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Member Benefits
Bill Pay: Frequently Asked Questions
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You may click on a specific question to be linked to the answer of
that question or scroll down to read all questions.
How
do I enroll for PCBranch Bill Pay?
How many days does
it take for my payment to reach the Payee?
When do I
need to have the funds in my account to cover my bill payment request, and what
happens if there are not available funds in my account to cover the bill
payment?
What if I do not have an account number for
one of my Payees?
What are the descriptions for the
Input Masks?
Can I schedule a payment in advance? How
far in advance?
Can I make a payment from any of my
accounts?
What should I do if the payment has been
deducted from my account, but has not yet been received by the
creditor?
I have my payroll sent to USACU. Can I
schedule my bill to pay on the same date?
How do
holiday and weekends affect payment processing?
I've
scheduled one of my bills to pay on the weekend and now I cannot add another
bill during the same weekend. What can I do?
What does USAgencies Credit Union Bill Payment Product cost?
Who can I pay using
PCBranch Bill Pay?
How many separate payees may I
add?
How many bills can I pay each month through Bill
Pay?
Do I need to contact each of my Payees and let
them know that I am going to be using an automated bill payment system to pay
them?
Can I send money to an account at another
financial institution?
My payee needs proof that
they received my check. How may I obtain a check copy?
Can I schedule a payment if funds are not available yet?
What do I do if one of my Payees' addresses change?
What do I do if the Bill Pay system will not accept
the account number for my bill?
How does my payee
know whom the payment is from?
What do I do with the
part of the invoice or bill that I usually mail back to the Payee with my
payment? Doesn't the vendor need that to process my payment?
How is the payment sent to my Payee?
What about payments I make every month for the same amount? How can
I do this easily without repeating the payment request every month?
Can I place a stop payment on a Bill Payment?
Do I need any special software or hardware to use the USAgencies
Credit Union Bill Payment Product?
Is there an easy
way to ask questions about Bill Pay, such as questions about a payment or a
payee?
How do I terminate or discontinue the
USAgencies Credit Union Bill Payment Product?
If I
decide to stop my Bill Pay service, when and how may I restart the service if I
choose to?
I stopped my Bill Pay Service a while ago,
and have since restarted it. Why are all of my payees gone?
< Return to PC Branch
 How
do I enroll for PCBranch Bill Pay?
 To access to USAgencies Credit Union's Bill
Payment product, you must first be a registered user of PCBranch, our easy to
use home banking service. Log on to PCBranch using your member account number
and PCBranch password. Then select the "Pay Bills" icon from PCBranch menu.
Once you have read and agreed to the Terms and Conditions Agreement, select the
"Register for Bill Payment" icon and you are ready to use USAgencies Credit
Union Bill Payment Service.
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How many days does it take
for my payment to reach the Payee?
While most transactions will be processed
within five (5) business days after your Scheduled Payment Date, circumstances
beyond the control of the Service may result in delays in handling and posting
of payments. Some transactions may take a day or longer to be credited by your
Payee to your account.
For this reason, it is necessary that all
Scheduled Payment Dates selected by you be no less than five (5) business days
before the actual due date, not the late date and/or a date in the grace
period. Please keep in mind, the date you enter is the "Next Send Date," when
the payment will be debited from your account. Enter a date that is at least 5
days prior to the due date in this field. Payment Instructions entered
after 7:00 AM PT or on weekend or holiday will be considered entered in the
Service on the next Business Day. In any event, including but not limited to
choosing a Scheduled Payment Date which is not five (5) Business Days before
the due date or on or past the due date stated on your invoice or bill, the
risk of incurring and the responsibility for paying any and all late charges or
penalties shall be borne by you.
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When do I need to have the funds in my
account to cover my bill payment request, and what happens if there are not
available funds in my account to cover the bill payment?
You need to have
available funds in your account by 7:00 a.m. on the prescribed "send date." If
the funds are not available on the first day, we will attempt to process the
payment four (4) additional consecutive business days. Please note, with each
failed attempt, a $20.00 NSF fee will be debited from your account. If the
funds are not available after the fifth (5) attempt, your bill payment will not
be processed.
If the payment is an automatic/recurring payment, the
payment will be processed automatically. If the payment is set as a manual
payment, a send date will need to be scheduled.
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What if I do not have an account number for one of
my Payees?
To ensure accuracy and safety of your payments, an account number
is required for all payees, except for Private Party Payments. If you are
unsure of your account number, please contact your payee to obtain or confirm
this information. You may also insert any additional information needed in the
"Payment Memo" field.
