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Cannot add online payee because it already exists

Charlie@

Short version - I got my Quicken mortgage payment out of sync with a repeating online payment at my bank, and after months of trying to fix the interest & premium amounts in Quicken I ended up deleting all of payments & payees and am trying to start over.
So, from my mortgage account --> Edit payment Details --> Payment Options --> check both Loan Reminder and Auto Enter --> this brings up the loan Payment Reminder box. Check "Use Online Bill Pay" and I get the Setup Online Payee box.
Even though I previously deleted the online payee both in Quicken and at my bank, Quicken somehow knows the payee. Even attempting to use a different description, I get the dreaded "the combination of payee name and account number already exists." "To use the existing payee name and account number combination click OK and then click cancel on the setup payee window. Quicken will keep the payee and account combination already entered."
But when I click OK (to dismiss the dialog box), the setup payee window disappears and I am back to the Loan Payment Reminder box. There are 2 choices - if I click 'done' I am just repeating what I previously did. If I click 'cancel' it won't use online bill pay.
How can I get my mortgage payment back to using an online payment - note I really can't change the name of the payee (which is a bank) and I certainly can't change the account number.

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Quicken_Tyka

Hello @Charlie@

The best explanation would be what is stated in this support article.

You may notice that after you've deleted an online payee, the payee reappears in your Online Payee list.

This may happen if your payment processor doesn't allow you to delete online payee information. In this case, Quicken adds the payee back to your Online Payee List. This way, Quicken maintains a complete list of all your online payees.

I hope this helps to clarify!

-Quicken Tyka

All comments

GeoffG

You can add a description that will make the online payee unique. The payee will reflect the name and add {descripiton} to the name. Select edit to add a description.
This is also a good way to handle auto and home insurance for the same payee.

Charlie@

Thanks, but I did try that and it still gave me the same result.

Quicken_Tyka

Hello @Charlie@

Thank you for the response, although I apologize that you are still experiencing this trouble.

I have a few questions to better help me understand what could be happening.

First, please navigate to Help > About Quicken and provide the release that you are currently running?

To clarify, have you previously been using Quicken to schedule the loan payment? I am unsure as you mention that it is out sync with a repeating an online payment, is this meaning that this taken out automatically and you use Quicken to track the reminder?

Please let me know!

-Quicken Tyka

Charlie@

Currently on R28.24, but was on R28.23 a few days ago when I had the issue.
So for many years the mortgage was paid via an online bill. The reminder popped up in my checking account register 5 days before it was due, and the next online update posted it to my bank (BofA). But because we travel a lot and there have been frequent power failures I could not be sure my PC would be online and the monthly payment might not get uploaded to BofA. So back about 6 months ago I noticed that BofA offered a repeating bill pay, and I set up the remaining payments from there, and changed the payment in Quicken from online bill pay to a reminder only. The unintended side effect of that was that Quicken then thought there were duplicate mortgage payments (even after I deleted the extra transactions from the checking account register). The interest vs principal in the mortgage payment got all screwed up. It took me a lot of time to get that straightened out.
So I cancelled the repeating payment from BofA and then attempted to change the Quicken reminder back to an online payment. This is when I encountered the issue of this thread.
I'm just trying to make my mortgage payments automatic and foolproof. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Quicken_Tyka

Hello @Charlie@

Thank you for the additional details, I better understand what is happening now.

I am unable to isolate if the issue is from the payee or the loan account

If you navigate to Tools > Online Payee List, Are you able to select this? Also, do you see the payee in question listed here?

Have you tried scheduling this payment in either the register or in the bills tab to see if you are able to do so outside of the loan?

Please let me know!
-Quicken Tyka

Charlie@

Upon my first attempt to change back to an online payment I received the error that the payee already existed. I then tried changing the payee description but still got the error. So I deleted the payee, did a one step update to make sure the payee got deleted at my bank, and then attempted to change the mortgage payment back to an online payment. But I still got the already exists error.
Yes I did try from the bills tab but got the same error. I did not try from the register, although I suspect the same error would occur.
Here is an update: After three days lapsed I tried again to convert back to an online bill. This time it allowed me to create the new payee and it worked the way it should. I wonder if the "old" online payee isn't deleted in Quicken right away and why that would be the case?

Quicken_Tyka

Hello @Charlie@

The best explanation would be what is stated in this support article.

You may notice that after you've deleted an online payee, the payee reappears in your Online Payee list.

I hope this helps to clarify!

-Quicken Tyka

Charlie@

Thanks!