Bill Pay
General Questions
Paying bills online is easier and takes less time than opening the envelope containing your paper bill, reviewing it, writing a check and keeping and filing manual records of your payments. Once you've enrolled and entered your Payees, just enter a payment amount, schedule the payment date and you're done.
To make paying bills online even easier, you can receive your bills online from many of your Payees/Billers as well.
Nothing. The two terms are used interchangeably to indicate someone to whom you make a payment, whether or not they actually send you a "bill" or invoice.
No special software is necessary.
Absolutely not. You'll always be in control of your accounts. You decide whom, when and how often to pay. Need to cancel or change a payment? No problem, as long as it's done before the processing date.
The Payment Assistant is an application layer that displays over the mini-modules on the right hand side of the Payment Center to assist the user in making payments, whether that user is new or experienced. The Payment Assistant provides a progressive experience, helping the user advance from basic capabilities of online bill pay to more advanced features at the appropriate time.
An application layer is a layered page that allows the user to interact with the product while the Payment Center page below it remains open as well. The primary page fades so the user can focus on a related task without distractions. Once the application layer is closed, focus is returned to the Payment Center. Application layers are not blocked by pop-up blockers.
Setting Up & Maintaining Payees/Billers
You can pay almost any individual or business as long as they have a United States mailing address or receive mail at an FPO or APO address (APO - Abroad, APO - America or APO - Pacific). Please note that the following payment types are prohibited: Tax Payments, Court Ordered Payments, and Payments to Payees/Billers outside of the United States.
Sometimes you will want to set up a Payee/Biller with whom you do not have an actual account number. It's easy. Simply enter the customer service phone number for that company to enable a database search. If the database does not find a match, you may enter the rest of the information yourself.
Delete Payees under the Payee Set Up tab. Under this same tab you'll also find the option to change a Payee's information.
For new bill pay users and customers who have only one or two billers stored in the system, the "Quick Add Biller" box provides a shortcut for adding more payees to your list of billers. Once you have several billers stored in the system, you will no longer see this box. When the box is no longer displayed, you can still add new billers any time you choose using the method shown in the tutorial.
Yes. If you have more than one account with us, you'll see a dropdown menu at the top of the payment form listing all your accounts. You can select any of the accounts shown in the menu as the source of the payment. Be sure you note the funds you have used from the account selected, and keep in mind the account must have a balance adequate to cover the payment you are issuing.
Payment Processing
When you pay bills online, the service automatically creates a record of your payments that you can view at any time. This allows you to check the status of your payment and always have a general account of where you are.
Most transactions will be processed five (5) Business Days before your selected Scheduled Payment Date. It is understood that, due to circumstances beyond our control, even once they are received, some transactions may take a day or even a few days longer to be credited by your Payee/Biller to your account with them.
Sometimes a company may not credit your account immediately after they receive a payment. If the payment is not credited after two days, call the company’s customer service line. If the problem isn’t resolved, you can send us a payment inquiry on payments in Activity. We will contact the company on your behalf in an attempt to resolve the problem.
You do not need to do anything with that portion. Bill Payment will provide all of the necessary information to the Payee/Biller with each payment.
You can schedule a payment up to one year in advance of the payment due date. Do not forget to allow five business days in between the scheduled payment date and the due date. A good example of when you might schedule a payment that far in advance could be to pay annual dues to an organization or association, or to send a birthday or anniversary check to someone.
Easiest of all: establish a recurring payment. A recurring payment must be made at specified intervals (i.e., weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, every 4 weeks, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly) for the same amount each occurrence. Set the payment frequency and the amount you wish to pay and, however you set it, your payments will be made as indicated. All you have to do is deposit the money to cover the payments. Set it and forget it!
You will not always know if your payment is sent electronically or by paper check. While many payments will be made electronically, some Payees/Billers cannot receive electronic payments (such as individuals). Those Payees/Billers will be sent payments by paper check.
