Bill Payment & E-bills FAQs

Q: How does Bill Payment system work?

A. Payments are sent to your designated payees on the day you select (Process Date). Payments are sent either electronically or by paper check, depending upon the payee's ability to accept electronic payments.

Electronic payments take up to 3 business days to reach your payee while paper checks may take up to 5 days.

Payments will be electronically deducted from your First New York FCU checking account on or after the process date, never before. For your convenience, you have the option of setting up payments as one-time only or recurring.  In addition, you have the option of having your bills presented electronically (e-bills).

 

Q: What is Bill Presentment?

A: Bill presentment (e-bill) is where you receive your bills electronically into your First OnLine.  Having your bills delivered electronically is environmentally friendly because it saves having a paper statement printed and is delivered to you faster.

 

Q: What is an E-bill?

A: An e-bill is the electronic version of a bill that you would normally receive.  You can receive an e-bill instead of a paper statement from a wide range of credit card issuers, gas card issuers, utility companies, phone companies and many more.  Instead of a paper statement being sent to you, an e-mail will be delivered to your First OnLine account.  When the e-bill is received, you will receive a notification with instructions on how to retrieve and pay the e-bill.

 

Q. How do I sign up for E-bill?

A. Simply log on to your First OnLine account and click the Bill Payment button. From there follow the instructions and you will be paying your bills online in no time

 

Q: How do I actually use the Bill Pay & E-bill System?

A: It’s very easy.  Step-by-step instructions can be accessed by pressing the help button within First OnLine.  Also, a demo is available to help you understand our Bill Pay and E-bill system.

 

Q: Is it possible to schedule recurring payments?

A: Yes. You can schedule weekly, semi-monthly, monthly and other optional recurring payments. The final payment of a recurring payment scheme is designated by a "Final Payment Date."

 

Q. Are my Bill Pay & E-bill transactions reflected in my account history?

A: Yes. All Bill Payment transactions become part of your account transaction history and show up on your monthly account statement and First OnLine account histories.

 

Q: When I add a new payee to my Bill Pay & E-bill account, or change my payee's account number, how quickly will the change take place?

A: When you update the information for the Bill Pay & E-bill account, the changes are implemented immediately.

 

Q: How do I update a payee's account number or address?

A: To update a payee's information, click Payee List from your navigation links to display your list of payees. Find the payee for which you want to change the account number, and click its name. Within the Payee information section, click the Change Information link to display the Edit Payee page. Enter the changes and click Save changes.

 

Q: How can I receive an “e-bill” through First OnLine and not a paper version?

A: When you add or change a payee in Bill Pay, you have the option to receive the bill electronically. Just click the button to receive the electronic bill.

 

Q: How will I know if you received a bill?

A: You will receive an automatic e-mail notification informing you that your e-bill has arrived.  You can then go and view the bill and make or schedule the payment through First OnLine.

 

Q: What other notifications can I receive?

A: You can receive e-mail notifications on bill arrivals, due dates, upcoming payment and more.

 

Q: Can I pay my children’s bill from their savings account?

A: Bill pay uses your checking account as the primary source of funding. However, if you have a cross account transfer in place, we can use that checking account as an additional bill pay funding source. Contact Member Services to set up this functionality on your bill pay account.

 

Q: How can I stop receiving e-bills and return to receiving paper statements?

A: You can change at any time simply by going to the payees section in bill pay, select the payee you wish to change and click the Stop Receiving Bills Online link within "Online Bill Information" display to change information. You will receive a confirmation message from the system and must click Submit to complete the deactivation of the e-bill.

 

Q: What are the benefits of receiving e-bills?

A: With e-bills you receive your bills faster than if you receive a paper bill.  Not only are you saving time by receiving them quicker, but you are also helping to save the environment, by reducing the amount of paper used to create the bill.

 

Q: How long is my history kept?

A: You have the ability to view 12 months online, and if you need more information, we have 18 months available.

 

Q: If I have paid off a creditor, should I delete them as a payee?

A: No. If you delete them you will no longer be able to view the history of that payee.  Instead, we recommend deactivating the payee.

 

Q: What are the 4 digits that show near my payee name?

A: These digits represent the last four digits of your account number with the payee.

 

Q: What are the 4 digits that show near my funding account name?

A: These digits represent the last four digits of your funding account number.

 

Q: Can I add a “funding account” that is from a different financial institution?

A: No, you can only add First New York accounts to this service.