Quicken Bill Manager & Existing Transactions

wrnoof

I set up the new Bill Manager and tried to pay a bill but got the message "Existing transactions may not be converted to payment transactions. Please enter a new transaction." To enter a new transaction, I tried copying and pasting the existing entry, but I get the same message when I select "Pay" under the Check # column.

My Quicken is set up to enter recurring bills and reminders 45 days in advance so I can project my payment account balances. When the time comes, I select "Send" under the Check # column and pay the bill. It appears I can no longer enter a payment one day and send it on another. It seems I must create an entirely new payment and commit to a delivery date the first time I enter it into the register. No going back later to enter the delivery date. And, creating new or original transactions can be a bit tricky for split transactions such as mortagage payments where the P/I split was already calculated in the "Existing transaction." How do I set up those advance entries so I can pay them with Bill Manager once Quicken Bill Pay expires? That is, enter the bill/reminder in advance and send the payment at a later time.

jrich75

wrnoof said:

After messing around with this for a bit, it seems the only way to transmit a payment for future delivery in Bill Manager is with Check Pay. Quick Pay sends the payment immediately and does not allow for delayed or scheduled future payment. This is different than Quicken Bill Pay, which allows future scheduling of an electronic funds transfer (EFT). Do I have this right?

You should be able to schedule Quick Pay payments as well but the payee must be set up as an Online Biller.  There may be a limit of how far ahead you can schedule it depending on the biller.  The Quick Pay window is shown below:

jrich75

First, could you let us know which version and build you're using (Help, About Quicken).
Also, please clarify that you are actually entering the transactions 45 days in advance.  I have reminders displayed in my register 30 days in advance but they have not yet been entered (they have a little clock in the status column).  For those reminders, right clicking the check# field brings up something like the following:
The display changes depending on which payment options are set up for the reminder/payee.  You can set up upcoming reminders to display in any register using the gear, Reminders to show in Register.

wrnoof

Version: R27.42; Release: 27.1.27.42.
I have seen the display you show in your post on some of my transactions, but none of that is displaying now. When transactions with the gear do appear in the register, I have been unable to edit them. The transactions I am currently trying to pay with Bill Manager do not display the option you show. I don't see a gear with "Reminders to show in Register." Where does it show up? When I edit my reminders, there is an option for "Allow paying with Check Pay (edit)" that is greyed out and cannot be selected. I am pretty sure transactions entered through my reminders are, in fact, actually entered and am not sure how to change that. BTW, thanks for the response.

jrich75

OK.  Usually you select the payment type/process when you enter the reminder into the register.  (I realize the Quicken Billpay allowed you to add Send in the Check# field and it would generate a payment on the next update but I don't believe there is a similar process with Bill Manager).  It would help if you could post screen shots to help clarify what options you do have. 
So, the gear I am referring to us in the payment account register display upper right hand side, opposite the account  name (it applies to the whole register, not a individual transaction).  Second, when you edit the transactions, do they indicate that auto enter 45 days in advance is turned on (toward the bottom left side)? 
Also, is there a status symbol column showing in the register (usually the far left had side - see image).

The little clock indicates a reminder not yet entered, the pencil is a reminder that has already been entered.  If you don't have the status column, you can turn it on in the register using that same gear and Register Columns.  

wrnoof

I think I have part of this figured out. When I edit the reminder on the screen that says "Edit Bill Reminder" or "Edit Loan Payment Reminder", the "Auto enter . . ." optional setting in the lower left of the screen must be set to "Remind me xx days in advance." The option "Automatically enter the transaction in the register" creates an "existing transaction" in the register and, thus, eliminates the option of using Bill Manager to transmit the payment. When I use the first option, the gear and choices you first described appear on the transaction line in the payment register as well as the gear in the upper right corner of the register.

After messing around with this for a bit, it seems the only way to transmit a payment for future delivery in Bill Manager is with Check Pay. Quick Pay sends the payment immediately and does not allow for delayed or scheduled future payment. This is different than Quicken Bill Pay, which allows future scheduling of an electronic funds transfer (EFT). Do I have this right?

jrich75

wrnoof said:

After messing around with this for a bit, it seems the only way to transmit a payment for future delivery in Bill Manager is with Check Pay. Quick Pay sends the payment immediately and does not allow for delayed or scheduled future payment. This is different than Quicken Bill Pay, which allows future scheduling of an electronic funds transfer (EFT). Do I have this right?

You should be able to schedule Quick Pay payments as well but the payee must be set up as an Online Biller.  There may be a limit of how far ahead you can schedule it depending on the biller.  The Quick Pay window is shown below:

wrnoof

Thank you for all your help. I seem to have this under control for now.

FYI, one thing I have noticed is Quicken is a bit sketchy in trying to set up my two mortgage payments. One of the mortgage billers does not provide enough online information to use Quick Pay although Quick Pay is an option when I right click on the reminder in the payment account register. The message from Quicken says to click “Refresh Bill” on the drop down menu. I found “Refresh Bill” in the Bills & Income tab, but that did not work. So, I tried to enable Check Pay by editing the reminder. When I click “Allow paying with Check Pay” in the lower part of the reminder window, sometimes it copies the mailing address from Bill Pay and sometimes it says the biller address and account number are already in use. If the mailing address is accepted, the option to use Check Pay when I right-click on the reminder in the register is then available, and I was able to schedule a mailed check.

For the other mortgage biller, Quick Pay is available but the biller does not want the payment scheduled for another five days. So, I will just wait a bit and try again. This new payment system is a different world, and, right now, it does not seem as smooth as Bill Pay although I suspect things will get ironed out.

Again, thanks again for leading my by the hand through all of this.