If the payment is sent electronically, the money is withdrawn from your account one business day after processing begins. If the company or person cannot receive electronic payments, we print a check and mail it to the address you provide.
For some checks, the money is withdrawn one business day after processing begins. For others, the money is withdrawn when the company or person deposits or cashes the check.
One of the advantages of paying your bills using Bill Payment is that there are generally far fewer opportunities for errors to occur. However, in the event that you do need to provide proof of payment, there are many different tracking systems in place. For example, your financial statement will reflect debits to your account, and include the name of each Payee/Biller.
All online payments can be canceled before they are processed (5 or more business days prior to the requested due date). Once the payment has been processed, additional modifications are not possible.
Getting Help & Signing Up
As with any questions about your checking account, contact our Customer Information Center for assistance. You can call us at (781) 682-3715 M-Fri 7am to 7pm, Sat 7am to 2pm or email us at cic at southshorebank dot com.
To sign up for Bill Payment, you first must be enrolled in our Online Banking service. ENROLL NOW! Once enrolled, just log into Online Banking and select the Bill Payment link.
E-Bills
E-Bills are your regular statements delivered to you electronically by your Payee/Biller. You can choose either to have the Bill Pay service pay the bills automatically (under a certain dollar amount) through e-Bill Auto-Pay, or pay the bills according to your chosen schedule or amount.
The fastest way to create e-Billers is to choose from the pre-defined list. The Merchants on this list capable of sending e-Bills are indicated by an asterisk(*).
No. You will no longer receive your paper bill. However, you can print out any bill if you would like to keep a paper copy for your records. Your bills, statements, and notices are available online for six months from their arrival date; then they are archived.
When you log on, you'll see the number of new bills, statements, and notices you've received. Also, you'll receive a reminder e-mail to notify you of new bills in your account mailbox if they have not been viewed within four days of delivery.
Most Payees/Billers will use their established billing cycle, so you can expect to receive your bill at approximately the same time of the month that you currently receive your paper bill.
For questions specific to a particular e-Bill, contact that e-Biller directly.
Person-to-Person Payments with Zelle®
Zelle is a fast, safe and easy way to send money directly between almost any bank accounts in the U.S., typically within minutes1. With just an email address or U.S. mobile phone number, you can send money to people you know and trust, regardless of where they bank2.
You can send money to friends, family and others you trust2. Since money is sent directly from your South Shore Bank account to another person's bank account within minutes1, it's important to only send money to people you trust, and always ensure you've used the correct email address or U.S. mobile number. When using Zelle, at least one side of the transaction (sender or receiver) must have access to Zelle through their bank or credit union.
To get started, whether you are on South Shore Bank’s full website or on South Shore Bank’s mobile app, you would need to press on Bill Pay to access Zelle. Enter your email address or U.S. mobile phone number (Social Tokens), receive a one-time verification code, enter it, accept terms and conditions, and you're ready to start sending and receiving with Zelle.
To send money using Zelle, simply select someone from your mobile device's contacts (or add a trusted recipient's email address or U.S. mobile phone number), add the amount you'd like to send and an optional note, review, then hit "Send." In most cases, the money is available to your recipient in minutes1.
To request money using Zelle, choose "Request," select the individual(s) from whom you'd like to request money, enter the amount you'd like to request, include an optional note, review and hit "Request"3.
To receive money, just share your enrolled email address or U.S. mobile phone number with a friend and ask them to send you money with Zelle.
If you have already enrolled with Zelle, you do not need to take any further action. The money will move directly into your bank account, typically within minutes1. If you have not yet enrolled with Zelle, follow these steps:
- Click on the link provided in the payment notification you received via email or text message.
- Select your South Shore Bank.
- Follow the instructions provided on the page to enroll and receive your payment. Pay attention to the email address or U.S. mobile number where you received the payment notification - you should enroll with Zelle using that email address or U.S. mobile number to ensure you receive your money.
