Frequently Asked Questions about BillPayer
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Why use BillPayer when many payees will set up automatic payments at no charge?
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Why is there a $4.95 fee during a month that BillPayer is not used?
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What if I made a payment to a payee through BillPayer that does not get credited to my bill?
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When I add a payee, can I make my first bill payment right away?
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Are all of the payees on the Master Payee List paid electronically?
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Will all of the payees on my Personal Payee list be paid by check?
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The address matches but it won't accept my account number. What should I do?
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Can I pay bills using the funds in my savings or money market account?
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What will happen if I order a bill paid to a payee that is not allowed by BillPayer?
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What happens if there are insufficient funds in my account to cover the BillPayer payment?
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How will you contact me if there is a problem?
BillPayer is an electronic way to pay your bills with your personal computer. You can arrange to make a payment just once or on an ongoing basis. You can also schedule payments in advance. To use BillPayer, you’ll need a Hawthorne Checking Account and access to Hawthorne’s online banking. Contact Member Services if you need either of these.
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Why use BillPayer when many payees will set up automatic payments at no charge?
Not all creditors offer automatic payments. And for those that do, there are often limitations. Plus, with BillPayer, you are in control, and you can make payments to family and friends. You decide when the payment will be sent and can stop a recurring bill payment yourself.
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To arrange for a bill to be paid, you can either search for the payee in the Master Payee List, or you can create your own Personal Payee List. Then, specify the amount and the date to be paid. Some bills will be paid by electronic transfer of funds and others will be paid by check, depending on whether the payee accepts electronic funds transfers.
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BillPayer is free for all Hawthorne members. All you need is a Hawthorne checking account and access to online banking. (If however, you sign up for BillPayer and do not use it within any given month, a $4.95 fee will be charged).
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Why is there a $4.95 fee during a month that BillPayer is not used?
We would like to provide BillPayer for free as a benefit to our members, but it is a cost that the Credit Union has to incur. If a member signs up for BillPayer because it is free, but does not use the service, there is still a cost to the Credit Union. We do not want to have to pay for this service when it is not providing a benefit to our members.
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You will indicate what day your bill should be sent to your payee. To ensure that your payment arrives on time, request your bill to be sent several days before the due date. If your bill will be paid electronically, allow at least 2 business days for your payment to arrive. If your bill will be paid by check, allow at least 5 business days for your payment to arrive.
Please remember that Hawthorne cannot control the delivery of payments by the post office or when the payment is actually credited to your account by your payee. Because payees may not post the payment the same day that they receive them, we recommend that you include a few "cushion" days in your timing of bill payments. Please be sure to allow enough time for the payment to get to the payee so that you are not late with your payments.
*We guarantee your payment will be made as long as you submitted your payment correctly and as long as you allowed enough lead time to make the payment (2 business days for electronic, 5 business days for check). We will refund any late fees and finance charges.
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When will the payment be deducted from my account?
Your payment will be deducted on the day that you indicate the payment should be made. For example, your car payment is due on December 3. You notice on your Personal Payee List that your payee only accepts paper checks. You should schedule your payment to be sent at least five business days before the due date, so you schedule your payment for November 26. On November 26, the credit union will deduct your payment from your checking account to send to your payee.
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What if I made a payment to a payee through BillPayer that does not get credited to my bill?
Your payments are guaranteed. If you properly scheduled your payment with the correct information, have sufficient collected funds in your account and allowed enough time and you discover that a bill has not been paid, we will refund any late fees and finance charges. Plus, we’ll investigate with a Payment Inquiry on your behalf.
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Here's what to do if your bill isn't credited:
First, check your records to be sure the payment has been deducted from your Hawthorne Checking account. You can login to our online banking program to check your account history. Perhaps you requested the wrong date for your payment to be made.
Determine if it has been at least 4 business days for an electronic payment and 7 business days for a check payment. If not, give the payment time to be received.
If enough time has elapsed since the payment was sent, call your payee to see whether they have received the payment.
Finally, if you’ve completed the first three steps and cannot determine what happened, call us to request a Payment Inquiry. We will investigate what happened to your payment. As with other forms of research you request of the credit union, there is a fee of $15 for Payment Inquiries.
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How do I request a Payment Inquiry?
Contact Member Services at 630-369-4070 (outside Illinois at 800-848-1697). There is a fee of $15 for Payment Inquiries.
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How long does it take to resolve Payment Inquiries?
Our goal is that 80% of all payment inquiries are resolved within 10 business days. The majority of payment inquiries are resolved within 5 business days. The length of time needed to resolve an inquiry is directly dependent on how quickly your payee assists us.
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If you already use eHawthorne, our online banking, simply log in and click on the BillPayer button at the top left of your screen. Then click on "Enroll in BillPayer". Be sure to read the bill payer disclosure. If you need to sign up for online banking or open a checking account, contact Member Services at 630-369-4070 (outside Illinois at 800-848-1697).
If you don’t currently use our online banking, enroll here or call Member Services at 630-369-4070 to be set up. There is no charge for online banking. You will be able to transfer funds between your checking and savings, make loan payment to your Hawthorne loans, check to see if a transaction has been completed, apply for a loan and more.
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How do I set up a bill to be paid?
