Quick Pay Needs a major overhaul or should be Replaced.

Dennis6@

I have been a Quicken user for more than 25 years and have paid my bills with the system for the whole time.

When Quicken went with the new bill manager a few years ago I switched to that system as soon it was available. I had to start paying $9.95 per month but did not argue because of what were supposed to be new benefits, Quick Pay being maybe the biggest.

Unfortunately, I am now at the point where I think Quick Pay is not a dependable option and users should be able to go back to just Check Pay at no monthly charge. I have had so many different problems with Quick Pay with virtually all of my billers that I can't list them all here.

The one I just had which caused this rant is that Quicken shows I have an overdue bill to ADT that was due on 6/2/2023 but did not show on Quicken until 6/12/2023. I called ADT to confirm what I already knew and I do not have any payment due. Last week I had problems with AMX and before that, State Farm.

I feel confident that the amount of time I am online with tech support over these problem cost more than the $9.95 per month Quicken is charging me to use the system. I would be OK with paying the $9.95/ month if Quick Pay would actually work properly and dependably. This message is intended for Quicken but from what I can see, I am far from alone with this issue.

UKR

Thank the banks for making changes which practically blow all data aggregation services like Quicken and Intuit as Quicken's service provider out of the water. The banks say that this is for improved security and to protect their systems from international hackers.

If your bank (the one that runs your checking account) recently required you to reauthorize your checking account and/or your bank has changed from "Direct Connect" to either "Express Web Connect" or "Express Web Connect+" you can no longer use Online Bill Pay direct to the bank or Quicken Bill Manager's Quick Pay function. The bank no longer supports this function through Quicken.

You now have these alternatives (in no particular order of preference):

1. Use Quicken Bill Manager's Check Pay making sure to submit payment early enough (at least 3 weeks before due date) to allow time for delivery and processing. Note: limited number of free transactions per month.
2. Logon to the bank's website and schedule your bill pay payments to be executed by the bank from your checking account. In parallel to that, in Quicken use a regular Scheduled Reminder to record your payment. Repeat both actions every time another payment is due.
3. Bypass Bill Manager. Let the biller's computer system do all the work for you. Logon to the biller's website once and set up their Autopay, APS, Direct debit, etc. service to make the current payment and all future payments on Due Date directly from your checking account. In parallel to that, in Quicken, every month, record a regular Scheduled Reminder to keep track of your payments before they come due.
4. Write (or print with Quicken) a paper check and mail it to the biller, making sure to mail payment early enough (at least 10 days before due date) to allow time for delivery and processing.

I've been using method #3 for decades, since before the Internet and bank download capabilities were even introduced. It's easy to get used to this process. And I have yet to miss a single payment.