Service Upgrade: New & Improved Bill Payer

As a Member of St. Cloud Federal Credit Union, you have the opportunity to use our Bill Payer service, free of charge.  For those of you who don’t know, Bill Payer is a safe and secure way to pay your bills online through your checking account at SCFCU.  It’s a convenient alternative to writing out checks each month, or logging onto individual business websites.  An exciting upgrade is coming soon for Bill Payer service.

Effective August 14^th, we are converting to a new Bill Payer provider.  No worries, current users -  all of your Payees, Payment History, and Scheduled Payments will automatically convert to the new provider.  However, there are a few things we’d like to make you aware of.

• Payments that you set up prior to the upgrade, that had a process date after August 13^th, will now have a different ‘Send Date’.  The term ‘Process Date’ will now be used within Bill Payer instead of ‘Send Date’.  It is extremely important that you log in to your Bill Payer account after August 14^th and review your ‘Process Dates’ (The ‘Process Date’ is the date the funds are deducted from your checking account.) to assure things transferred over.
  
  

• All of your Payees will default to ‘Check Payment’ status at the time of the upgrade.  However, those Payees may convert to ‘Electronic Payment’ status when the first payment is processed with our new provider.
  
  

• The most exciting change is that Bill Payer will be available for your mobile device by the end of the first quarter in 2014.

If you have any questions or concerns about our Bill Payer upgrade, please feel free to contact Barb at (320)258-2150, or Karen at (320)258-2169.

To learn more about accessing Bill Payer, click here.  If you’d like help walking through setting up Bill Payer, check out this video.  Happy Bill Paying!

Our mission is to educate, support, and encourage our Members to become Financially Fit.

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Spring Cleaning = Spring Saving

In the spirit of today being the first day of Spring (we know, it hardly feels like it) – we thought we’d blog accordingly!  Below is a list of 7 places to check for Spring savings when Spring cleaning …

1. Light bulbs
When you’re cleaning and dusting off those light fixtures, why not dust the light bulbs too?  A clean light bulb will give off more light, giving you more ‘bang for your buck’.  If you have to replace any bulbs, consider doing so with energy efficient ones. 

2. Fridge
When you’re throwing out moldy, stinky, rotten food and scrubbing the grime off the shelves, take a look at your temperature dial; is it set colder than it needs to be? Is something blocking it from getting an accurate read?  If you see fit, adjust the temperature so the fridge is kept at suitable setting.  Also, take the extra time to pull the fridge away from the wall and dust off the back coils – this helps the fridge run more efficiently and with less energy (which = less money spent).

3. Filters
Although it is hard for many of us Minnesotans to imagine turning on the Air Conditioner, during your spring cleaning, check out the AC filter.  If necessary, toss the old one and install a new one – an old, beat up, unclean filter makes your AC do more work than necessary, and a new one can save you anywhere from 5% to 15% on yourbill. A good rule of thumb is to change your air filter 2-4 times a year.

4. Dishwasher
For many of us, the Spring Cleaning list doesn't include our dishwasher, but we suggest adding it! Bottom line: a clean dishwasher uses less water.  How? During rinse and wash cycles, many dishwashers will overcompensate for the dirty area surrounding your dirty dishes.  First, clean your dishwasher (door, shelves, racks, etc.) with warm vinegar water and then run a wash cycle with lemonade powder as the soap.   Last, clean the seal around the door – this way your dishwasher won’t pump out extra heat due to leaks. Voila! 

5. Dryer
The dryer is pretty basic, and keeping lint filters clean seems like common sense, we know.  This Spring, also remember to have your dryer ducts clean and like the fridge, clean behind your dryer to keep things running efficiently.  If you’re really looking to save – boycott the dryer all together on warm, sunny days and use a clothesline!

6. Roof
When you’re cleaning all the leaves out of your gutters, take a second to check at the ventilation in your attic.  Clean ventilation can help reduce the build up of heat (which means less cost on running the AC) and is also better for the life of your shingles.

7. Sliding Doors
Hopefully we’ll be using these soon to step on the back patio, but in the mean time - keep the sliding track clean.  Dust and dirt can build up over the winter months and loosen the seal – clearing that out can assure you that your air conditioner isn't doing more work than it has to. 

We know that Spring Cleaning is hardly exciting for most of us, but our financial fitness goals seem to be applicable to all areas of life: the good, the bad, the clean, and the dirty. Happy Spring and Happy Cleaning!


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Bill Who? Bill What? BILL PAYER!

With St. Cloud Federal Credit Union, you have the opportunity to use our Bill Payer service, free of charge.  What is Bill Payer, you may ask?

Bill Payer is a safe and secure way to pay your bills online through your checking account at SCFCU.  It’s a great alternative to writing checks or logging onto several individual websites to pay your bills.

Bill Payer is easily accessible through our Online Banking section of our website.  Bill Payer allows you to designate several different ‘payees’; anything from heating and electric, to cable, to your daycare provider.  Most ‘common’ payees (which is about 85% of all payments) will be sent electronically, the other roughly 15% are sent out by check.  Depending on how your payment is sent, Bill Payer only needs a 3 to 6 day lead period to guarantee your payments arrive on time – which can help you avoid late fees!

When you use Bill Payer, your payment history is stored for approximately 18 months, allowing you to review your payments as needed.  Bill Payer also has a built-in security feature that sends you an email alert any time a new payee is created, when a payment is added, or when a payment is deleted – so you’re in the loop of everything that’s going on in your Bill Payer.

Member’s who have tried Bill Payer tell us all the time how much they love it, and that they can’t imagine going back and paying their bills any other way.

If you’re already using Bill Payer, check out our March promotion by clicking here. If you’d like to learn more about using Bill Payer or want to sign up – call or stop by, we’re happy to walk you through it and help get you started! Get #FinanciallyFit and take the stress out of paying bills!

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