About Online Payees and Payments in Quicken

You need to provide information to Quicken about the company or individual to whom the payment is being sent. Quicken then stores this information in the Online Payee List for future use. You can set up all your online payees in advance, or add them on an as-needed basis.

From time to time, compare your payee information with a recent statement from your payee to make sure that you still have the correct address and account number.

1. Choose Tools menu > Online Payee List.  (This option will be grayed out until a billpay option is activated in Quicken.)
2. At the bottom of the window, click New.
3. Enter the name for the payee.
   • Tell me more about entering payee names
     • For each payee, the combination of name and description, as well as the name and account number, must be unique.
     • The total number of characters for both the Name and Description fields together must not exceed 32 characters.
     • Once you've gone online and sent this information, you can't change it (if you need to update the name or account number later on, create a new payee). You can, however, change the contents of the Description field.

     For example, you may have two accounts with your telephone company, one for your home telephone and another for your cellular phone. You could create two payees, one for each account, with descriptions such as home and cell. Enter the address for the payee.

4. Enter the address for the payee.
5. Enter the account number for the payee.
   • Tell me more about entering the account number

     Enter the number that the payee uses to identify you. This could be an account number, a loan number, or an insurance policy number. If you don't know the number to use, enter your last name. The online payee uses the number (or your name) to credit your account with the payments received, so make sure you enter this information accurately.

     Once you've gone online and sent this information, you can't change it (if you need to update the name or account number later on, create a new payee).

6. Enter a phone number for the payee.
   • Why do I need a phone number?

     The processor may need the phone number to contact the online payee on your behalf if there are any problems, so enter the phone number you usually call if you have a billing question. Be sure to include the area code.

7. Click OK.

Payee names and account numbers must remain as they were when they were originally set up, but you can change other payee information as necessary. You can also create reports that include information about your online payees and the payments you've made to them, including date, account, check number, status, category, amount, and more.

Note that you can't edit or delete payee information if there are pending payments for that payee. You must either wait until the payment has cleared or cancel the payment. Also, renaming rules won't affect online payee names stored in the Online Payee List or used to create payment instructions.

• To edit information about an online payee
  1. Choose Tools menu > Online Payee List.
  2. Select the payee you want to edit.
  3. Click Edit.

  Note

  • Your payment processor may not allow you to change certain online payee information.
  • Renaming rules won't affect online payee names stored in the Online Payee List or used to create payment instructions.

• To delete an online payee
  1. Choose Tools menu > Online Payee List.
  2. Select the payee that you want to delete.
  3. Click Delete.

  Note:

  You can only delete an online payee for whom there are no pending payments. If you delete a payee, any transactions associated with that payee still remain in your register.

• To see a spending report for an online payee
  1. Choose Tools menu > Online Payee List.
  2. Select the payee that you want to see a for.
  3. Click Report. Your report includes information about the online payee and the payments you've made to it, including date, account, check number, status, category, amount, and more.

When setting up an online payment, you can either pay a single bill (a one-time payment), or you can create a repeating online payment series (to make the same payment, at the same interval, for as long as you like).

• Create a one-time payment

  Use Quicken to create payment instructions for one or more future payments (for example, your telephone and car insurance), and then send all your instructions to your financial institution in one Internet session. This is different from a repeating online payment.

  If you use an online bill payment service provided by your brokerage, and you want to create a scheduled bill or a recurring online payment for any of your regular cash transactions, you must add a linked checking account to your brokerage account. Alternatively, you can use the Quicken Bill Pay website for these transactions and keep your cash transactions in the investment transaction list.

  1. Open the account from which you want to make the payment.
  2. In the Num field, select Send Online Payment.
  3. Enter either a processing date or a delivery date.
     Depending on your payment processor, Quicken requests either a processing date or a delivery date. Also depending on your payment processor, you may be able to skip this field and let Quicken calculate the earliest date for you.
  4. Enter the payee name.
  5. Enter the amount of the payment.
  6. Enter a category.
  7. Enter a memo. (Optional)
     The contents of the Memo field may not be included on any physical check printed. Depending on the payment processor used by your financial institution, the memo may or may not be sent to your financial institution and/or to the payee. Contact your financial institution to see how memos are handled.
  8. Click Save.
  9. Choose Tools menu > One Step Update.
  10. Click Update Now.
      • Make sure the payment instructions are selected.
      • You may also need to enter a password for this financial institution.

• Create a repeating online payment series

  A repeating online payment creates a series of payments on a schedule you determine. This is different from a one-time payment.

  If you use an online bill payment service provided by your brokerage, and you want to create a scheduled bill or a recurring online payment for any of your regular cash transactions, you must add a linked checking account to your brokerage account. Alternatively, you can use the Quicken Bill Pay website for these transactions and keep your cash transactions in the investment transaction list.

