Can I just stop Quick Pay for ever???

jcoley2

Here is what happened: I had been using Chase for 2+ decades paying bills via simply entering them into my Chase check register and paying them. I never gave any thought to whether this was Check Pay or Quick Pay—it just worked seamlessly for me. (I am not even sure way back when I started this there was any discussion about the two different systems.)

About 18 months ago we were notified by Chase that they would no longer support this model and I decided to move on from Chase (as my primary bank for 30+ years) and we signed up for Wells Fargo as our new bank. I signed up for what I thought was the same check paying service method I had at Chase but apparently since I was not "educated", I ended up signing up for Quick Pay.

I migrated almost all my monthly bills over there and was paying them I thought just fine when I received the email or notification last year I had hit the limit of free checks and I needed to start paying for each check.

This is when the lightbulb went off and I went to the Forums here and educated myself about the two different methodologies. I have since now gone in and updated all my Bill Reminders to use Check Pay.

Here is my dilemma: every once and awhile I notice I pay with Quick Pay. I see this by the check number assigned to my check which is a 5-digit long check number as opposed to the normal 4-digit check number I get with Bill Pay. I want to delete all Quick Pay and somehow turn it off—how do I do this?

I have gone into the "BILLS & INCOME" tab and attempted to delete them and in some cases I was able to, but in other cases Quicken will not allow me to delete them. Here is an example of some Quick Pay payees (which I also use in Check Pay) I cannot delete.

Screenshot 2024-06-24 at 10.43.04 AM.png

Admittedly I find this whole topic very confusing so I would be grateful if someone could help ,e step by step rectify my situation. Thank you in advance.

UKR

The following is a "canned text" I have posted numerous times before. It is similar to your situation and shows you a solution to your dilemma. Please read, review and come to your own conclusions.

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.

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. Every month 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 (or credit card company'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 transaction download capabilities were even introduced. It's easy to get used to this process. And I have yet to miss a single payment.
In a few situations where Autopay is not possible I print voucher checks with Quicken and mail them myself.

NotACPA

All of my credit cards and utilities are paid via Direct Debit (#3 in @UKR's list), and the few bills that don't do that are set up for auto-pay from my broker, Fidelity Investments.

jeeper

I also was a Chase user and paid via the link with Quicken using Direct Connect.
When they changed to EWC+ and the 2-way path was no longer avail -
I opted to revert back to the 2-step manual process….. #2 as above.

Most Quicken entries are setup as Reminders - makes it easy to see the Calendar for payments, deposits, even events.
I have all the pauyees setup in Chase bill payment - and just enter the payment, with the scheduled date.
Same for the Quicken Reminder - enter and done…

Chris_QPW

All good advice but I will add this about the original problem of deleting the bills. You won’t find any SuperUsers that would actually use that unreliable system and so none will really be able to give any good advice on how to fix it.

My advice would be to contact Quicken support. Hopefully they will be able to help you delete them.

https://www.quicken.com/support#contact-support

Quicken Kristina

Hello @jcoley2,

To clarify, you switched to Wells Fargo so you could use bank bill pay through Quicken (also known as Direct Connect bill pay) and accidentally set up Quick Pay/Check Pay? If that is what happened and you are connected to Wells Fargo using Direct Connect, then you can disable Quicken Bill Manager to prevent it from using Quick Pay/Check Pay.

To do this, go to Tools>Account List, then click the Edit button next to the account(s) you use as your payment account(s). In the Account Details window that comes up, go to the Online Services tab. It will show you the connection method near the upper left. Towards the bottom of the window is an Online bill payment section. Quicken Bill Manager is Quick Pay/Check Pay. Bank Bill Pay is using Direct Connect to send instructions to the financial institution. If they are active, you will see the word "Yes" in the Online Bill Pay column. In the Action column, you should have the option to deactivate any payment method that you do not want to be enabled for that payment account (It would be a blue link that says Deactivate). The sample image below shows what it would look like when you are using bank bill pay through Quicken and have Quick Pay/Check Pay turned off.