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What are the descriptions for the
Input Masks?
| Example of an Input Mask |
Description |
| XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX |
Enter any type of character (alpha or
numeric) in this field, with the maximum being the number of X's displayed here
(there is no minimum number). |
| 44NNNNNNNNN |
Enter the same number of characters as
displayed here, with a prefix of 44; the remaining characters must be
numeric. |
| NNNNNNNNNNN |
As with the previous example, enter the
same number of characters as displayed here; all characters must be
numeric. |
| NNNAANNN |
Enter the same number of characters, using
numeric and alphanumeric characters, as displayed here. |
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Can I schedule a payment in advance?
How far in advance?
Yes. You can schedule a payment up to one year in
advance of the payment due date. Remember to allow five business days between
the scheduled payment date and the due date. A good example of when you might
use a payment that far in advance could be to pay annual dues to an
organization or association.
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Can I make a payment from any of my
accounts?
You can make payments only from your checking account at this time.
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What should I do if the payment has been deducted
from my account, but has not yet been received by the
creditor?
To allow sufficient time for processing, verify that the current day
is at least five (5) business days beyond your scheduled payment date. If it is
currently not beyond five (5) business days wait and check back with your Payee
after the five (5) business day period.
Verify that the payment status
shows "Paid" by selecting "Paid" icon in the account history column.
Verify you had available funds in your account on your chosen "send
date."
If the above three (3) items appear okay, verify that the payee
information provided is correct, including the payee name, address, telephone
number and specifically your account number.
If the account number was
incorrectly entered, contact the Payee with the incorrect account number so
they can research where the payment was applied.
If any other
information is incorrect or if the above steps do not indicate any problems,
please contact one of our Member Service Representatives at (800) 452-0915,
Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 AM and 5:00PM PT.
When
contacting the Credit Union, please have a copy of your invoice/bill from your
payee available and the confirmation number for the payment in question. The
confirmation number is available on the Payment History screen under the
Payments menu.
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I have my payroll sent to USACU. Can I schedule my
bill to pay on the same date?
We recommend that you
do not set your bill to pay on the same date. USACU receives payroll
information by means of the
Automated Clearing House (ACH), a service of the Federal
Reserve. ACH payments are processed at approximately 8:00 AM Pacific Time every
business day. Bill payments are processed at 7:00 AM Pacific Time every
business day. Because the ACH payments are processed after bill payments,
payroll funds will not have been received before the bill payments are
processed. It is your responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient
funds to cover any bill payments on the date you have chosen.
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How
do holiday and weekends affect payment processing?
Each Friday night,
the Bill Pay processing date is advanced to the next business day. On normal
weekends, payments scheduled to be paid on Saturday, Sunday or Monday will be
processed on Monday. On holiday weekends where Monday is a holiday,
payments scheduled to be paid on Saturday, Sunday, Monday or Tuesday will be
processed on Monday. On holiday weekends where Friday is a
holiday, payments scheduled to be paid on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday
will be processed on Friday. When holidays occur during the week, the
Bill Pay processing date is advanced to the next business day. Payments
scheduled to be paid on the holiday and the business day following the holiday,
will be paid on the holiday.
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I've scheduled one of my bills to pay
on the weekend and now I cannot add another bill during the same weekend. What
can I do?
If you have a bill scheduled to be paid on a weekend, and
subsequently try to add or pay another bill during the weekend, you may
encounter an error message stating that you have outstanding bills to be paid.
Again, this is because on Friday night, the Bill Pay processing date is
advanced to the next business day, and the system thinks the bills scheduled
for the weekend should have already been paid. To schedule new/additional bills
to be paid, you will need to change the dates on the bills previously scheduled
to be paid over the weekend that have not been processed, to the next business
day. To avoid receiving this error message, try not to schedule payments to be
made on a weekend or around national holidays.
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What does USAgencies Credit Union Bill Payment Product cost?
USAgencies Credit Union Bill Payment Product is now FREE! Effective January 1, 2008, you can pay an unlimited number of bills without a monthly service charge.
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Who can I pay using the USAgencies Credit Union
Bill Payment Product?
Anyone. You can pay any individual or entity as long as
the individual or entity has an address in the United States or its
possessions/territories. Payee examples include: your monthly telephone or
utility bill, rent, credit card bills, daycare, babysitter or even a check to
your son or daughter at college. However, at this time, the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) does not accept payments through the bill payment system.
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How many separate payees may I add?
You can add as many payees as you wish.
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How
many bills can I pay each month through Bill Pay?
You can pay an
unlimited number of bills.
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Do I need to contact each of my Payees
and let them know that I am going to be using an automated bill payment system
to pay them?
No, that isn't necessary.
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Can I
send money to an account at another financial institution?
Yes, you can. In
order to do this, you will need to add the payee under "Add Private Party
Payment." In addition to the required information, you will need to enter an
account number. If a routing number is available for that financial
institution, you will want to enter that number as well. This will ensure that
the funds will get to this account as soon as possible.
