Quick Pay and Check Pay problems

haiken12

After over 25 years using Quicken to pay my bills, it sadly appears I'm now left with no alternative but to pay bills elsewhere.

Regarding QUICK PAY, after being told since March and the change to Express Web Connect that Quicken is “working on it” and we’ll soon be able to pay bills electronically again, Quicken now tells me I’ll never be able to pay bills electronically to Chase bank, Citibank, TD bank and other similar venues again.

That would be acceptable if there were no problems issuing payment via CHECK PAY (hard copy checks). But payments sent through CHECK PAY are consistently late. It now takes from 3 to 4 weeks for checks to be cut and arrive -- no matter WHO the recipient is or WHERE the recipient is.

As a result, I’ve have several late charges where I never had any before. Quicken used to do such a great job paying bills. But now neither QUICK PAY nor CHECK PAY are reliable.

I’ve spoken with Quicken at least a dozen times since March. I’ve had tickets opened with the escalation team, spoken to supervisors and more Quicken technical support reps than I can count. The result: they simply blame USPS. However, if USPS was causing the delays, at least some checks cut by Quicken would arrive in less than 3 to 4 weeks after they were supposedly cut. Bottom line: if Quicken steadfastly refuses to acknowledge the system is not working as designed, it would appear we're left with no alternatives but to either pay bills a month before they’re actually due (unacceptable), continue to incur late fees (unacceptable) or pay bills through other means. This is a sad commentary from a 25+ year Quicken user.

UKR

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. Many banks no longer support this function through Quicken.

IMHO, you 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.