Gather the billing notices for the bills you want to pay. Once you’re in BillPayer system, click on the "Payee" button, then "Find Payee" to search for your payee in the Master Payee List. There may be several, so make sure you select the correct mailing address. If you find your payee, select it and click "Add Payee to Personal Payee List" at the bottom of the screen. If you don’t find your payee, click "Payee" again, and "Add Payee". There you’ll be asked to enter the information for a new payee.
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When I add a payee, can I make my first bill payment right away?
No. If the vendor is NEW to your personal payee list, you must allow 10 banking days before scheduling your first payment. That is the amount of time it takes the system at most to determine whether a vendor can accept electronic payment or will receive a check from BillPayer. If the payee is listed on the Master Payee List, payment can begin immediately.
TIP: If you are in a hurry, try adding your new payee today, then check bill payer the next day to see if the system found a match on the master payee list. If so, you’ll be able to modify the payment date.
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When can I start making payments?
If the payee is listed on the Master Payee List, payment can be made the NEXT business day. If the payee is NEW to your Payee list, you need to wait for the verification procedure to be completed, which could be up to 10 days. If you attempt to make a payment before verification is complete, you will receive a computer-generated message stating your payment cannot be made.
When verification is complete, the status of your payment will change to active.
If the system can match your payee to the master list, the status may charge to active sooner. In this case, you will be able to modify the payment date and move it up if you like.
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Why does it take so long between the time I add a payee to my list and the time I can make a payment to them?
This delay only applies to NEW payees. Once a payee is established, payment can go out as soon as the next business day. The reason for the initial delay, is that BillPayer must find out whether your payee can accept electronic payments. If the company accepts payments electronically, then BillPayer must get all of the relevant information to set them up on the system. The time that takes depends on the responsiveness of the company. It can take up to ten days to complete this process, but may take less.
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Are all of the payees on the Master Payee List paid electronically?
No, not all of them, only those that can accept electronic payments. The others are paid with a paper check.
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Will all of the payees on my Personal Payee list be paid by check?
Not necessarily. It all depends on what kinds of payment the payees can accept. When you add a new payee, you’ll see the payment method automatically defaults to "check" until BillPayer can verify if the payee can accept electronic payments.
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Yes! It is very important that the address is exactly the same as the address you mail the bill to. If the address is different, you must add the payee. If your payment is sent to the wrong address, you may not get proper credit for your payment.
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The address matches but it won't accept my account number. What should I do?
If you located the payee on the master list, but the system won’t accept your account number, try Add Payee and type in the information instead. Allow a day or two for verification. Once the status changes to active, you will be able to modify the payment date up.
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Are there bills I cannot pay with BillPayer?
Yes. You cannot make payments to governmental agencies (including but not limited to federal, state and local taxing authorities), collection agencies, as well as the recipients of court-ordered payments such as child support and alimony. Payments to any people or organizations outside the U.S. are also excluded.
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Can I use BillPayer if I live out of the country?
No. BillPayer only works with addresses inside the U.S. and payees within the U.S.
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What is the cut-off time for making payments?
You must set up your payments before 5 a.m. on any given business day (business day is defined as any weekday that Hawthorne is open for business, excluding holidays as defined by the FED). If you request a payment after 5 a.m., we’ll process your payment on the next business day.
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You can make payments from $.01 to $9,999.99 per payment.
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How many bills can I pay through BillPayer?
You can make as many payments as you’d like.
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Yes, but it can be tricky. Once a payment has been sent for payment, it will be processed. On an exception basis, Hawthorne may be able to stop a payment made to a check payee. We cannot stop electronic payments.
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Can I pay bills using the funds in my savings or money market account?
Yes and no. You can only pay bills with BillPayer using the funds in your Hawthorne checking account. However, using our online banking system, you can transfer funds from your savings or money market to your checking. Then, the bills can be paid from checking.
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Are there any short cuts in doing the searches?
Yes. Use an asterisk (*) as a "wildcard" after any word or letters to get all of the matches. For example Haw* would produce all payee names on the list that begin with the letters Haw. (including Hawthorne Credit Union)
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What will happen if I order a bill paid to a payee that is not allowed by BillPayer?
You cannot make payments to governmental agencies (including but not limited to federal, state and local taxing authorities), collection agencies, as well as the recipients of court-ordered payments such as child support and alimony. Payments to any people or organizations outside the U.S. are also excluded. If BillPayer detects a payment to an excluded payee, it will disallow it and remove it from the database. Any Payment Guarantee will not apply to late fees for payments that are inadvertently made to these payees.
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What happens if there are insufficient funds in my account to cover the BillPayer payment?
f the payment would overdraft your account, we will be unable to process the Payment Request and you will be charged the normal fee for ‘not sufficient funds’ or overdraft transfer fee just as you would if you had used a check on your account and had insufficient funds. The item will not be reprocessed. You will need to initiate a new payment to the payee.
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How will you contact me if there is a problem?
It is very important that the credit union have your home and work phone numbers, as well as your email address, so that we can reach you in the event of a problem. We will attempt to call or email you first. If we cannot reach you, we will mail correspondence to your home address.
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If you have further questions about BillPayer, please email us or call 630-369-4070 (outside Illinois at 800-848-1697).
