MyCheckFree was originally created by CheckFree, which was acquired by Fiserv in the year 2008. It is a free bill pay service that was originally created to provide a means to the big billers to have a place where they can send customers to receive the e-bills (electronic bills) and make payments. It is quite a handy service for the consumers in that it allows them to get lots of bills at one place… it is a sort of one stop shop for the e-bill payment.
It is fairly easy to get enrolled to it. All that you need is an email address that is used for a login id and provide zip code to complete the sign-up process. One interesting and unique thing about MyCheckFree is that when you enroll, this service displays a list of likely billers in the respective area by using your zip code. The list is derived from looking at the other MyCheckFree subscribers who have shared similar zip code and are currently paying the bills at MyCheckFree. It works by assuming that if they are paying biller A then conceivably biller A might be the one to which you also need to pay. This is no doubt a smart stuff!
The list of billers that is available to pay on the MyCheckFree is in hundreds of number and quite substantial. When you pay by using this service, you agree to allow the biller to send an e-bill instead of paper bill by mail.
When you go through the setup process to create a sign up with each of the billers whom you wish to pay, you need to enter biller account number, which can be easily found on one of the existing paper bills. Also, a few other pieces of data may be required by biller to positively identify you in billing system. They may ask you for date of birth but Fiserv is a respectable company that is serving in financial business for a long time; therefore, one should not be hesitant to provide any info, they require.
Once the biller getsthe enrollment request, they usually begin directinge-bills to you during next billing cycle. The user is notified via email when a new bill arrives and then you need to login to MyCheckFree website to make the payment.
For first payment at MyCheckFree, you need to provide routing transit number and bank account number you wish to use to execute payments. These are the numbers that appear on the bottom-left hand side corner of paper checks provided by banking institution.
One other link entitled payment activity at MyCheckFree displays history of the e-bills to you. It shows the e-bills you have received and also the online payments made.
One more service offered by MyCheckFree allows you to send/receive money to the individuals, simply via the recipient’s name and email address or even through mobilenumber. Most probably, cash is sent directly from respective bank account to the recipient you’ve entered.
One’s familiar with PayPal may get a better idea about this because it is similar to that. However, the exact process to make these payments is not clear from MyCheckFree website. They provide some basic instructions only via menu item termed as Pay People but doesn’t provide any link to this service i.e. ZashPay.
As per instructions, when you make payment using MyCheckFree.com, wait for 3 days to get the request processed and allow them time to setup account. Though a quick search of Google shows separate website for ZashPay service which is likely to be offered by Fiserv but the actual link between the two is still unclear and remain a mystery.
To infer, MyCheckFree also enable you to make emergency payments to number of billers including utility companies such as water, electric and/orGas Company. These companies often charge an additional fee for emergency payments, and are helpful to the consumer if you are at risk of service being disconnected. Also, you can easily access list of billers who may receive last minute payment via menu item entitled as Emergency Payments.
