How can I make Bill Manager use an existing Payee address for Check Pay the first time?

feistmann

I have used Payees with addresses recorded in BillPay for years. Now when I want to use Check Pay to make a payment to these same Payees, I can't find a way to avoid re-entering their addresses the first time I pay them for Check Pay.

Can I avoid that?

Sherlock

If you haven't already, you review Step 5: https://www.quicken.com/support/how-move-quicken-bill-pay-quicken-bill-manager

feistmann

I did that, but the "Copy info from Billpay" box shown there doesn't appear in my program.

jrich75

Unfortunately, if you were using Quicken BillPay, your online payee information is gone.  https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7880501/wheres-my-quicken-bill-payment-payees-quickenbillpay-com#latest
If by chance you were using printed checks or your banks billpay system via Direct Connect that information should still be available.

Sherlock

feistmann said:

I did that, but the "Copy info from Billpay" box shown there doesn't appear in my program.

Did you select an account that's enabled for Check Pay in the From account dropdown list?

feistmann

Please give me more info about how to do that. I have enabled my bank account for Check Pay, if that's what you mean, and have paid a couple of bills that way, but I had to input addresses manually.

Sherlock

feistmann said:

Please give me more info about how to do that. I have enabled my bank account for Check Pay, if that's what you mean, and have paid a couple of bills that way, but I had to input addresses manually.

Sorry.  I had misread your response.  I assumed you were viewing a bill reminder and weren't seeing the Allow paying with Check Pay check box.

feistmann

No worries. So do you agree with Jrich75 and the people on the link he posted, that the names, account numbers and addresses of all Billpay payees are lost and must be manually re-entered by Bill Manager users of CheckPay?

If so, incredible that Quicken could not find a workaround with all the notice they had.

Sherlock

feistmann said:

No worries. So do you agree with Jrich75 and the people on the link he posted, that the names, account numbers and addresses of all Billpay payees are lost and must be manually re-entered by Bill Manager users of CheckPay?

If so, incredible that Quicken could not find a workaround with all the notice they had.

The link refers to a user that was not using Quicken.  If you were using Quicken, I think the online payees should be in the Online Payee List and be available for import to a Check Pay payee.  I don't have an environment in which test my understanding but @jrich75 may.

jrich75

Sherlock said:

If you were using Quicken, I think the online payees should be in the Online Payee List and be available for import to a Check Pay payee.  I don't have an environment in which test my understanding but @jrich75 may.

I discontinued Quicken BillPay (deactivated my payment accounts & removed the check from reminders that accessed QBP) before 8/31.  When I did, my online payee list went away (Quicken BillPay - New no longer showing as FI & an empty list).  Fortunately, I had set up my Check Pay payees prior to that but I no longer have access to the list to set up any new Check Pay payees.

Sherlock

jrich75 said:

Sherlock said:

If you were using Quicken, I think the online payees should be in the Online Payee List and be available for import to a Check Pay payee.  I don't have an environment in which test my understanding but @jrich75 may.

I discontinued Quicken BillPay (deactivated my payment accounts & removed the check from reminders that accessed QBP) before 8/31.  When I did, my online payee list went away (Quicken BillPay - New no longer showing as FI & an empty list).  Fortunately, I had set up my Check Pay payees prior to that but I no longer have access to the list to set up any new Check Pay payees.

@jrich  If you have a backup saved prior to when you discontinued Quicken Bill Pay, you may be still able to confirm whether the online payees remain available on the Online Payee List.

feistmann

I just discovered that Tools>Memorized Payee List has all the online payees from Billpay. The problem is, I can't figure out how to use them. If I go to the check register in the bank account I use to pay bills, and fill in a payee I have long use, the name comes up like it should, I can successfully fill in the amount, and the correct budget category is listed. However, when I go to the drop down menu to the left of the payee name, and choose Pay (Quick Pay/Check Pay), a window comes up with two payees I have already set up, and a "New" option. When I click on "New", there's a drop down with a "Add Check Pay Payee" option. When I click on that, I get an "Add Payee" window that asks for the name of the payee, account number and address, even though the payee is already listed in the register item. The only way I can find to complete the transaction is to fill in all that data, which already exists in the Memorized Payee List. Surely there's a way to import that data.

jrich75

Sherlock said:

@jrich  If you have a backup saved prior to when you discontinued Quicken Bill Pay, you may be still able to confirm whether the online payees remain available on the Online Payee List.