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My
payee needs proof that they received my check. How may I obtain a check copy?
Please contact a Member Service representative at (800) 452-0915. Please
specify that this check was issued through the Bill Pay Service. Each member is
allowed one free check copy per month. There is a $5 fee for each additional
check copy.
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Can I schedule a payment if funds are not
available yet?
You can schedule a payment any time for any amount. If
the funds are not available on the scheduled "Next Send Date," the payment will
be treated as an NSF and will be rejected. An NSF fee will also be assessed.
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What do I do if one of my Payees' addresses
change?
The database is updated automatically if Payee information changes.
To manually alter information, you will need to create a new Payee with the
updated information. The old payee then may be deleted after all pending
payments have cleared. Use the USAgencies Credit Union Bill Payment Product
online help for additional assistance, if needed.
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What
do I do if the Bill Pay system will not accept the account number for my bill?
Please verify that the account number you enter corresponds with the account
number input mask.
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How does my payee know whom the payment is
from?
When you set up a new bill, you are required to enter an account
number and the name on the bill. This information is passed on to your payee
with the payment.
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What do I do with the part of the invoice or bill
that I usually mail back to the Payee with my payment? Doesn't the vendor need
that to process my payment?
No. You can simply destroy that part of your
bill. You provide all of the necessary information by accurately filling in the
required fields, and the Service provides this information to the Payee with
each payment.
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How is the payment sent to my
Payee?
There are two possible methods of submitting the
payment to your Payee: Payments may be made electronically via the Automated
Clearing House (ACH) or by a check. The method of payment depends upon the
processing method that can be accommodated by the Payee (e.g., some Payees are
unable to accept electronic payments).
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What
about payments I make every month for the same amount? How can I do this easily
without repeating the payment request every month?
You can establish a
recurring payment. A recurring payment must be made on the same day(s) each
month and for the same amount. Use the Bill Payment system online help for
assistance in establishing an automatic/recurring payment.
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Can I place a stop payment on a Bill
Payment?
Yes, you can alter any payment that has not already debited your
account. If a check was sent to the merchant and not credited to your account,
you may place a stop payment. There is a $10 fee associated with this service.
If the funds were sent electronically, the payment cannot be stopped.
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Do I need any special software or hardware to use
the USAgencies Credit Union Bill Payment Product?
To use the Bill
Payment Service you will need to have a browser installed on your PC that is
capable of 128-bit Encryption. You also must have Netscape 5.0 or Internet
Explorer 5.0 or higher. See the links on the PCBranch to obtain the required
version of your browser.
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Is there an easy way to ask questions
about Bill Pay, such as questions about a payment or a
payee?
Yes, there is. When you are on the main menu, click on
the "Alerts" button on the upper left side of the screen. Next, click on "Send
Message." Fill in the "Subject" and "Message Field" and select "OK." Your
message will be sent directly to our Member Service department. You will
receive your reply on the same "Alerts" page. Member messages are checked at
least daily.
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How do I terminate or discontinue the USAgencies
Credit Union Bill Payment Product?
You may cancel your use of USAgencies Credit
Union Bill Payment Product anytime by selecting "Stop Bill Service" from the
Bill Payment Additional Functions menu and clicking "Stop Bill Service." You
may also cancel your use of the Service by sending an e-mail message or by
calling a Member Services Representative (800) 452-0915. If you notify us by
telephone, we may request that you put your request in writing. We cannot
cancel Bill Payment until all pending payments have cleared. If you have
pending payments and do not want to wait for them to clear, you may
individually delete these future payments.
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If I
decide to stop my Bill Pay service, when and how may I restart the service if I
choose to?
You may restart the service at any time, by selecting the "Pay
Bills" option on the PCBranch main menu. You will again need to agree to our
terms and conditions on the "Bill Payment Registration" screen. Please keep in
mind, once you stop the Bill Pay service, all of your payee information will be
deleted, and you will need to add your payees again after restarting the
service.
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I stopped my Bill Pay Service a while ago, and
have since restarted it. Why are all of my payees gone?
Once you stop the
Bill Pay service, all of your payee information will be deleted, and you will
need to add your payees again after restarting the service.
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I've
scheduled one of my bills to pay on the weekend and now I cannot add another
bill during the same weekend. What can I do?
If you have a bill
scheduled to be paid on a weekend, and subsequently try to add or pay another
bill during the weekend, you may encounter an error message stating that you
have outstanding bills to be paid. Again, this is because on Friday night, the
Bill Pay processing date is advanced to the next business day, and the system
thinks the bills scheduled for the weekend should have already been paid. To
schedule new/additional bills to be paid, you will need to change the dates on
the bills previously scheduled to be paid over the weekend that have not been
processed, to the next business day. To avoid receiving this error message, try
not to schedule payments to be made on a weekend or around national holidays.
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