I hope this helps!

jcoley2

@Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your note as I am getting totally confused. To be clear what I want to do (not sure what exactly it is called) is to pay the bills via the Wells Fargo Check Register (and what I thought was happening is the the instructions were sent to Wells Fargo whom then cuts checks and mails them.) As you pointed out, below is what Wells Fargo shows under "Online Services":

And just for reference this is what my old Chase Account (still open) shows which I believe now I cannot send checks the same way:

Ok based on what you see I should do what exactly?

Thanks in advance.

Chris_QPW

Terms:

Quicken Bill Manager → Third-party bill payment system that tries to go to the biller's website to schedule the bill to be paid (called QuickPay), if not possible third-party sends check (Check Pay). This system works as a "bill presentment" kind of system, which can be linked to reminders. It works on the Bills tab. You setup bills to be presented/paid on that tab/view

Bank Bill Pay → Quicken sends instructions to your financial institutions to use its bill payment system to pay your bills. This is the same system you used to be using and requires Direct Connect and the financial institution supporting bill payments through Quicken. This is like Quicken being the "GUI" for the financial institution's bill payment system.

For Wells Fargo you have both systems on, you need to turn off Quicken Bill Manager.

Not sure what "wins" when both are on.

Quicken Kristina

Thank you for your reply,

Based on the screenshot you provided, as @Chris_QPW said, you need to turn Quicken Bill Manager off (for that account). To do that, in your Quicken, go to the Bills & Income tab. Click on the gear icon, and select Payment Accounts.

That will bring up a Payment Accounts for Quicken Bill Manager window that will list your eligible bank accounts and show which accounts are enabled (You'll see a green checkmark in the appropriate column if the account is enabled). For any account showing enabled, click on the account to select it, then click the Disable button (the button will not appear until you select the account).

After you click disable, you should see a confirmation pop up. Click OK, and it will disable that account so that it is no longer a payment account with Quicken Bill Manager.

Once all of your accounts show that they are not enabled for Quick Pay and not enabled for Check Pay, click Done.

Once you have completed that, you should not have any accounts enabled to make payments through Quicken Bill Manager.

Note: Since Quicken Bill Manager goes through a 3rd party while Bank Bill Pay uses the Direct Connect connection to send instructions directly to your financial institution, disabling payment accounts from Quicken Bill Manager will not affect your ability to use Bank Bill Pay. It will just ensure that the account cannot be used to send payments through Quicken Bill Manager.

I hope this helps!

jcoley2

@Quicken Kristina @Chris_QPW

Thank you both this is what it looked before I did anything:

This is now what it looks like:

So this brings on two questions:

1. If I want to pay a bill without a reminder, I assume the only way I can do this is to go to Tools>Online Payee List and use one already there or add, correct? That is, I cannot simply do this from the check register (like I used to be able to do with the Chase account).
2. Assuming this is correct, whom determines the lead time for those checks cut for those payees? The reason I ask in in the past I have had Wells Fargo recheck a check since the lead time was not sufficient. I do not see anyway to override that setting for each payee.

Thank you in advance.

Chris_QPW

I have heard of some slight differences between different financial institutions when using Direct Connect/Bill Pay how they update the transaction, but the way it works in Quicken shouldn't change. It has been decades since I used that system, but you should be able to select the "Send" in the check # field when entering the transaction. And the "lead time" should be determined by the financial institution. Like I said the form of bill pay is like Quicken is the "GUI" for your financial institution's bill payment system, so however it works should "show through". Quicken is just using the OFX protocol to get the information from the financial institution's bill payment system (and send information like the payment request and adding billers).

jcoley2

I think we can mark this closed and resolved now.

Quicken Anja

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20441144#Comment_20441144

Hello @jcoley2,

This thread has been closed per your request.

Thank you!