[ale] [OT] Online Bill Pay

[Jim Philips]

On Friday 05 December 2003 02:07 pm, Bob Toxen wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 04, 2003 at 09:27:24PM -0500, David Corbin wrote:
> > I've seen some threads about this before, so I don't feel too bad about
> > bringing it up.  I recently started online bill pay with Wachovia +
> > Quicken.
> >
> > I found out the hard way, there is no way to find if a payment is sent
> > electronically or via snailMail (short of speaking with a person), and
> > there's no way to print out a confirmation of single payment (something
> > you can show the bill-er as proof).
>
> The short answer is that it does not matter how payment is made.  With the
> S1 Technologies software (used by Wachovia and, until last month, used by
> RBC Centura), you say what day you want payment to be received by the
> merchant.  The bank accepts the obligation of sending payment
> (electronically or via mail) sufficiently early so as to arrive in time.

I need to add here that you are unlikely to get anybody to say that your 
payment will get there sooner than four business days. In some cases, the 
bank knows the merchant is being paid electronically and they will tell you 
two days. But you can't just say you want the merchant paid tomorrow and 
expect it to happen. You need to read the bank's explanation carefully and 
plan out your payments.