What is BillPay?
It is a convenient way of making electronic payments from your GECU checking
account. No matter whom you want to pay - the local florist, your babysitter, a
national department store, your mortgage company, credit card companies and more
– you can through GECU’s BillPay! BillPay takes just a few minutes to learn and
with the click of your mouse, you can arrange payments to anyone, anywhere in
the U.S., at anytime!
How does
BillPay work? Most payment transactions are set up to clear
electronically via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). However, for those payees
that aren't set up to receive electronic payments, such as your daycare provider
or newspaper carrier, a physical check is issued and mailed for you. When a
check is drawn on your account, there will be a 6-digit check number that will
begin with "99xxxx". This process will not reflect whom you paid. You can
schedule payments up to one year in advance. Plus, you can schedule recurring
payments (such as auto loans, rent/mortgage payments) to be paid automatically
and continuously on the schedule you specify.
How can I access BillPay?
You can sign up for BillPay by clicking on the enroll button, filling out the
enrollment form and then you are ready to logon today.
Is BillPay safe?
All BillPay transactions are encrypted for maximum online security. Plus, you
choose a user name and password that you use to access the system.
Will BillPay debit my savings
or checking account? Your BillPay payments will come out of your
GECU checking account. By federal regulation, your savings account is
classified as a non-transactional account. This means that your savings account
can only have a limited number of unsigned transactions per month. As a result,
your savings account cannot be used with BillPay.
How much time should I
allow to pay my bills? Your payment is guaranteed to arrive at
your payee the date you assigned the payment to be made. The system requires you
to schedule your payments at least five business days in advance of the payment
date.
Why do I have to schedule
payments so far in advance? Some payees do not have the ability
to accept payments electronically. As a result, a physical check must be issued
and mailed. Scheduling your payments five business days in advance allows
adequate time for payments to be received and processed.
When does the money come
out of my checking account? The date you select is the date that
funds will be deducted from your GECU checking account. The payee will receive
your payment that day. However, if a laser draft check is used to make your
payment, the funds will not be deducted from your account until the check
clears. Your payee will receive the check the date you requested the payee be
paid.
Who should I contact if I have
questions about BillPay? If you have
questions or comments about BillPay, please contact member services at:
888.918.7458. You may also email them at:
geevendaleefcu@cu-support.com.
Please note that email is not secure and any specific payment information, i.e.
account numbers, should not be included in the email.
The font in version 4.1 is appearing too
large (or too small) when I access BillPay. Do I have to adjust my settings?
This could be occurring due to the your browser settings associated with your
Operating System and ISP. For problems with font sizes, follow these steps:
Click on START and click on Internet Explorer
Click Tools on the top menu list
Click Internet Options
Go to lower right portion of Internet Options page and click
Accessibility
Click the third check box Ignore font sizes specified on Web
pages and then click OK
How will I know that a payment can be
made the same day or next day? The calendar icon
will display the ‘Available Payment Dates’ in Blue. If the date in blue is the
same day you are trying to schedule the payment, then this is considered a ‘Same
Day payment’
What are the browser settings for
BillPay? If I have an older version of a MAC OS, what browsers are
supported? Here are the end User Workstation Platform Requirements that are
officially supported by CheckFree:
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows XP
Macintosh OS X
Macintosh OS 9.x (limited support)
Here are the Browsers that are officially supported by CheckFree:
Microsoft Windows:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and 6.0
Netscape Navigator 6.2 and 7.1
AOL 9
Firefox 1.x
Macintosh:
Safari 1.2 – for OS 10.3, 10.4
Netscape 7.1, 7.2 – for OS 10.1, 10.2
Netscape 7.02 – for OS 9.x
Additional Allowable Browsers and Operating Systems that are not
officially supported by CheckFree but are compatible with BillPay:
Netscape 6.x
Internet Explorer 5.5
Safari 1.1
Although the actual "certification" process is done by
CheckFree and requires a great deal of research and testing, PSCU-FS has tested
Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger) with Safari 2.0 and it's use with BillPay version 4.1. What
we have found is that it is as reliable as the Mac OS 10.3 (Panther) with Safari
1.2 combination.
Notes:
Web 4.1 is best viewed with Windows Internet Explorer 5.5 or
6.0
JavaScript is required for the application to function
optimally
If JavaScript is disabled, certain features and functions
will not work
For Mac users of operating system releases prior to OS10.3,
there are special browser considerations.
