Is Billpay different than paying bills via direct connect?

Question

I use Quicken Premier and pay bills via direct connect.  There is an "online payees" list and checks enter register with "send" where the check number is.  Once I do an online update, "send" is replaced with a check number.  The payment takes a week to reach the payee.

I don't need the enhanced investment tools and am considering moving down to Quicken Deluxe.  In doing so, I lose "Bill Pay" which gives a limited number of online payments and check payments.

Are these two different things?  I pay Wells Fargo $15 for direct connect.

Thanks in advance for insight!

jrich75 · Accepted Answer

Yes, there are two separate payment systems.  You are using a specific Bank's (Wells Fargo) bill pay system which with DC, allows you to schedule payment directly from within Quicken.  What you would lose by downgrading from Primier to Deluxe is the ability to make a number of "free" payments using Bill Manager and Quick Pay or Check Pay.  This is Quicken's replacement for their old Billpay system which was discontinued last year.  Their new payment system has proven to be problematic and it was creating many problems and wasted effort for me so I downgraded from Premier to Deluxe when my subscription was up for renewal last December.  If you decide to downgrade, you can continue to use the Wells Fargo system with Deluxe.  However, you need to be within the last 6 mos of your subscription to downgrade.  Suggest you read through Managing BIlling & Auto-Renew (also Activating a retail purchase) in the following
  https://www.quicken.com/support/quicken-subscription-membership-faqs
I was able to downgrade and extend my subscription using a dvd purchased from Staples but they have changed their faqs and I'm not sure this still works the way it did for me.