How to Use Bill Pay and Online Banking with Quicken 2014
 
 

How to Use Bill Pay and Online Banking with Quicken 2014

Quicken is much more than just a software program that stores and organizes your financial data. You can also use Quicken to connect to your bank account through the Internet, then use that bank account (through Quicken) to pay your bills. This is made possible through Online Bill Payment and Online Account Access. These features make managing your bank account and bills easier than ever before.

About Online Bill Payment

Online Bill Payment allows you to tell your bank to pay your bills for you. Instead of paying those bills the old fashioned way by writing a check, you give the bank that information and the bank pays the bill for you (using your money, of course). You can also tell the make to pay recurring bills for you, such as your mortgage.

About Online Account Access

Online Account Access provides transaction information from your bank account. You can also transfer money from one account to another.  This is actually transferring the money from one account to another. However, your bank must support Quicken Online Account Access in order for you to be able to use it. Check with your bank to find out if yours does.

NOTE: Both Online Account Access and Online Bill Payment services are premium services, meaning your bank will probably charge you a monthly fee. Again, check with your bank before getting started.

Setting Up an Online Account Access

Once you determine that your bank offers Online Account Access through Quicken, setting it up within the Quicken program is easy.

First, make sure you've set up your bank account in Quicken. You can look at the Account Bar, and find the account.

Next, click on the account in the Account Bar to open the register.

Click on the dropdown arrow next to the gear icon (as pictured below), and select Set Up Online from the dropdown menu.

Next, you'll be asked to choose the name of your financial institution.

Sign into your online account, then click Connect.

You may have to answer more questions or prove your identity to either Quicken or the bank, such as a cancelled check or your signature. You must respond to these requests if you want to use Online Account Access or Online Bill Payment.

Setting Up Online Bill Payment

To get started with Online Bill Payment, go to Tools>Quicken Bill Pay>Learn About Quicken Bill Pay.


Click the blue Start Now With Bill pay button to enroll through Quicken. However, the form you will fill out is for Quicken. You will still have to work with your bank to get this set up on their end as well.

Once you're enrolled and have things set up with your bank, you can go to Tools>Quicken Bill Pay>Set Up Quicken Bill Pay Account.

Once you have it set up, you can go to Tools>Online Payee list to enter the people you will be paying using this service. This will save you time later. (If you wait, you'll have to fill out information for each payee as you pay the bill).

Pay your bills in Quicken by writing checks as we already learned to do. Follow the same steps. The only difference is you'll want to be sure that you check the "Online Payment" box. This is located in the lower right corner of the check form. However, it only appears if you have online banking setup for the account.

Once you record the payment in Quicken, you'll send it to your bank by going to Tools>One Step Update.

Download Online Transactions

When you go to Tools>One Step Update, Quicken sends your bills to your bank for your bank to pay. In addition, when you go to Tools>One Step Update, your bank sends a list of your transactions to your computer (and your Quicken program).

When this happens, Quicken matches the transactions from your bank with the transactions you have listed in your register. If the transactions match, you're good to go. However, if there is a transaction from your bank that doesn't match a transaction in your register, Quicken will store that transaction under the Downloaded Transactions tab in the account register window. To add those transactions to your register, click the transaction, then click the Add to Register button.

Reviewing One Step Update

We've already talked about One Step Update in this article, but we want to mention it again because it's such an important feature when you use Online Account Access and Online Bill Payment. Using One Step Update allows you to update all of your online activated accounts by just using one step. This includes all transactions and balances. This information is loaded into Quicken and you can use it to compare your financial institution's records to your own.

Using One Step Update, you can:

  • Update cleared transactions and balances for online activated accounts in Quicken. This includes bank accounts, credit cards, investments, and 401(k).
  • Send pending and recurring payments. It also allows you to cancel payments and update payment status instructions.
  • Easily reconcile monthly statements.
  • Send pending online transfers between accounts that are at the same financial institution. 

To use One Step Update, go to Tools>One Step Update.

You may have to enter your password at this time, or even individual passwords for different institutions.

Select the accounts that you want to include in the update, then click Update Now.

The update may take a while, so you can continue to work in Quicken while you wait.

Scheduling Online Updates

To make things easier on you, you can schedule your updates so they happen automatically. You can schedule updates to get stock quotes, update your Quicken portfolio, and track your online activated accounts with financial institutions.