To ensure compatibility in the new Bill Pay system with previous Mac OS
versions, we recommend a Netscape
browser release of 7.0 or higher available at
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/browsers/archive.jsp.
For information about upgrading to OS 10, please go to:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads.
Display Resolution
800 x 600 VGA or 1024 x 768 SVGA
Windows Display Properties settings should be 96 dpi
Why aren't more browsers supported
with the new version? CheckFree will continue to provide support for rapidly
adopted new operating systems and browsers in order to reach the largest
percentage of Internet users possible. Currently, Bill Pay is compatible with at
least 95% of the US market browsers in use, and 90% of the in-use US market’s
browser/OS combinations.
How can I tell which account any
applicable billpay fees, such as service fees or NSF fees, will be taken from?
Any applicable fees are automatically withdrawn from the account that you
specified as the service fee account. The bill payment service fee (if
applicable) and any additional payment fees appear on the monthly statement as a
bill payment fee.
With the Account Number Masking
feature, only the last five digits of the payment account are displayed. My
financial institution allows me to choose from several payment accounts. How can
I tell which payment account to use? You can go to the “My Accounts” screen
where the full account number is displayed. Here you can choose to “Update the
Name” of your account so it is easily identified in the drop down list on the
Payment Center when you go to schedule payments.
With the Account Number Masking
feature, only the last five digits of the payment account are displayed. My
financial institution uses the account prefix to distinguish the type of account
such as DDA Checking or Money Market Checking. All of our suffixes are the same.
How can I tell which payment account to use, if they all appear to be the same?
This new version allows you to associate a “Name” with each of their payment
accounts. Your subscribers can go to the “My Accounts” screen where the full
account number is displayed. Here they can choose to “Update the Name” of their
account so it is easily identified in the drop down list on the Payment Center
when they go to schedule payments.
My financial institution allows me to
choose from multiple payment accounts for bill pay. How does the system
determine the payment account that displays in the drop down box on the Payment
Center? The account that displays is the last payment account that was used
during the previous bill payment session. The system now remembers the last
payment account and displays this account during their next login.
How can I edit a ‘pending payment’?
You must ‘cancel’ your payment and then reschedule the payment. After you cancel
the payment it will appear in the Recent Payment module as a Cancelled Payment.
Where can I view my Bill History?
The “View Bill History” feature is located on the Payment Center under the
“Recent Payments Module” near the bottom of the page. Once in the “View Bill
History” section, the columns can be sorted simply by clicking the column
headers. For example, you can click on the heading ‘Amount’ and the data will be
sorted by the dollar amount.
Can I use Bill Pay in combination with
Quicken or Microsoft Money? You can import transaction information to
Quicken 2004 or earlier versions. Bill Pay does not support Microsoft Money
downloads.
Will I be able to transfer or move
money from one account to another within my own Financial Institution? For
Direct Sign-On (DSO) clients - If multiple accounts are added to bill pay you
will be able to transfer among those accounts.
For Single Sign-On (SSO) clients - Bill Pay does not support the
transferring of money. However, if more than one account is used to pay bills
from then you will be able to “move” the payments from one account to another.
The biller account numbers appear to be
hidden, how can I make sure that I have the correct account? You can go to
“Manage My Bills”, select the biller from the drop down list, and then they
would select “Update biller Information”. They will then be able to view and/or
change the account number and other biller information that can be modified.
Will the “Welcome” screen appear every
time I log in? No. The “Welcome” screen only appears until the first nightly
update after you enroll for the first time or log into bill pay the first time
after the upgrade.
Can I view bill history for a specific
biller? Yes, on the View Bill History screen you can click on the “Biller
Name” column header to sort the billers alphabetically and group all
payments made to that biller for the selected time frame.
Can I change personal information,
such as name, address, phone number, or e-mail address? For Direct Sign-On
(DSO) clients – Yes, you can update personal information on the My Profile
screen
For Single Sign-On (SSO) clients – You are only able to view your personal
information. However, you can change your email address but it will only be
changed on the Bill Pay system.
When are payments sent by ACH,
corporate check, or Laser Draft? The Bill Pay system evaluates the risk of
each user based on the user’s credit rating and payment history. This evaluation
produces a score, which is used to establish a daily, weekly, and monthly
threshold amount that will determine how the payment will be sent. The lower
the risk, the more likely the payment will be sent, up to the threshold amount,
by ACH or corporate check.