Zelle is a great way to send money to family, friends, and people you are familiar with such as your personal trainer, babysitter or neighbor2. Since money is sent directly from your South Shore Bank account to another person's bank account within minutes1, Zelle should only be used to send money to friends, family and others you trust. Neither Zelle nor South Shore Bank offers a protection program for any authorized payments made with Zelle – for example, if you do not receive the item you paid for or the item is not as described or as you expected.
It's easy – Zelle is already available within your mobile banking app and online banking! Check our app or sign-in online and follow a few simple steps to enroll with Zelle today.
You can find a full list of participating banks and credit unions live with Zelle here. If your recipient's financial institution isn't on the list, don't worry! The list of participating financial institutions is always growing, and your recipient can still use Zelle by downloading the Zelle app for Android and iOS. To enroll with the Zelle app, your recipient will enter their basic contact information, an email address and U.S. mobile number, and a Visa® or Mastercard® debit card with a U.S. based account (does not include U.S. territories). Zelle does not accept debit cards associated with international deposit accounts or any credit cards.
When you enroll with Zelle through your online banking account or mobile app, your name, the name of your financial institution, and the email address or U.S. mobile number you enrolled is shared with Zelle (no sensitive account details are shared). When someone sends money to your enrolled email address or U.S. mobile number, Zelle looks up the email address or mobile number in its "directory" and notifies your financial institution of the incoming payment. Your financial institution then directs the payment into your bank account, all while keeping your sensitive account details private.
In order to use Zelle, the sender and recipient's bank accounts must be based in the U.S.
You can only cancel a payment if the person you sent money to hasn't yet enrolled with Zelle. To check whether the payment is still pending because the recipient hasn't yet enrolled, you can go to your activity page, choose the payment you want to cancel, and then select "Cancel This Payment."
If the person you sent money to has already enrolled with Zelle, the money is sent directly to their bank account and cannot be canceled. This is why it's important to only send money to people you trust, and always ensure you've used the correct email address or U.S. mobile number when sending money.
If you sent money to the wrong person, we recommend contacting the recipient and requesting the money back. If you aren't able to get your money back, please contact our Customer Information Center at (781) 682-3715.
Money sent with Zelle is typically available to an enrolled recipient within minutes1. If you send money to someone who isn't enrolled with Zelle, they will receive a notification prompting them to enroll. After enrollment, the money will move directly to your recipient's account, typically within minutes1.
If your payment is pending, we recommend confirming that the person you sent money to has enrolled with Zelle and that you entered the correct email address or U.S. mobile phone number.
If you're waiting to receive money, you should check to see if you've received a payment notification via email or text message. If you haven't received a payment notification, we recommend following up with the sender to confirm they entered the correct email address or U.S. mobile phone number.
Still having trouble? Please contact our Customer Information Center at (781) 682-3715.
Yes! They will receive a notification via email or text message.
Keeping your money and information safe is a top priority. When you use Zelle within our mobile app or online banking, your information is protected with the same technology we use to keep your bank account safe.
If you don't know the person, or aren't sure you will get what you paid for (for example, items bought from an online bidding or sales site), you should not use Zelle for these types of transactions. These transactions are potentially high risk (just like sending cash to a person you don't know is high risk). Zelle does not offer a protection program for any authorized payments made with Zelle – for example, if you do not receive the item you paid for or the item is not as described or as you expected.
Your email address or U.S. mobile phone number may already be enrolled with Zelle at another bank or credit union. Call our customer support team and ask them to move your email address or U.S. mobile phone number to your financial institution so you can use it for Zelle.
Once customer support moves your email address or U.S. mobile phone number, it will be connected to your bank account so you can start sending and receiving money with Zelle through your financial institution's mobile banking app and online banking. Please contact our Customer Information Center at (781) 682-3715 or help.
1 Transactions typically occur in minutes when the recipient’s email address or U.S. mobile number is already enrolled with Zelle.
2 Must have a bank account in the U.S. to use Zelle.
3 Mobile carrier fees may apply.
