Money: You Must Change PIN for Each Bill Pay Provider Account (264845)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Money 2001
This article was previously published under Q264845

SYMPTOMS

If you apply to have CheckFree provide bill payment services for more than one account, held at different banks, you are asked to change the personal identification number (PIN) for each of those bank accounts.

CAUSE

CheckFree only uses one PIN for all of the third-party accounts that share the same Social Security number, but Money treats each of the accounts as if they are different. If you change the PIN for one account, the change affects all of the other accounts that use CheckFree Bill Pay services.

NOTE: If you have enabled CheckFree as the Bill Pay provider, the account displays "(Bill Payment Service)" after the bank name on the Connect screen.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:
  1. If you have not already done so, create all of the accounts that you need, and set them up for online services.

    For more information about how to do this, refer to the Setup An Account to Use Online Services topic in Money Help.
  2. During the first call, only change the PIN for one account. Leave the PINs empty for all other accounts, and complete the call. (Do not save any PINs at this time.)
  3. After you complete the call, change the PIN for the next account. For the old PIN, use the PIN that you just changed the previous account to, and for the new PIN, use either a previous PIN or another new one. Then, send the change by clicking Connect.

    NOTE: Leave the PIN field empty for the first account and any others.
  4. Repeat the previous step until you have made one call to change the PIN for each account that you need to set up. Remember to leave the PIN field for the other accounts empty each time.
  5. After you make one call with each account to change the PIN, you can now use the same PIN for all accounts that use CheckFree Bill Payment service. The PIN you should use is the last PIN that you changed to, on the last call.
NOTE: You only have to follow this procedure the first time you set up multiple accounts with CheckFree services.

Example

You have set up three accounts for online services: A, B, and C.

You click Connect to bank and enter 1234 as the new PIN number for account A. Leave the PIN number for account B and account C blank, and connect to the bank.

On your next call, connect to account B. Use an old PIN number of 1234, and enter a new PIN of 5678.

Now, connect to account C. Use an old PIN number of 5678, and enter a new PIN of 4321 to make your connection.

You have now successfully changed all of your accounts. When you make your next connection to the bank, you can use the new PIN of 4321 and download all of your banking information.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

After you follow the procedure in the "Resolution" section of this article, you can change the PIN on any one account to change the PIN on all CheckFree accounts.

NOTE: If you want to change the PIN, call only one account with that PIN change. During this call, choose to skip the other accounts (click Call Options, and then click to clear the other accounts' check boxes on the Financial Institutions tab). Then, edit any saved PINs to match the new PIN, and reselect the other accounts' check boxes to allow future calls to be made.

By doing so, you avoid the problem of sending a PIN change in one account, and using the wrong PIN for the other accounts during that same call. If you attempt to use the same changed PIN with each account on one call, the change goes into effect for the first account, but subsequent accounts receive "invalid PIN" errors. If this occurs, CheckFree may lock your accounts, and you must call to CheckFree customer service to reset the PIN.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/1/2001
Keywords:kbprb KB264845
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