How do you track a missing payment?

Question

I use Quicken for online banking with Wells Fargo. I sent a bill payment to Farmer's insurance on March 2, and 10 days later Farmer's has not received it. Wells Fargo says that an ACH withdrawal was made on March 2, and they gave me a 14 digit reference number for the transaction. Farmer's has no record of receiving anything. They also say that I have paid my previous bills by check, which is interesting since I have been paying them with Quicken for years. The bank also included a Checkfree code associated with Farmers on this and previous payments (CKF + 10 digits + POS). Is there any way to use Quicken to track where the payment went after it left Wells Fargo?

Frankx · Answer

Hi again @Delta Blues,

We are both of like mind that payment tracking functionality would be useful.

However I am not sure that Quicken could or would be able to do it.  For example, in my case where my bank actually makes the payment and I simply use Quicken to send the payment instructions I have created to my bank, the "sending" part is Quicken's only role.  My bank actually does everything else.  And in the case of Bill Manager - which is a third-party company (i.e. not owned or part of Quicken) - I believe that Quicken's role is the same as above - it transmits the payment instructions to Q Bill Manager and they make the electronic payment or send the paper check.  But certainly the bank (in my case) and very likely Bill Manager (in that case) must have that data so, theoretically they might be able to provide it to Quicken, but that is complete supposition on my part - a total guess - and if I am completely wrong about that I am sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in here.

Back to your situation...  If I were you I would call the bank and ask them to send you some written proof that the payment was actually made.  Then, if Farmers comes to you looking for its money, at least you'll have something more than your Quicken data file to support your case.

Hope this helps.  Do let us know whet happens.

Frankx

Delta Blues · Answer

Hi @Frankx

Thanks - that's consistent with how I thought the Wells Fargo system worked as well. The bill pay function runs as an add-on in Quicken, with an interface that's slightly different from the standard Quicken Bill Manager. In this case the bank says that the payment is complete as far as their system is concerned, but Farmer's says it has no record of it. As you say, with a $10 package I can see that it got put on a truck in Chicago and is now lost in a warehouse in Reno, but there doesn't seem to be an equivalent in this case for a $1000 check, even though there are transaction numbers along the way. The options appear to be
 1) Wells Fargo still has the money but thinks it doesn't
 2) Farmer's has the money but doesn't realize it
 3) It's lost somewhere in the middle
 #1 seems unlikely at this point, but I don't know how to figure out whether it's #2 or #3. If Quicken could add tracking functionality it would be very useful.

UKR · Answer

About your Bill Pay / Bill Manager issues

My 2cents' worth, if
I may: 

I don't use Bill Pay / Bill Manager at all, neither the one from Quicken nor
the one offered by my bank. Since time "B.I." (before the Internet
was invented) I have set up almost all of my recurring payments as Direct
Debit, PAC Draft, Autopay, APS, whatever the biller calls it. I just authorized
the biller to electronically debit the payment directly from my checking or
credit card account on due date, sit back, relax and wait for it to happen.

When I get notified
of a new statement having arrived, usually by email, all I have to do in
Quicken is to run a regular scheduled reminder to record the transaction.
Haven't missed a payment in many years.