  1. Add a bill reminder as you normally do, making sure that you select the options described below.
  2. In the From Account field, select an account that is activated for online bill pay.
  3. To the right of the From Account field, select Use Online Bill Pay.
     If the Use Online Bill Pay option doesn't appear, make sure that the account selected in the From account field is activated for online bill payment.
  4. In the Optional Settings area, select Make this a repeating online payment.
  5. Click Done.
     When you click Done, the payment instruction is listed in the Bill & Income Reminders List (Repeating Online tab) and in the One Step Update window. It is not listed on the Online Center Payments tab.
  6. Choose Tools menu > One Step Update.
  7. Click Update Now.

  Note: Repeating online payments won't appear in a Quicken register or transaction list when you set up the payment series. The individual payments in the series will be downloaded and entered in Quicken as they are processed.

You can rely on your financial institution and its processor to make payments as you've instructed. Payment status, available from the Payments tab in the Online Center, shows you whether the payment is being sent electronically or via postal check, when the payment is scheduled to be sent or has already been sent, and so on (the exact information displayed depends on what is supported by your online payment service provider). This status information is current as of the last time you downloaded transactions and payment information for this financial institution. If there appears to be a problem, you can make an inquiry about a specific payment.

1. Choose Tools menu > Online Center.
2. Select the financial institution that provides your bill pay service. If Quicken Bill Bay is your online payment service provider, select Quicken Bill Pay.
3. On the Payments tab, a brief status for each payment is included in the row where the payment is listed.

To check the status of a payment

1. To view additional detail, click the payment's status link.
2. The date as of which this information was obtained is listed on the Payment Status window's title bar. If you need more recent information, click Update Status (The Update Status option is available only for participating financial institutions).
3. You may be asked to enter your password for this financial institution, or for your Password Vault.
4. Click Update Now.
5. Once the online session has finished, the latest information about that payment is shown in the One Step Update Summary window. If you don't see this window, choose Tools menu > One Step Update Summary.

To inquire about an online payment

It may take a few days for your payee to process the payment after delivery and a few days more for the financial institution to post the transaction to your account. Also, depending on the processor your financial institution uses, the money may be removed from your account several days before the payment is delivered or the check is cashed.

1. Select the payment you wish to inquire about.
2. Click Create E-mail.
3. Enter a message.
4. Click OK.
5. Click Update/Send to send the e-mail.
6. You may need to enter a password for this financial institution.

Note: This status information shown on the Payments tab in the Online Center is current as of the last time you downloaded transactions and payment information for this financial institution.

You can cancel any single online payment instruction up to its processing date (which is the delivery date minus the lead time). You can also cancel one payment in a series of repeating online payments or all pending and future payments for a repeating online payment instruction.

If you cancel a single repeating online payment that you've designated as a loan payment, Quicken adjusts your loan calculations to show that you didn't make the payment.

1. Choose Tools menu > Online Center.
2. Select the financial institution from which the payment is drawn.
3. Select the account from which the payment is drawn.
4. On the Payments tab, in the payment status list, select the payment you want to cancel.
   The payment appears in the status list only if the date is within 30 days before the delivery date and you've gone online recently to retrieve the payment instruction.
5. To cancel either a one-time payment, or just one payment from a repeating payment series, click Cancel Payment.
6. Next, Quicken determines whether there is time to cancel the payment based on the lead time.

To cancel an entire repeating payment series

1. Choose Tools menu > Manage Bill & Income Reminders.
2. On the Repeating Online tab, select the payment series you want to delete.
3. Click Delete, and then click Delete again to confirm.
4. Click Update/Send.

Depending on your financial institution, you may be able to change the amount and number of payments remaining for a repeating payment series. If you change the amount or duration after an instruction has been sent to your financial institution, you must send the changed instruction to replace the original one (follow the steps in the main part of this topic). If you want to change other information, or if your financial institution doesn't allow you to change these items, you'll need to delete the repeating online payment instruction, set up a new one, and resend it.

For one-time payments, note that you can't change the amount. You first need to delete the existing payment instruction, then create a new one, and resend it.

1. Choose Tools menu > Manage Bill & Income Reminders.
2. On the Repeating Online tab, select the transaction you want to change.
3. Click Edit.
4. Enter a new amount or number of payments.
5. Click Accept.
6. Click Update/Send.

1. Choose Tools menu > Online Center.
2. If necessary, choose the applicable financial institution and account.
3. On the Payments tab, click Update/Send.
4. Select the Bring my payment information up to date check box.
5. Enter your password.
6. Click Update Now.

Lead time is the number of business days it takes from processing the online payment instruction to when the payee receives payment. Lead time varies by payee and is stored in the Online Payee List.

1. Choose Tools menu > Online Center > Payees.
2. Refer to the Lead Time column for the payee in question.
3. For more information, contact your financial institution.