Having issues connecting eBills following the Bill Pay upgrade on February 22, 2023? We have a few tips to reconnect below.
Please note that a few billers (namely Charter/Spectrum, Discover and CapitalOne) are not currently available for eBills. Charter/Spectrum is not allowing new Bill Pay systems, such as ours, to connect for eBills at this time. Discover and CapitalOne eBills were removed due to extensive multi-factor authentication required by those billers, which created a very poor user experience.
Some billers require authentication every month when the eBill is downloaded — examples include Verizon and Citi. You may get an email from Bill Pay instructing you to log in and “fix error.” Unfortunately, this is not an issue that can be resolved. Our recommendation is to pay the bill electronically (not using eBills), or set up auto pay from a SESLOC account directly on the biller’s website.
If you have other billers that used to be on eBills and are no longer eligible, please contact us at (805) 543-1816 or send us a secure message from Online Banking so we can determine if the biller in question should be eBill eligible and “upgraded” to eBills as needed.
It is important to know that even if a payee/biller of yours isn’t connecting via eBill, all billers all eligible for payment via regular Bill Pay.
Here are some tips to reconnect to eBills:
- Confirm your username and password to the biller you’d like to connect (e.g. Verizon, SoCal Gas, PG&E, etc.) — the best way to do this is to log directly into the biller’s site.
- Verify your security question answers with the biller.
- Check that your phone number and email are correct with the biller if you need to receive any secure access codes.
- If you are not able to get into the biller’s site directly, you may be able to reset your username or password on their site. Otherwise, you may need to contact the biller directly to regain access.
- Once you have your username and password and have confirmed you can log in directly to the biller’s site, you may now proceed with enrolling in eBills through Bill Pay. See the instructions updating an existing biller, setting up a new biller, and troubleshooting eBills:
Existing Biller
If you already had the biller set up for electronic payments in Bill Pay, follow these instructions:
- Click the Enroll in eBill link located on the biller card in the Manage Billers tab.
- The account number is pre-filled for you. Click Continue.
- Enter the login ID and password for the biller. This would be the same login and password you would use if you logged into the biller’s site directly.
- It may take a few minutes for the biller to connect. We recommend you do NOT navigate away from this page while it is connecting.
- You will be prompted with a security question or code, depending on the biller’s authentication requirements. Enter the answer and continue.
- It may take a few minutes again for the biller to connect.
- If successful, you will receive a Success pop-up and can either close the window or setup a payment.
- Once connected, you can scheduled your payments.
New Biller
- From the Manage Billers tab, search for the biller you’d like to add under the Add New Billers search bar.
- When multiple options are present for one biller (e.g. Verizon), try selecting the one with the company’s logo first (if applicable).
- Enter the biller’s zip code. This can be found on your latest bill and would be the zip code that the biller requires you to send a payment to.
- Enter the account number exactly as listed/displayed on your latest bill. Click Add.
- Enter the login ID and password for the biller. This is the same login and password you would use if you logged into the biller’s site directly.
- It may take a few minutes for the biller to connect. We recommend you do NOT navigate away from this page while it is connecting.
- You will be prompted with a security question or code, depending on the biller’s authentication requirements. Enter the answer and continue.
- It may take a few minutes again for the biller to connect.
- If successful, you will receive a Success pop-up message and you can either close the window or setup a payment.
Troubleshooting eBills
- If at any time during the connection process an error occurs, navigate back to the Manage Billers tab. There will be a ‘Fix Error’ button located within the biller card. Attempt to connect again, and if it still fails, you will be presented with a more detailed reason why. Correct the issues identified and try again. If that still doesn’t fix the issue, please contact us so we can help investigate.
- Enhancements are in development to make eBill connectivity more user friendly and to include more helpful error messaging explaining why the connection isn’t successful earlier in the process.
