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I have a Wachovia checking account that's converting (as they all are in my region of the country) to WF next month. One caveat they list online is this:
"Wells Fargo Bill Pay works differently from Wachovia BillPay. At Wells Fargo, funds to pay your bills will be withdrawn from your account up to 5 business days earlier than they were at Wachovia. Over 80% of Wells Fargo payees accept electronic payments and the average transaction time for those is 2 business days. However, for payees that cannot accept electronic payments, up to 5 business days are required to deliver the payment via the U.S. Postal Service."
They're going to MAIL payments in?! Should I be worried? I really hate this idea; I don't want things getting lost in the mail. That's a big part of the reason to do online bill payments in the first place.
My payees are pretty big companies, and I've been using Wachovia BillPay to pay them all so far with no problems--Verizon plus the local gas and electric companies, and the Arlington County water service.
OP - I've used Wells Fargo bill pay for years. The only things that get mailed any more is if it's some tiny company that doesn't accept electronic payments. Or my sister
I can't think of anyone right now that I pay that doesn't receive it electronically. Even our city now does for our water/electric payments (years ago, at first, they did not).
I would not worry about it. The list is extensive.
JKCoop, that's a big relief. I figured they must have put this in their "Switchover 101" boilerplate for a reason--but maybe it was just CYA on their part, for those tiny payees. Like your sister.
It says right in it that 80% of payees receive their money electronically. So it is pretty obvious that they only mail checks when they have no other option.
For example, I can pay my phone, internet, power, gas, and water all electronically, but for my sewer bill they have to mail a check, since West Boise Sewer District doesn't take e-payments.
It isn't a Wells Fargo restriction. It is a restriction of the payee. Wachovia would have the same restrictions. If Wachovia is epaying now, Wells Fargo should be able to, as well.
Be aware though, that if they do have to mail a check, the money gets deducted from your account a couple of days after the check is cut, even if the other party hasn't cashed it yet. So you can't assume that just because the funds came out of your account that the other party actually got paid yet, because that deduction is NOT them cashing the check.
For what it's worth, the only bill pay service I've ever had is Wells Fargo, and I've had it for eight years. It has always worked flawlessly, and I never had trouble talking to a live human when I had questions about it at the beginning.
I have been using Wells Bill pay for over 10 years-no issues at all. It will tell you when you set it up to pay how long it takes for the company to receive your payment and you can plan accordingly. Even Wachovia can't do anything about businesses that don't accept electronic payments.
I think this thread should go down in Personal Finance forum history, as it is about a big bank and has now made it to post #10 without someone showing up saying anyone who uses big banks is stupid since they are paying all those fees you should support your local credit union.
Then a bunch of other people say I'm at big bank I don't pay fees, then anti-big bank people say big banks are mainly concerned with profit, then big bank customers say no **** sherlock so does your grocery store, etc.
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