I am having issues with checks paying through Check Pay taking 2-3 weeks to pay/arrive.

xflyboy11

It's nice to now have the feature of when to send a check but even if I have the check sent immediately it is not arriving by the time the bill is due. This has occurred with bills for Scana Energy, Georgia Power and my water bill.

xflyboy11

Thanks UKR for the comment and that solution would work; however, the reason I am doing it the way I was doing it was that I don't want my information out there on multiple websites who I am guessing may not take privacy/security as seriously as Quicken.

Also agree with Jacobs that if 3 week is within expected delays, the service is of no value to me. I could immediately schedule payment and still get hit with a delay charge from the vendor.

jacobs

@xflyboy11. You get more Quick Pay payments per month than you do Check Pay payments. (Quick Pay has to be cheaper for Quicken, because there’s no physical check to print and mail.) You get 12 Quick Pay and 5 Check Pay payments each month before you run out or need to buy additional payments.

Quicken_Tyka

Hello @xflyboy11

Thank you for taking the time to share the details of your experience and feedback with the Community, although I apologize that you have not yet received a response.

Check pay payments are mailed via USPS and due to ongoing postal delays, some payments may be delayed in delivery.

How many days did it take for the check to reach the payee(s)? 
 
Please let me know!

-Quicken Tyka

xflyboy11

My last check request mailed on the 17th of February still has not reached the payee. The other three took over 3 weeks.

Quicken_Tyka

Hello @xflyboy11

Thank you for the response and the additional details. Can you please provide the exact dates of these checks. 

Please provide the date scheduled and the date arrived. This information will help us to investigate the issue further.

Thank you,
-Quicken Tyka

xflyboy11

Check # 90109 mailed on 1/15, arrived on 2/4
Check # 90110 mailed on 2/8, arrived 2/16
Check # 90111 mailed on 2/23, not yet arrived

Thanks

Quicken_Tyka

Hello @xflyboy11

Thank you for providing the exact dates. While this is frustrating, these dates fall within the expected delays currently being experienced with USPS.

We do not have any ability to resolve or escalate these issues to correct the delays associated with USPS. I apologize for not having better news.

-Quicken Tyka

xflyboy11

This tells me that I should then go through my bank or with the providers website rather than using Quicken. Can't have all of my payments arriving late. Believe you charge extra for electronic payments after a certain amount, correct?

UKR

In addition to delays in the Postal Service, there can also be delays in the processing of your paper check by the utilities company ... the virus and working from home and/or not being able to properly staff the payment processing offices ...

To avoid these delays and possibly resulting late charges, how about this:
Allow the utilities company to debit the payment directly from your checking or credit card account on due date, sit back, relax and wait for it to happen. That service is referred to as Direct Debit, PAC Draft, Autopay, APS or similar and you should be able to set it up thru their websites.

jacobs

xflyboy11 said:

Check # 90109 mailed on 1/15, arrived on 2/4

Quicken_Tyka said:

Thank you for providing the exact dates. While this is frustrating, these dates fall within the expected delays currently being experienced with USPS.

@Quicken_Tyka  If three weeks still falls within "expected delays" for USPS payments, then shouldn't Quicken be warning users that that Check Pay should not be used? Most companies provide about 3 weeks between a statement date and a due date. You're saying that even a bill paid immediately upon issuance (not to mention if received days later in the mail) cannot be counted on to be paid on time via Check Pay because the window of time needed to be allowed is greater than three weeks? Why is Quicken not actively discouraging users from using Bill Pay, or disabling the feature entirely if postal mail is considered that unreliable?

xflyboy11

Thanks UKR for the comment and that solution would work; however, the reason I am doing it the way I was doing it was that I don't want my information out there on multiple websites who I am guessing may not take privacy/security as seriously as Quicken.

Also agree with Jacobs that if 3 week is within expected delays, the service is of no value to me. I could immediately schedule payment and still get hit with a delay charge from the vendor.

Quicken_Tyka

Hello all,

I wanted to clarify a few details and provide some more information. First, 3 weeks should not be the expected delay time and is abnormal. I apologize for the confusion.

I wanted to clarify a few different time frames being discussed. Quicken provides an estimated time frame of when the check will arrive, this is the estimated delivery date. There is also the full payment cycle from when the bill is entered to be sent to the point of arrival.

The following are the checks with the estimated dates and explanations. 

Check # 90109 mailed on 1/15, arrived on 2/4

The estimated time frame for this check to arrive was 2/3. This is the day after it was expected to arrive. However, that this took 19 days is from 1/15 is unusual and was reported.

