Citibank Direct Access

Paying Your Bills and Transferring Money
Direct Access® makes managing your money easier, more convenient and more organized than ever before. Refer to this section for information that will help you pay your bills and transfer money.

Paying Your Bills

Payment Processes

The First Time You Pay Bills

Making Payments

Resolving Bill Payment Problems

Transfers

When you set up your bill payments using Direct Access, you save yourself the time and hassle of writing checks. You can make payments to almost anyone in the United States, and you don't need checks, envelopes or stamps. You can pay your bills anytime, day or night, whenever it is convenient for you. For fixed amount bills that you pay regularly, like a car payment, you can save even more time by using the recurring payment function.

It's easy to find what you want in Direct Access. To get to the bill payment feature select the Payments and Transfers channel, and then choose Bill Payment from the task bar.

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Payment Processes
Citibank sends your payments in one of three ways depending on the arrangements, if any, Citibank has with the payee:

Electronic Funds Transfer
Individual Bank Check
Consolidated Bank Check

Payees who are paid with an electronic funds transfer receive payment information, including your account number with the payee, through an electronic computer link. It typically takes two business days for the payee to receive and process the payment. If you usually send a memo to your payee with your payments, please note that Direct Access does not transmit memos with payments it processes through electronic funds transfer.

The second method of sending payments is through an individual bank check issued in your name, to the payee you have designated. These checks include your name, address, memo information, and account number with the payee (if applicable). Direct Access sends the memo information on the attached advice portion of the mailer. Direct Access sends all bank checks through the U.S. Postal Service, and it typically takes five to seven business days for the payee to receive and process. Direct Access includes your account number and any memo on the check.

The third way Citibank sends payments is through a consolidated bank check. Citibank uses this method when it has to send multiple payments to a merchant who is not connected to Citibank electronically. One consolidated check contains payments for many Direct Access users. Direct Access includes users' account numbers with the payee and memos in the consolidated check.

Things to Know about Bill Payment

The funds are taken out of your account immediately on the date you schedule the payment to be sent. Direct Access does not wait until the payee receives the payment to subtract the funds from your account.
Allow two days for electronic payments. Payees usually receive and process electronic payments in two days.
To help ensure that your payments arrive on time, schedule or make them at least seven business days before they are due. Remember, some of your payees may receive a check through the mail.
All payments receive a reference number that also appears on your monthly Citibank account statement, making it easy for you to identify and track your payments.
You may make individual payments of up to $10,000.00 via Direct Access. Payments must be for at least $1.00.
If there are insufficient funds available on the day a payment is scheduled to be sent, Citibank notifies you online and automatically tries to complete the payment on the next two calendar days with the exceptions of Thanksgiving, Christmas and July 4th. If there are still insufficient funds on the third try, Citibank cancels the payment and notifies you online. If you have Checking Plus®, Citibank uses available funds in Checking Plus to cover bill payments.
Note: Safety Check^sm coverage does not apply to bill payment items.
You can have up to 999 payees on file at one time and you can only send payments to payees in the U.S. and U.S. territories. You cannot send payments to government agencies using Direct Access.

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