; then you can change the biller name, amount of payment and/or date of the payment. Once changes are completed click “Save Changes” and if all is correct, select the “Finished” button. You will see the edited payment in the “Pending Payments” section.
Where can I view their Bill History?
A new “Bill History” button is located on the top navigation bar. Along with the current one located on the Payment Center page under the “Recent Payments” module near the bottom of the page. Once in the “View Bill History” section, the columns can be sorted simply by clicking the column headers. For example, you can click on the heading ‘Amount’ and the data will be sorted by the dollar amount.
Can I use Bill Pay in combination with Quicken or Microsoft Money?
You can import transaction information to Quicken 2004 or earlier versions. Bill Pay will only support Microsoft Money downloads in the .qif file format.
Will I be able to transfer or move money from one account to another within our own Financial Institution?
For Direct Sign-On (DSO) clients, if multiple accounts are added to bill pay the subscriber will be able to transfer among those accounts.
For Single Sign-On (SSO) clients, Bill Pay does not support the transferring of money. However, if more than one account is passed in the SSO string then the subscriber will be able to “move” the payments from one account to another.
The biller account numbers appear to be hidden, how can I make sure that they have the correct account?
Full biller names will appear in the hovering text when the mouse is placed over the biller name in the mini-modules of the Payment Center.
Will the “Welcome” screen appear every time I log in?
No. The “Welcome” screen only appears until the first nightly update after you enroll for the first time.
Can I view bill history for a specific biller?
Yes, on the View Bill History screen you can click on the “Biller Name” column header to filter by biller name, funding account, or payment status and will hide payments made to all other billers, providing you with an enhanced capability to locate specific transactions.
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Maintenance Questions
Can I change personal information, such as name, address, phone number, or e-mail address?
You are only able to view your personal information. However, you can change your email address but it will only be changed on the Bill Pay system.
How many e-mail addresses does Bill Pay support?
The system supports one email address per subscriber account.
When setting up an account, can I put spaces in the account number field?
No. You must enter the account number without spaces or dashes.
Payment Questions
When are payments sent by ACH, Corporate Check or Laser Draft?
The Bill Pay system evaluates the risk of each user based on the user’s credit rating and payment history. This evaluation produces a score, which is used to establish a daily, weekly, and monthly threshold amount that will determine how the payment will be sent. The lower the risk, the more likely the payment will be sent, up to the threshold amount, by ACH or corporate check.
Does Bill Pay support court-ordered payments or federal tax payments?
No. You cannot make court-ordered payments, state, or federal tax payments through Bill Pay. Additionally, Bill Pay can only make payments within the United States.
How does Bill Pay collect funds from an account if there are insufficient or no funds available?
CheckFree will first make two attempts to collect the funds from the subscriber’s account. First on the due date and the second attempt will be within 2 to 3 business days of the first attempt. The account will remain active unless the funds are not recovered in 46 calendar days, at which time the account will roll to a Cancel status, with a C code for collections. If the payment was made via a corporate check or electronically, the biller has already been paid and the subscriber does not need to send them another payment. If the payment was made by a laser draft check, the payment will be returned to the financial institution that services the account.
Can Bill Pay pay e-Bills automatically?
Yes. You will have various payment options for e-Bill payments depending on the information provided by the biller. You can schedule payments for the minimum amount due, balance due, or an amount you specify.
Can an automatic payment be set up to pay a credit card bill in full each month?
No. At this time Bill Pay is not able to pay the full balance, only the amount due which is considered the minimum due.
How does a subscriber get a biller to accept electronic payments or to send e-Bills?
You can provide the biller with CheckFree’s Merchant Electronic Registration site at https://mycheckfree.com. The biller can then follow the instructions to begin receiving payments via ACH. If the biller would like to become an ebiller, they can go to http://www.checkfreecorp.com for more information.
What happens if a biller rejects a payment?
If the payment was made by a Laser Draft check, the payment will be returned to the financial institution that services the account. If the payment was made by a Corporate Check, the payment will be sent back to CheckFree. CheckFree will conduct research to see if they can resend the check or they will contact the subscriber for more information. If an electronic payment was made, the biller rejecting the payment is responsible for forwarding the payment to the correct biller or returning the funds to CheckFree.
If a payment is now listed in the “Recent Payments” section, why has my account not been debited yet?
The funds are not withdrawn from your account until the payment due date. However, corporate checks are mailed three days before the due date and most electronic payments are sent out one day before the due date. Also, if the payment is made by Laser Draft check, the funds will not be withdrawn until the biller cashes the check, and then the check must clear your financial institution.
The funds have been deducted from my account, why has the biller not been paid?
Check to see when and how the payment was made. If it has been more than 10 business days from the process date, and the check has not cleared, initiate a case and request the check to be stopped and refunded or reissued. For electronic payments, if it has been 2 to 4 business days since the due date and the payee has not yet posted the payment, contact Member Care. Even though CheckFree submits the funds the day before the due date, keep in mind that the biller will have their own processing time frames. For Laser Draft checks, contact the biller to resolve the issue as with any other check drawn on your personal account.
How will I know that a biller can send e-Bills?
If a biller is able to send e-Bills, you will see “Add an electronic version of my bill” as an option when setting up the biller. If you do not chose to add an e-Bill at that time you can do so at a later date in the Manage My Bills section of Bill Pay. If a you have signed up to receive e-Bills from a biller, you will see the e-Bill icon next to the biller’s name in the Payment Center.
How can I view an e-Bill that has already been paid?
To view an e-Bill that has already been paid, click on the “View Bill History” link in the Recent Payments module of the Payment Center. Here you can search for the payment.
How can I identify an ebill needs to be paid?
If an eBill has been established and is ready to be paid, you will see an icon next to the biller.
How can I identify an automatic payment? Can changes be made to an automatic payment?
If automatic payments have been established for a biller the icon will appear next to the biller’s name. By clicking on the icon, or accessing the biller through the Manage My Bills page, the subscriber can make changes to the automatic payment. Any changes made affect all current and future payments for those billers that are scheduled as automatic payments.
How can I remove an e-Bill from the bill reminder section when the bill has either been paid outside of Bill Pay, the bill contains a credit or the bill has a zero balance?
You will have to file the e-Bill in order to remove it from Bill Reminders.
To file an e-Bill:
1. Go to the Recent Payments section.
2. Click View Bill History.
3. Find the bill you want to file.
4. Click View Detail.
5. Click File Bill.
6. In Payment Method, select the payment method used for the bill. This is where you can indicate that the bill was paid by check, etc.
7. In Bill Note, type an optional note about the bill and its resolution. You can type a maximum of 80 characters.
8. Click File Bill.
Can I change, or get a refund of, a payment processed as an electronic payment?
If the payment status is “Pending Payments”, you can cancel the payment. Once an electronic payment is processed, the biller is in possession of the funds and you need to contact the biller to request a refund
