Chase Billpay - checks "cleared"

Same thing at Wells Fargu. Wells Fargo debits account when the bill pay is issued and it shows up in Quicken on the next download even though the physical check may take up to 5 days to arrive.

I don't think that I will use the Chase Billpay physical check creation feature... Too afraid of the "clearing" when created/written vs when deposited as normal.

I'll just write a normal check for those places that currently can't accept EFT/ACH transactions - like our town's public works utility billing.

Your town's officials need a boot in the arse--tell for them to get with the 21st century!

I've never bothered to look into it, but I believe the same is true of my bank, Bank America. Anyone know for sure?

I use Wells Fargo, grandfathered from Wachovia. So using Quicken to pay bills is still free.

When you pay a bill on one, you are debitted immediately, as is described here. But if you initiate the check via quicken, you are charged on the delivery day. That's not to say the check has actually been delievered and cashed if the payee doesn't take EFT, but at least the money comes out at the right time!

So what happens if the check is lost & never cashed? Bank gets to keep the funds? Looks that way.

I use Wells Fargo, grandfathered from Wachovia. So using Quicken to pay bills is still free.

When you pay a bill on one, you are debitted immediately, as is described here. But if you initiate the check via quicken, you are charged on the delivery day. That's not to say the check has actually been delievered and cashed if the payee doesn't take EFT, but at least the money comes out at the right time!

I had a bit of fun when a vendor returned the (uncashed) check to me a month or so ago. I'm using Wells Fargo and had a bit of a run-around while they were trying to find out how to get the funds back into the account. Eventually, I was told to endorse the check "Not used for intended purpose", sign it and deposit it back to the account. I did that and found that my drive-through deposit took forever.

It turned out that my branch was calling around internally to find out how to handle the deposit. Eventually they found it should be deposited "normally".

Mike

Fortunately, not every bank with a bill pay option operates that way. I find removing the funds when a check is written to be a bit sleezy, although I can see why the banks do it. From an individual user perspective, it shouldn't make a whole lot of difference - you've lost use of the funds once the payment is committed. From a large bank perspective, they get the float until the check is cashed. Over a large number of accounts, that will be a lot of money.

I prefer the way my bank operates. The funds leave your account the day they post to the payee. If it can be done electronically, then its on the payment date. If the bank has to cut a check, the funds don't get removed until the check is presented for payment.

-------snippage

Over the years: Wachovia used to debit the electronic check when it was presented to them. TD Bank started off by debiting the account when the check was written. I asked a picky question or two of them, "What happens if the receiver fails to deposit the check?" Their answer was along the lines of "Maybe several months or a year later we'll credit your account back." I didn't like it, but it was "free" bill pay, so what the heck. TD Bank switched to a different, non direct-connect system early in

2013. Their new, on-line only bill pay debits one's account when the check is returned, not when written. Now with PNC Bank. They still support direct-connect bill pay without an additional charge. They debit the checking account when the check is cleared, not when written.

So: The answer seems to be all over the place.

Ken Becker

Received the check in the mail today. It's your normal computer generated check - with any manually entered "account number" at the top. I deposited it at the local ATM, and will see what happens next.