To schedule online updates, go to Tools>Schedule Updates.

In the dialogue box pictured above:

  •          Select the items you would like to update in the Update These Financial Institutions field.
  •          Then, you can decide what day of the week and what time in the Schedule section.
  •          In the Passwords section, you'll need to establish when you want to be asked for your Password Vault password.
  •          You can also choose to update your portfolio by checking the box.

    When you have everything set, click OK.

    You will see this message that lets you know you've successfully scheduled your updates.

    Click OK.

    Transfer Money Between Accounts Online

    You just won't believe how easy it is to transfer money from one online account to another using Quicken! Follow the same steps that we used to record transfers. However, this time, activate the Num dropdown list and select Online Transfer.

    Using the Password Vault

    The Password Vault is a feature of Quicken that allows you to safely store your passwords for different financial institutions. It uses industry-standard encryption so that your passwords are kept safe and never revealed to hackers.

    To set up your Password Vault, go to Tools>Password Vault>Set Up New Password Vault.

    Click Next.

    Select the account whose password you want to store, then click Next.

    Enter the password for that account, then enter it again to confirm it. Click Next.

    Next, create a password for your password vault (as shown below), then click Next.

    Interested in learning more? Why not take an online Quicken 2019 course?

    Your password for that account is now stored in the vault, as shown below.

    Click the Done button.

      

     Tracking Debt In Quicken

    There's no doubt that you're going to set up debt that you have, such as mortgage payments, car payments, etc., as bills in Quicken. These are things you pay monthly, so of course you'll set it up. However, you may also want to track your debt, especially if you want to keep track of how much you're paying in interest or how much you owe after each payment you make.

    Setting Up a Liability Account

    In Quicken, if you want to track your debt, you must start by setting up a liability account. You will have to set up a liability account for every debt that you're going to track. This means if you want to track your mortgage, car loan, and student loan, you'll need to set up a liability account for each one. A liability account is an accounting statement that tracks how much you owe a particular creditor, such as the bank that holds your mortgage.

    Let's learn how to set up a liability account for an amortized loan, or a loan on which you make regular and equal payments. With an amortized loan, each payment reduces some of the amount owed on the principal (or actual amount borrowed).

    To enter a loan, go to Tools>Add Account. This is the same step we took to add bank and credit card accounts, so it should look familiar to you.

    In the Property & Debt section, click Loan.

    Enter in the name of the loan provider, then click next.

    You'll be asked to sign into your loan account online. Quicken will then download your account information.

    If you don't want to sign in online or don't have login information to do so, click Manual Loan Account at the bottom of the dialogue box (pictured above).

    You'll then see the following dialogue box. This will be one of several dialogue boxes that will ask you to fill in information regarding your loan. Although it will take a few minutes to get the loan set up, it's as easy as can be. It'll help if you have your loan balance, interest rate, and original amount of the loan in front of you - as well as the length of the loan.

    Look at the dialogue box below, then we'll go over the information it requires.

    In the Loan Details dialogue box (pictured above), enter a name for the loan. This is the name you want to give it in Quicken, and this is the name that will help you identify it in the Account Bar.

    Next, choose the loan type:

    We are going to choose an auto loan.

    If you don't have your latest loan statement handy, you may want to locate that before you fill in the rest of the information in order to keep your Quicken records up-to-date and accurate.

    You'll need to enter:

  •          The opening date - or the date the loan started.
  •          The original balance of the loan.
  •          The current interest rate for the loan.
  •          The original length of the loan entered in years. Be sure you enter in years and not months. This can be especially tricky if you have a 36 month car loan, etc.
  •          The compounding period of the loan. This simply means how often the bank calculates the interest on the loan. It's usually the payment period.
  •          The payment schedule.
  •          The current balance for the loan. 
  •          The amount of the monthly payment for the loan.

    Quicken will calculate your monthly payment for you and fill in the box. However, you'll want to make sure it's correct and re-enter it if it's not.

    When you're finished, click the Next button.

    In the next window, you'll be asked to enter the date when your next payment is due.

    Enter in any extra fees or extra principal that you want to pay each month.

    Click Next.

    Quicken will then ask you if you want to set up a reminder for this loan payment and enter it into the register. Check the box (pictured above) if you want a reminder. Also specify how many days before the due date you'd like to see the reminder.

