Will I ever again be able to pay bills IN QUICKEN to be paid by my Chase checking account?

I assume this has been answered before, but all the notices about Quicken being cut off by Chase didn't seem to address the fact that Chase had basically locked out Quicken for initiating payments. Since the "transition" last year on Chase, I must pay bills online in Chase, then wait for that payment to process and clear at Chase, then download the resulting check (perhaps weeks later), then categorize it in Quicken. Very annoying. Will we ever be able to return to the much more efficient method of entering the payment in Quicken, including categorizing the item, then uploading it to Quicken? (Then download the cleared payment and it automatically matches quickly, already categorized) Now I must enter the payment request at Chase.com, wait for it to clear, then download it from Chase in Quicken, then categorize it. That, of course, means remembering what the payment was for. Or have I just missed the instructions on how to initiate payments via Chase in Quicken?

Answers

  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    You can abandon that hope.

    I enter the transactions into Quicken immediately after paying them through my bank, so there is no waiting and remembering. This also allows me to copy & paste the bank's confirmation number into the memo field of each transaction.

    Quicken user since version 2 for DOS, now using QWin Biz & Personal Subscription (US) on Win10 Pro.

  • CCW
    CCW Member

    Are there other banks that still allow payments initiated in Quicken? I have little allegiance to a bank that forces its users into double entry of transactions.

  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    I think I've heard that PNC Bank still allows direct connect with bill pay but I haven't personally verified that. But who knows how long they will continue to offer it? They're a member of the FDX Consortium so their time with Direct Connect may be limited. You'd have to call and ask them.

    Quicken user since version 2 for DOS, now using QWin Biz & Personal Subscription (US) on Win10 Pro.

  • GeoffG
    GeoffG SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2023

    Don't chase (no pun intended) any bank for Direct Connect. They will all be switched over to EWC+ I'll bet by EOY or sooner. PNC (my bank) is switching from EWC for CCs to EWC+ in the next month or two. Once PNC is comfortable with that migration, I'm sure my checking and savings accounts, both DC will begin migrating to EWC+.

    To answer your original question, you should be making alternative plans for bill payment other than from within Quicken. There are options available.

  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    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 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. 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.

  • Robin Sexton
    Robin Sexton Member

    I have been with PNC for decades, never had a problem with direct pay. Recently moved and decided to change banks and selected Chase. Oh Crap !!! Nothing but problems with syncing Quicken and Chase

  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Robin Sexton - PNC's DC Bank Bill Pay is coming to an end soon. PNC started migrating customers from EWC to EWC+ today. One person posted that his DC was migrated to EWC+ today, as well, but that has not happened with me (all of my accounts are set up with DC in my main file)….yet. Once DC migrates to EWC+ the DC Bank Bill Pay feature will be no more with PNC.

    I know you and some others have had issues with Chase downloading to Quicken with their EWC+ connection. But for my credit card the downloads connection and reliability has been really good. Maybe it is just my situation where I have only 1 Chase account (a credit card) while others have multiple types of accounts? Whatever the situation is, I'd really like to understand why it is that some people have experienced issues while other have not.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R54.16 on Windows 11)

  • LSUK
    LSUK Member

    I have been so disappointed by Quicken - or more specifically - there choice of outsourcing all this Bill paying functionality to a company called 'BILLGO'. Plus, the additional security requirements by various companies (Not just CHASE, but Dominion Energy - my power company) - is causing me to manually setup EFT (chase) or send checks (Dominion) - and track all this manually in Quicken.

    The recent CEO email stated 'new software development underway - wait a year' - seriously?

    Anyway - Quicken is just horrendous - and their inability to manage BILLGO is complicating their ability to deal with these changes.

This discussion has been closed.