I use Internet Explorer and I want to keep my Privacy Settings high. Can I still use Bill Pay?

Yes, the Privacy Settings can be set as high as you want. However, you have to edit your settings to allow Bank OnLine and Bill Pay sites to override the privacy restrictions. To do this:
Open Internet Explorer and from the top menu select “Tools” and then “Internet Options”. Click on the “Privacy” tab. Set the privacy level as high as you want. But then, click on “EDIT” in the Web sites box. In the next box, type in abankcc.com and then click on “Allow” for Bank OnLine. Type in onlinebank.com and then click on “Allow” for Bill Pay.

What is Bill Pay?

Bill Pay is a service for paying your bills electronically from your American Bank checking account, without writing or mailing checks. All you need is a computer with access to the Internet, a current version of Internet Explorer and be a registered Bank OnLine user. You can register for Bank OnLineb by selecting "E-Banking Register Here" on American Bank's home page.

American Bank provides this service through a contractual agreement with Online Resources Communications Corp. You can set up your bill payments anytime for payments to be made today, some day in the future, even on a regular basis months or years in the future.

How does Bill Pay work?

First you request that Bill Pay be set up for your American Bank checking account through our online registration process. After that is complete, access the Bill Pay website through your Bank OnLine system. Once you have accessed the Bill Pay system, you set-up a list of payees – individuals or businesses that you would normally pay by mailing a check. You can then begin scheduling your bill payments. Note: Normally, a payee is available for payments right away, but if the new payee has not been established in the Bill Pay database, you will need to schedule the payment date at least three days in the future to allow for the payee information to be verified. Scheduling a Bill Pay payment is very similar to writing a check: fill out the payee, amount and date the payment should be made. You can schedule the payment to be paid today, or up to 40 years in advance. You can also schedule payments for the same amount to be paid on a regular basis, like paying your cable bill each month. Bill Pay uses our ATM network to check your account balance and transfer the payment amount out of your account on the day you schedule the payment to be made. Bill Pay then either makes an electronic payment or mails a check (if they cannot receive an electronic payment) to the payee on your behalf.

How much does Bill Pay cost?

You can pay an unlimited amount of bills free! You save money on stamps, checks and you will save significantly on the time it takes to pay your bills each month.

How do I get signed up for Bill Pay?

If you have a personal checking account, you can register online by going to our home page and clicking on the gray box ("E-Banking Register Here") on the left hand side of the page. This will take you to our secure site for E-Banking Registration. Be prepared with your account number, Social Security, ATM/Check Card and Drivers License (or other ID) numbers. You should also plan on 10-15 minutes of uninterrupted time to complete the registration. For security reasons, the registration page will time-out if there is a period of inactivity should you get distracted. For business accounts, you should contact Cash Management at 361-992-9900.
It takes 3-7 days to get your account set-up, and you will receive an E-Bank Welcome Kit in the mail with instructions.

How do I get my passwords?

You do not need a separate user name and password to access Bill Pay. Simply log in to your Bank OnLine, and click the Bill Pay tab to access your Bill Pay home page.

When can I start to pay bills?

You can immediately schedule a payment for a newly entered payee. If the payee has a "Pending" status, then the payee information is being verified by the Bill Pay provider and this process may take up to three business days. Therefore, when you schedule a payment, the payment date will automatically default to three business days in the future. Once the payee information has been verified, the payee status will show "Available" and you can schedule "Today" or future dated payments.

Do I have to go into Bill Pay every time I want to pay a bill?

No, you can schedule individual payments up to a year in advance, and recurring payments up to 40 years in the future. Once your payment is scheduled, you do not have to go back and submit the payment on the day you want it paid. You just need to be sure that your account has sufficient funds available for the day you scheduled your payment to be made.

What is a payee?

A payee is the person or business to whom you want to make a payment. For example, a payee can be the utility company or a relative. The person who receives your money is a payee.

Who can I pay using Bill Pay?

You can pay virtually anyone in the United States—from national bank cards, mortgage companies, auto loans, department stores, and utilities to the paperboy, your child away at school, or the day care center. You can also use Bill Pay to make deposits to another person’s account. The payee must have a United States mailing address and accept U.S. dollars for payment. The only exception is that you cannot use Bill Pay for local, state, or federal government agencies, or child support or alimony payments. (You can pay your city utility bill, however.) You can have up to 500 payees on your payee list.

Is Bill Pay just for payments that are the same amount each month?

No, Bill Pay is very flexible. Once a payee is set-up, you can schedule one-time payments of differing amounts to be paid today, or up to a year from today. You can also set up a payment for the same amount to the same payee to be made on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) for up to 40 years in the future. And you can make changes to or delete a payment anytime up until the day it is scheduled.

