How Does Fidelity Bill Pay Work? A Complete Guide

Paying bills can be a tedious task. Writing checks, stuffing envelopes, putting on stamps – it takes time and effort every month. But technology has made paying bills easier than ever with online bill pay services. One popular option is Fidelity BillPaySM offered by Fidelity Investments. This handy service allows you to pay virtually any bill right from your Fidelity account quickly and easily. But how does it actually work? In this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about how Fidelity BillPay makes managing bills a breeze.

What is Fidelity BillPay?

Fidelity BillPaySM is an online bill payment service provided by Fidelity Investments. It is directly integrated with your Fidelity Cash Management Account or Fidelity brokerage account, allowing you to securely pay bills online. With Fidelity BillPay, you can:

• Pay bills from your Fidelity core account
• Schedule one-time or recurring payments
• Pay almost any type of bill – from utilities to mortgages to car payments
• Send payments to companies or even individuals
• Receive and manage bills electronically
• Access BillPay on your phone with Fidelity’s mobile apps

It’s a very convenient, user-friendly system for handling all your bill payments in one place.

How Does Fidelity BillPay Work?

The process of paying bills with Fidelity BillPay is straightforward. Here are the key steps:

1. Set Up Payees

First, you need to indicate who you want to pay. These are called “payees” in Fidelity BillPay. You can add paying any company, service provider, individual, etc.

To add a payee, you just need their name and billing address. Fidelity keeps a database of popular payees to make setup quick, but you can manually add any new payee.

2. Enter Payment Details

Once your payees are set up, paying a bill is simple. Just log into Fidelity BillPay, select a payee from your list, enter the payment amount and date.

You can schedule one-time payments or recurring payments (for bills that repeat like cable or utilities). Fidelity BillPay will automatically send the payment on the date(s) specified so you don’t have to remember.

3. Submit the Payment

After entering the payment details, review the information and submit the payment. Fidelity BillPay takes care of the rest!

For people you want to pay electronically, Fidelity will handle an electronic funds transfer from your Fidelity account. This withdraws the funds and sends them directly to the payee.

For payees that require paper checks, Fidelity will print and mail a check to the billing address on file.

You don’t have to do anything else after submitting the payment. Fidelity BillPay handles delivering the funds.

4. Manage Payments

Within your BillPay account, you can view payment history and manage upcoming payments. It’s easy to change payment dates or amounts on future payments if needed.

You can also cancel a scheduled payment anytime before the send date. And if you notice a payment was sent incorrectly, you can ask Fidelity to stop payment on the check.

Key Benefits of Fidelity BillPay

Fidelity BillPay has a lot of great features that make going over your bills easier:

• Convenience – Manage bills alongside your Fidelity investments in one place. Avoid writing checks and stuffing envelopes.

• Speed – Schedule one-time or recurring payments to happen automatically. Funds sent electronically arrive faster.

• Flexibility – Pay anyone easily. Change or cancel payments. Add new payees at any time.

• Security – Fidelity BillPay leverages advanced security like 256-bit SSL encryption.

• Mobile access – Pay bills on-the-go with Fidelity’s iOS and Android apps.

• Electronic Bills – Receive, view, and pay bills electronically from some payees.

• Support – Get help from Fidelity’s customer support 24/7.

For most people, Fidelity BillPay is a big improvement over handling bills the “old-fashioned” way. It takes the hassle out of bill payment so you can focus on other things.

How Much Does Fidelity BillPay Cost?

The best part about Fidelity BillPay is that it’s completely free for Fidelity customers to use. There are no monthly service fees or per payment fees. You can send as many payments as you want for free.

The only potential fees are:

• Overnight check delivery – $25 per check
• Charitable donation check – $5 per check
• Same day bill payment – $10 per payment

But express delivery options like these are completely optional. For standard bill payments, you’ll pay absolutely nothing to use Fidelity BillPay.

How to Sign Up for Fidelity BillPay

To start using Fidelity BillPay, you first need an eligible Fidelity account:

• Fidelity Cash Management Account
• Fidelity brokerage account (non-retirement individual, joint, trust, or estate account)

If you don’t have one, you can open either account online with Fidelity in minutes.

Then, log into your account and navigate to the BillPay tab. Select “Add Bill Pay” and you can immediately start adding payees and making payments.

The enrollment process only takes a few minutes. And Fidelity’s customer support can walk you through it if you have any questions.

Tips for Using Fidelity BillPay

Here are some tips to make the most of Fidelity BillPay:

• Take advantage of electronic bills – It’s convenient to get, view, and pay bills in one place. No more shuffling papers.

• Use recurring payments – Set it and forget it for monthly bills. One less thing to remember.

• Download the mobile app – Schedule and manage payments on-the-go.

• Pay anyone – Don’t limit yourself to big companies. Pay individuals, charities, service providers, etc.

• Schedule reminders – Get email or mobile notifications when bills are due.

• Review payment history – Track payments and spending over time.

The Bottom Line

Fidelity BillPay provides an easy, fast, and free way to manage all your bill payments. It’s a major upgrade over traditional paper checks and envelopes. The process is straightforward – set up payees, schedule payments, and Fidelity handles the rest. Key benefits include convenience, flexibility, speed, security, and accessibility. There are no monthly fees or per payment charges. It’s a great bill payment solution offered by a reputable financial services company like Fidelity.

So if paying bills the old-school way has you stressed, give Fidelity BillPay a try. It streamlines bill payment so you can check it off your to-do list and move on to more important things.Paying bills is a necessary evil, but with Fidelity BillPay it doesn’t have to be painful.