Good suggestion.  I was able to restore a backup from July and the Online Payee list is still intact.  I was also able to create a new Check Pay payee from an expired credit card so it's possible.  I guess, depending on how many payees you have, it might be easier to restore a backup or if there were a way to export/print the list, save the data for manual entry.  

Sherlock

jrich75 said:

Sherlock said:

@jrich  If you have a backup saved prior to when you discontinued Quicken Bill Pay, you may be still able to confirm whether the online payees remain available on the Online Payee List.

Good suggestion.  I was able to restore a backup from July and the Online Payee list is still intact.  I was also able to create a new Check Pay payee from an expired credit card so it's possible.  I guess, depending on how many payees you have, it might be easier to restore a backup or if there were a way to export/print the list, save the data for manual entry.  

@jrich75  Thank you for confirming my understanding.

feistmann

See my preceding comment. The list is still there after Billpay is closed and gone, in Tools>Memorized Payee List. The problem is I don't know how to make a payee from that last work as a Check Pay payee, short of refilling all that payee's info, which defeats the purpose.

jrich75

feistmann said:

The only way I can find to complete the transaction is to fill in all that data, which already exists in the Memorized Payee List. Surely there's a way to import that data.

In my restored backup, I still had the transfer from Billpay button available.  I accessed the add Check Pay payee feature from the Bills & Income tab, Bills view set to Biller Name and Check Payees.  Not sure if that will make a difference for you.

feistmann

An image of the problem is attached

Sherlock

feistmann said:

See my preceding comment. The list is still there after Billpay is closed and gone, in Tools>Memorized Payee List. The problem is I don't know how to make a payee from that last work as a Check Pay payee, short of refilling all that payee's info, which defeats the purpose.

Is the payee on the Online Payee List (select Tools > Online Payee List)?

jrich75

@feistmann, I see the same Add Payee form as you show in my current data file.  However, here is how the form appears in my restored backup file:

feistmann

I love that idea, but I've already paid some bills, and have bills to pay at the end of September. I do have backups going back some time, but if I restore them, won't I lose the correct current balance, the bills I've paid, and the ability to pay at month end?

Thanks for sticking with me on this.

jrich75

Depending on how far back you need to go.  It might be easier to just manually copy and paste from the Online Payees List since you still have it.  If you open the list, can you edit a payee to see the address and related information?  I don't believe there is a way to export or print the OPL with included addresses. 

feistmann

It sounds like copy and paste is the best of bad solutions, but thanks for helping.

feistmann

FYI, I just spoke with Quicken, and they say the "Copy info from Billpay" box should appear, but there is a problem on their end with that, and they expect to have it fixed within a few days.

dkaicke

Bill Pay terminated access to Quicken users O/A Sep 1, 2020. This is only my theory, but IMO, we're now stuck with an orphaned table, due to the fact that we have lost access to the underlying data (Online Payee List, located at Bill Pay). There may have been a time when we could import data from Bill Pay, but not today.

Sherlock

feistmann said:

FYI, I just spoke with Quicken, and they say the "Copy info from Billpay" box should appear, but there is a problem on their end with that, and they expect to have it fixed within a few days.

You may want to bookmark: https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7880595/new-9-8-20-online-payee-list-blank-or-unable-to-copy-online-payees#latest

gsjones

It would have been nice if Quicken had said something sooner about a bug. I have been fighting with this since Sept 1. In the meantime I have bills to pay so have resorted to my banks electronic bill pay. I have yet to pay anything in Quicken this month either electronically or by check and seen proof that it successfully worked. I have reached the point where if it's a signficant amount of money I won't even trust Quicken enough to make a payment that way. Before September, I had not linked any of my bills, but now it seems that you can't pay anything electronically unless you link your bills. I want my reminder list to show an amount and date that I have given it not what the electronic bill says.
Take for example a credit card. I make payments all the time that are different from the bill due date or the balance on the account. If there is no outstanding bill then the reminder is kind of useless.
Another thing is that on my home page I have a view of Bill and Income Reminders. Yet on the menu Bills and Income are separated: Bills
Income & Transfer
Projected Balance
I have bills listed on the home page in Bill and Income Reminders that are not listed on the Bills page off the menu. Why don't they match?
Payments were much simpler in Bill Pay. You just entered Send on everything and the system sorted out electronic from check payment. I keep wondering is this conversion that bad or is it the lack of instruction that makes it so bad. Feels good to vent some...I think linking the bills just made it worse. Almost everyone one I pay is sending me a bill in email already.

gsjones

After I posted I realized why the 2 reminder lists didn't match. So there isn't a problem there just had to change the view option off the menu list.