Are my bills paid electronically to merchants on my payee list?

Many of the merchants on the Payee list are set up to receive electronic payments. We are always updating and adding to this list so that even more payments can be made electronically. When a merchant cannot receive an electronic payment, we mail a check through the U.S. Postal Service. The 'Days to Pay' column for each payee will guarantee the maximum number of business days it should take for your payment to reach the payee.

How do I know if a payment has been made?

In Bill Pay, you can click on the Activity tab. There you will see a list of payments that have been completed with the date, payee, amount and confirmation number. If you see "Failed" in the Type column, it means that the payment has failed. A payment can fail if there are insufficient funds in your account or if there is a hold on your ATM card for any reason (for example if it was reported lost or stolen). You can also check your bank account by either your mailed statement or through Bank OnLine to see if the Bill Payment transaction has been debited from your account. And, you will see on your next statement if and when the payment was credited to your payee account.

What do I do if my payment isn't received or is late?

Make sure that you scheduled your payment properly and if so, contact Bill Pay Customer Service at 1-877-632-9222 and notify them of the problem and if you had any late fees or additional finance charges because of the late or lost payment. Bill Pay Customer Service will follow-up with the payee, research when the payment was made, where it was sent, and if it was credited. If your payment was scheduled properly for either the 2 days to pay or the 5 days to pay timeframe, then Bill Pay guarantees that you will not be penalized in any way for a payment that did not arrive or was not credited to your account on time.

When does Bill Pay debit my account for the payment?

Bill Pay will transfer money from your account through an ATM transaction on the day you schedule the bill to be paid, if it is a business day. A business day is Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays. If it is scheduled on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday, the bill payment will be reflected in your balance on that day, but the funds will not be sent through the ATM system until the following business day. Generally the transaction happens between 10 am and 1 pm, Central Time, but it can be submitted anytime during business hours.

Why did my payment fail and what do I do now?

The most common reason for a payment to fail is because of insufficient funds in your account the day it was scheduled. When this happens Bill Pay will automatically retry the payment again the next day. If it fails on the second attempt, Bill Pay will not retry the payment a third time. Customer Service will notify you with a message when you login to Bill Pay and your payment will be marked with "Failed" in the Type column under the Activity tab. You are responsible for rescheduling the payment again, or making other arrangements to pay your bill. Payments may also fail for exceeding daily limits ($25000.00) or for occasional communication failures in the ATM system. If you are sure that your account had sufficient funds for the payment, please call American Bank Customer Service at Corpus Christi 992-9911, Port Aransas 749-7711,Rockport 361-727-9955, Austin 512-328-0999,Goliad / Victoria 361-645-3220 and outside of these areas toll free 1-800-257-8316 to report the failure and so that we can identify the source of the problem.

Do I get a receipt to confirm the payment?

Bill Pay assigns a confirmation number to each completed transaction, which serves as your electronic receipt. The confirmation number is your record that transactions were accepted and will be completed. You should record this number, or print the screen. Since the payment was electronically debited from your account, you will not receive a cancelled check for your payment. The payment will be listed on your account statement on the date it was debited from your account with the description “Bill Payment System” with the name of the payee, the date and time, and this serves as your paper receipt.

What if I need additional documentation that the payment was made or received by the payee?

Call Bill Pay Customer Service at 1-877-632-9222 with the confirmation number and/or date, amount and payee of the payment and they will send you the documentation you need.

How do I set up my payees so I can start using Bill Pay?

For each payee you will need the exact payee name, mailing address, phone number to contact for your account, account number, and the exact name on the account you want credited. The best place to get this information for most of your payees is from your most current statement, so before you begin this process, make sure you have this information available at your fingertips.

• Click on Login to Bank OnLine & Bill Pay at the upper left hand corner of the home page on www.americanbank.com.


• Log into Bank OnLine.


• Click on the Bill Pay tab in Bank OnLine.


• Click Payments and then Payees.


• Select the appropriate type of Payee that you are creating.


• Complete all the onscreen fields – check for accuracy bfore submitting.

Note: If you are paying an individual, please type your last name in the Account Number field.

Can I set up a payment to be made directly to an individual’s bank account?

Yes. Use the Payee set-up process exactly as described above, selecting the "Checking, Savings or Share Account" option. You will need the name of the financial institution, the account type and number, and the routing transit number for the financial institution.

Why is one of my Bill Pay payees displayed as pending or not even on my list?

After you have added a new payee, the payee may appear as "pending" for several days until the information you provided, such as address and account number, can be verified. Often the new payee is identified and verified within seconds or minutes. In other cases, this process may take up to 3 business days. You will only see the "pending" status in the Payee list when the verification of a newly added payee is in progress. Verifying the payee information is critical to the payment guarantee offered by Bill Pay.