    Click Next.

    In the Loan Payment Reminder box, you can specify how the loan payment will appear in your register, as well as select the account that you'll use to make the payment. You can also split the transaction into multiple categories.

    Click Done when you're finished.

    Click Done again.

    Editing Loan Information or Deleting a Loan

    You can easily edit your loan information once you have it set up or if your terms change. Right click on the loan in the Account Bar, as shown below.

    Select Edit/Delete Account from the context menu.

    You can then edit the loan information. You can also add a contact name at the bank that holds your loan, create links to the banks page or your activity page, and add comments about the account.

    You can also delete the loan by clicking the Delete Account button.

    Click OK when you're finished.

    Making a Payment

    Once you set up a loan in Quicken, you'll record a payment on this debt in a different manner. If you hadn't entered the loan in Quicken, you would have probably just set it up as a bill with a reminder. However, if you entered a loan, then you'll want to use the liability account for the loan to make the payment.

    Let's show you what we mean.

    To record a payment for a loan, go to the loan account by going to the Account Bar and clicking on the loan.

    Click on Payment Details, as shown below.

    Next, click on the gar icon and choose Enter Loan Payment from the menu.

    You will then see the Enter Expense Transaction dialogue box.

    Make sure the loan payment details are correct, then click the Enter Transaction button.

    About Mortgage Escrow Accounts

    Unfortunately, your mortgage payment is comprised of several different charges that you pay each month. Of course, you're paying on the principal and interest each month, but you're also paying property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and etc. This means that your mortgage payment may be $600, but only $400 of that goes to the principal and interest. The rest goes to escrow accounts. You don't want to record that money ($200 per month using our example) as coming off of what you owe on the loan. It'll make your records inaccurate.

    To manage this correctly in Quicken, you can set up an asset account for each escrow account for which your mortgage company collects money.

    An asset account is set up just like a checking account. Go to Tools>Add Account. In the Property & Debt section, choose Other Asset.

    Enter a name for the asset account.

    Click Next.

    Enter a starting date to track the asset, then enter the amount currently in the escrow account. The starting balance of your asset account should be equal to the current escrow balance. Remember, you'll want a different asset account for each escrow account.

    Click Next.

    Link the asset account to the loan in Quicken. You cannot create an asset account like this if you do not have a liability account set up.

    Click Next.

    Your asset account is created for you.

    Watch your mortgage statements so you know when payments are made by your mortgage company to your insurance company or county assessor. When a payment is made, you'll need to decrease the amount in your escrow account by the same amount that was paid by the mortgage company.

    Instead of a payment like you would have in a checking account, you have a decrease in your asset account. Instead of a deposit like you would have in your checking, you have an increase in your asset account. If you look at the snapshot below, you can see the Increase and Decrease columns in our asset account register.

    Using the Calendar

    You can use the Quicken calendar to see daily or weekly views of your financial status. You can see daily available cash balances and a snapshot of your scheduled bills and deposits. You can also pay bills from your calendar if you use Quicken Bill Pay.

    To access the calendar, go to Tools>Calendar.

    If you want to view transactions from specified accounts on the calendar, click Options on the upper right hand side of the window, then choose Select Calendar Accounts.

    Choose the accounts that you want to see on the account balances graph. The accounts you select will have a green check mark next to them.

    Click OK.

    If you want to view both recorded and scheduled transactions, go to Options again and select "Show Recorded Transactions in Calendar" and "Show Scheduled Bills and Deposits in Calendar".

    You can also add transactions using the calendar. Simply double click on the date for which you want to enter a transaction.

    Click Add.

    Choose if you want to add an expense, income, or a reminder.

    We've chosen to add an expense.

    You'll now see this window:

    In the dialogue box, you'll be asked to enter:

  •          The payee - or who you are paying 
  •          The category for the expense 
  •          A tag if you want to use one 
  •          A memo. Remember, this is optional. 
  •          The account you want to use 
  •          The method of payment (check, ATM, etc.) 
  •          The amount of the transaction
  •          The date of the transaction

    When you're finished, click the Enter Transaction button.

    Did you know that you can also edit a transaction using the calendar? Simply double click on the date that has the transaction you want to edit.

    Click Edit in the box above.

    This dialogue box will appear:

    Make the necessary changes and click OK. Your calendar will be automatically updated.