When I use my Citibank account to pay bills I have a choice: Either use the absolutely free Citibank bilpay site, Direct Access to pay bills, or use Quicken to pay bills from the same account. The latter is not free ($9.95/mo), unless you have a Citibank package called "everything counts" account, which has high minimum balances ($10K if no securities are involved, $20K if securities accounts are involved).
Direct Access takes the money out of my account when Citibank writes a check, or EFT. With the Quicken method, it only leaves my account when presented for payment at Citibank, i.e. after the check has been credited by the payee.
HTH