Why are some payees set-up for 2 days to pay and some for 5 days to pay?

The Days to Pay column indicates the number of business days necessary for the payee to receive payment. For electronic payments to payees, it takes up to 2 business days. For those payees that are not able to receive an electronic payment, a check will be written and mailed to the payee. A check payment takes up to 5 business days for the payee to receive and process the payment. When entering the payment date in a payment screen, deduct the number of days to pay from the due date on your bill stub or invoice and enter that date. Remember not to count holidays or weekends as business days.

Why is the money taken from my account today, but the payment isn't received for 2 or 5 days?

Bill Pay is a service provided by Online Resources Communication Corp. (ORCC), a national company that has contracted with many banks to handle their electronic bill payment processing. Bill Pay debits the amount of your payment from your account (through our ATM system) and credits it to an account they use to make payments on your behalf. The payment is then made from this ORCC account either electronically (for 2 days to pay) or by a mail check (for 5 days to pay) the day your payment is scheduled to be made. If you are making a today payment after 12 p.m. (noon) Central time, the payment will be sent the next business day.

If my payment is due on May 30, should I schedule the payment for May 30?

No. When scheduling payments, you need to allow enough time between the scheduled date of the payment and the due date of your bill. All payments take either 2 or 5 business days to be processed.

What’s the best way to figure how to schedule a payment?

Starting with the Due Date (or the closest business day before the due date if on a weekend or holiday) count backward the number of Days to Pay required for that payee (not counting weekends or holidays). For example, if your payment is due on the 20th and it requires 2 days to pay, you should schedule your payment for the 19th (if both are business days). If the 20th is a Monday, you would schedule your payment for the 17th because of the 2 weekend days. For a 5 Days to Pay payment due on the 20th, you would schedule it for the 16th. Click on the Calendar button to the right of your payment amount to help you count back the days from your Due Date.

What is the fastest way to pay my bill?

In order to pay your bill in the shortest amount of time you can schedule a "today" payment for the same day you go in to BillPay. In order for your Days to Pay to start that same business day, you need to have your payment scheduled before 12:00pm. Otherwise, your Days to Pay will start with the NEXT business day, even though the funds will be pulled from your account as soon as your Bill Pay session ends (today). However, if you schedule your payment for the next business day, the funds will be debited from your account the next day, and Day 1 of your Days to Pay will also start that day. So the fastest way to get a bill paid is to schedule a "today" payment before 12:00pm. If you need to pay your bill in a hurry and it is after the 12:00pm cutoff time, the smartest way to schedule your payment is for the next business day.

What is a single payment?

This is used to schedule a one-time payment. This is appropriate when your monthly bill is different each statement period, when the payments are not made on the same day each month, or when you have occasional or one-time payees.

What are multiple payments?

These are one-time, single payments, but you can enter up to 5 payments on one screen to save time if you have several payments during one Bill Pay session.

What is a recurring payment?

These are regular payments of a fixed amount (like a mortgage or auto loan) that can be scheduled for automatic payments on pre-set intervals. If you want to set-up a recurring weekly payment, then set the start date for the first day you want the payment to made, then from the drop down menu below the date, select Weekly. The payment will be made automatically the same day of the week as the starting date until the date of the last payment is reached. If you want to set-up a recurring monthly payment, select the day of the month you want the payment made in both the Start and End Dates, then select Monthly from the drop-down menu. Once you set-up a recurring payment you can forget about it until the End Date is reached.

Can I change my mind once a payment has been scheduled?

You can change the dates and amount for payment that you scheduled earlier in the same online session or in a previous session. Click on the Change button (it looks like a small notepad) to the left of the payment on your Payments screen to make your changes. You can change payments with today’s date as the payment date, but only during the same session you make them. If you need to change the Pay To field for a scheduled payment, you must delete the payment and then make a new payment to a different payee. You can change or cancel a scheduled payment up until midnight of the night before the scheduled payment date.

What if I schedule my payment for a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday?

Your payment will be reflected in your available account balance on the scheduled payment date. The payment will be processed and sent on the following business day -- which will start Day 1 of your Days To Pay period.

What days are considered federal holidays?

The following are federal holidays recognized by Bill Pay (meaning that payments will not be processed on these days): New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day. If a federal holiday falls on a Saturday, it will not be observed on any other day. If it falls on a Sunday, it will be observed on the following Monday.

What happens if I have insufficient funds?

If you do not have sufficient funds in your checking account to cover a schedule payment, your payment will fail and you will see "Failed" in the Type column next to your payment under the Activity tab. We will automatically retry the payment the following business day, but if the payment fails a second time for insufficient funds, it will NOT be automatically retried. You will need to reschedule the payment yourself when funds are available, or make alternate arrangements for payment.