Check # 90110 mailed on 2/8, arrived 2/16

This check was estimated to be delivered on the 11th, the 16th is 5 days after that date and is within the expected delay time frame.

Check # 90111 mailed on 2/23 is estimated to have been delivered by 3/1. Has this check arrived?

These bills in question are also available in Quick Pay, although I did see hesitation about this from the OP. I believe it's important to note this option for anyone that may come across this thread. Quickpay is available to make same-day payments if the biller is supported.

I hope this helps to clarify, please let us know if you have any additional questions.

-Quicken Tyka

jacobs

@Quicken_Tyka  I'm not a Check Pay user, so it would be helpful to me, and likely other users, to know what the time period is from the moment a user submits a Check Pay request in Quicken to when the check is printed and mailed. Also, does Quicken's provider mail from one location (if so, where?) or multiple locations around the country?

I think everyone understands there have been ongoing problems with the US Postal Service not delivering mail as quickly as it once did, but if people know that checks are mailed on (for instance) the second business day after submission, and where they're mailed from, people should have a reasonable estimation of when they should arrive -- typically 2-5 days after mailing, depending on the distance, and adding a few days in the current environment for USPS delays.

Thanks. 

xflyboy11

Thanks for the response on the check delivery times. The dates that are shown were not the estimated arrival dates when I submitted them for payment. I wouldn't submit a check request with a 2 to 3 week delivery time.

Check 9011 did arrive on the 12th of March, 19 days after it was mailed.

I would gladly use Quick Pay if there wasn't a limit on the amount of bills that could be paid without an additional charge, which is my understanding that there is a limit. I have the luxury of being able to use my bank without a limit to the amount of bills I pay.

jacobs

@xflyboy11. You get more Quick Pay payments per month than you do Check Pay payments. (Quick Pay has to be cheaper for Quicken, because there’s no physical check to print and mail.) You get 12 Quick Pay and 5 Check Pay payments each month before you run out or need to buy additional payments.

xflyboy11

Thanks Jacob. Had it backwards. This makes sense.

jgkrause

Check Pay is useless. Nothing is ever delivered on time, status showing delivered to USPS takes any accountability out of the providers hands and puts it on my shoulders. The USPS delay "excuse" is getting old. I have yet to have a single payment not only never arrive, but just simply disappear. I've been using Quicken since 1990. I will not be renewing go forward. Riddled with too many problems.

UKR

jgkrause said:

Check Pay is useless. Nothing is ever delivered on time, status showing delivered to USPS takes any accountability out of the providers hands and puts it on my shoulders. The USPS delay "excuse" is getting old. I have yet to have a single payment not only never arrive, but just simply disappear. I've been using Quicken since 1990. I will not be renewing go forward. Riddled with too many problems.

I repeat my earlier comment. If, as you say, Check Pay is useless for you, use an alternative payment method, one that's more reliable and makes the biller do all the work for you.

Instead of fighting this windmill, to avoid missed payments, I recommend you logon directly to the biller's website and authorize them to direct debit the next and perhaps all future payments from your checking account or a credit card. The biller will make an electronic debit on the due date and you don't have to worry about being late. In Quicken just record a scheduled reminder that does not execute as an online payment into your account register on or before the Due Date and before you download transactions from the bank or credit card containing the debit transaction. That will allow Quicken to match your register transaction to the downloaded data and not cause any further issues.

Chris_QPW

If you don't like setting up automatic payments on the biller's site how about you just use the billing system from your own financial institution?

OK it is slightly more work since you have to put it into both that site and Quicken (as a reminder), but especially if you setup the repeating ones it should be that bad.  Certainly better than relying on Quicken Bill Pay which is a mess.

Personally I setup all my bills on the biller's websites like @UKR is suggesting.  With very few exceptions I can set these up to pay from my credit card.  Not only do I get money back on that card, it means that if I ever see a bad payment I can dispute it and get a different credit card.  I use one credit card for online payments and another for in person payments.  That way I can lock/change either without affecting the other.  The only payments coming directly out of my checking account is my utilities and my HOA.  This also gives me 20 to 30 days notice for the payment on the credit card, which is also automatically paid from my checking account.  Which makes cashflow into my checking account that much easier.

And I have been doing this for over 20 years without any problems.  I have had a few cards closed because of "unknown bills", but none of them have ever been related to paying my billers.

JBaksha21

I have noted check pay somehow misprints the FIM code so mail is delayed. The misprint is a check pay problem not the USPS. Problem I am having is support has no idea what I am talking about.