This service provides access to the most efficient electronic payment service available. It makes your life easier by allowing you to automate the tedious task of making payments by hand. Once you begin using Citizens Online Bill Pay, you'll find it:

• Convenient- You can pay anyone, anytime, and anywhere in the U.S.(from your mortgage lender to your newspaper carrier)
• Secure- Electronic payments are processed through CheckFree™, the same system used by banks nationwide.
• Cost-effective- Our FREE Online Bill Pay saves you check printing costs, stamp and envelope expenses, and most of all, your time!
• Environmentally Conscious- Saves paper through the use of electronic funds transfer and recycled paper.

How Payments are Made
Whether you want to pay the local florist, a national department store, or your mortgage lender, Citizens Online Bill Pay makes paying bills easier for you. While many of your payments will be made electronically, some payees cannot receive electronic payments. Citizens Online Bill Pay determines if the payment will be made electronically or by check, based on whether the payee accepts electronic payments and other guidelines. For example, some payees, such as individuals, cannot receive electronic payments, so a check is printed and sent to the payee. The payment is processed to reach the payee on time, whether a payment is made electronically or by check.


Guidelines
While Citizens Online Bill Pay eliminates the time-consuming chore of writing and mailing checks, you'll still need to provide enough lead time for payments to reach the payee on time. Electronic payments set-up prior to 3:00 p.m. CST (Monday - Friday) may be scheduled for the next day. When scheduling a paper check payment, please allow 3-4 business days leadtime.

The payment date you schedule is the date that you want the payee to receive the payment. For example, if you have a bill due on the 15th of the month, you can schedule this payment on the 11th of the month or earlier if the time period includes any weekends or holidays. If you wait until after the 11th to schedule the payment, the payment date will be set later than the 15th and the bill payment may be late.

Scheduling pay dates sufficiently in advance of the due date on the bill allows enough time for the payee to receive the payment and credit it to your account. Whether the payment is sent electronically or sent by mail, payees may not always credit your account on the same day they receive the payment. It is recommended that you allow for extra time so the payment is not considered late. Citizens Online Bill Pay cannot guarantee that the payee will post the payment on the day of receipt.


Note: If you schedule a payment for a date that falls on a weekend or holiday, the payment date is moved to the previous business day. For example, if you schedule a payment date on a Saturday or Sunday, the payment date is moved to the previous Friday.

You do not need to contact your payees when you begin using Citizens Online Bill Pay. All transactions processed through Citizens Online Bill Pay will be itemized on your Citizens Checking statement.


Insufficient Funds
Despite the many advantages Citizens Online Bill Pay offers, you still need to have sufficient funds in your account to cover the payments you authorize. If you request a payment for more than the available balance in your account, you will incur the same overdraft fee that you would with a personal check. For more information, see your Citizens Online Bill Pay Terms and Conditions.


Cancelling Payments
You can cancel a bill payment while its status is “Scheduled”. Once a bill payment’s status is “In Process or Processed”, you can no longer cancel or change the payment.


Duplicate Payment Safeguard
The Processing Center maintains a valuable safeguard against duplicate payments. When more than one identical payment is requested for the same payee , as well as the amount and payment date, the duplicate payment instruction is automatically disregarded and not paid.

This is important to know in case you need to send 2 identical payments to the same payee on the same day. If you ever need to do this, just separate the payment dates by at least 1 day or vary the amounts slightly.

Signup for Online Bill Pay
It provides a secure way to pay all of your bills, anywhere anytime, without writing checks or purchasing stamps. Online Bill Pay is fast, easy and convenient.

The enrollment process is quick and easy!
   Log on to Citizens Online Banking.
   Click on the checking account number that you would like to pay bills through.
   Click "Pay Bills".

Additional Questions
If you have additional questions, please call us at 1-888-226-5237 or contact us.