Does Bill Pay support court-ordered
payments or federal tax payments? No. You cannot make court-ordered
payments, state, or federal tax payments through Bill Pay. Additionally, Bill
Pay can only make payments within the United States.
How does Bill Pay collect funds from an
account if there are insufficient or no funds available? CheckFree will
first make two attempts to collect the funds from the your account. First on the
due date and the second attempt will be within 2 to 3 business days of the first
attempt. If this is unsuccessful and the funds are not recovered in 46 calendar
days, the account rolls to a Cancel status, with a “C” code for collections. If
the payment was made via a corporate check or electronically, the biller has
already been paid and you do not need to send them another payment. If the
payment was made by a laser draft check, the payment will be returned to the
financial institution that services the account.
Can Bill Pay pay e-Bills automatically?
Yes. The full amount due can be set-up to be paid automatically, unless you set
a maximum amount. Amount due is either the amount of the bill, such as a
telephone bill, or the minimum payment on a credit card.
Can an automatic payment be set up to
pay a credit card bill in full each month? No, at this time Bill Pay is not
able to pay the full balance, only the amount due which is considered the
minimum due.
How do I get a biller to accept electronic
payments or to send e-Bills? You can provide the biller with CheckFree’s
Merchant Electronic Registration site at https://www.yes.checkfree.com. The
biller can then follow the instructions to begin receiving payments via ACH. If
the biller would like to become an ebiller, they can go to
http://www.checkfreecorp.com
for more information.
What happens if a biller rejects a
payment? If the payment was made by a Laser Draft check, the payment will be
returned to the financial institution that services the account. If the payment
was made by a Corporate Check, the payment will be sent back to CheckFree.
CheckFree will conduct research to see if they can resend the check or they will
contact you for more information. If an electronic payment was made, the biller
rejecting the payment is
responsible for forwarding the payment to the correct biller or returning the
funds to CheckFree.
If a payment is now listed in the
“Recent Payments” section, why has my account not been debited yet? The
funds are not withdrawn from your account until the payment due date. However,
corporate checks are mailed three days before the due date and most electronic
payments are sent out one day before the due date. Also, if the payment is made
by Laser Draft check, the funds will not be withdrawn until the biller cashes
the check, and then the check must clear your financial institution.
The funds have been deducted from my
account, why has the biller not been paid? Check to see when and how the
payment was made. If it has been more than10 business days from the process
date, and the check has not cleared, contact customer service and request the
check to be stopped and refunded or reissued.
For electronic payments, if it has been 2 to 4 business days
since the due date and the payee has not yet posted the payment, refer to Member
Care. Even though the funds are submitted the day before the due date, keep in
mind that the biller will have their own processing time frames.
For Laser Draft checks, contact the biller to resolve the issue as with any
other check drawn on your personal account.
How will I know that a biller can send
e-Bills? If a biller is able to send e-Bills, then you will see “Add an
electronic version of my bill” as an option when setting up the biller. If you
do not chose to add an e-Bill at that time you can do so at a later date in the
Manage My Bills section of Bill Pay. If you have signed up to receive e-Bills
from a biller, you will see the e-Bill icon
next
to the biller’s name in the Payment Center.
How can I view an e-Bill that has already
been paid? To view an e-Bill that has already been paid, click on the “View
Bill History” link in the Recent Payments module of the Payment Center. Here you
can search for the payment.
How can I identify an automatic
payment? Can changes be made to an automatic payment? If automatic payments
have been established for a biller the icon
will appear next to the biller’s name. By clicking
on the icon, or accessing the biller through the Manage My Bills page, you can
make changes to the automatic payment. Any changes made affect all current and
future payments that are scheduled as automatic payments.
How can I remove an e-Bill from the bill
reminder section when the bill has either been paid outside of PayLynx, or the
bill contains a credit or has a zero balance? You will have to file the
e-Bill in order to remove it from Bill Reminders. To file an e-Bill:
Go to the Recent Payments section.
Click View Bill History.
Find the bill you want to file.
Click View Detail.
Click File Bill.
In Payment Method, select the payment method used for the
bill. This is where you can indicate that the bill was paid by check, etc.
In Bill Note, type an optional note about the bill and its
resolution. You can type a maximum of 80 characters.
Click File Bill.
Can I change, or get a refund of, a payment processed as
an electronic payment? If the payment status is “Pending Payments”, you can
cancel the payment. Once an electronic payment is processed, the biller is in
possession of the funds and you need to contact the biller to request a refund.
