Bill Pay Services

Account Management

Valley First bill pay consolidates all your recurring payments into a single dashboard where you can schedule, modify, or cancel payments and view 24 months of payment history at no cost.

Bill pay is included with every Valley First checking account at no additional charge. There are no per-payment fees, no monthly subscriptions, and no limits on how many payments you can send each month. The system supports two delivery methods: electronic payments that arrive in one to two business days for billers that accept them, and paper checks mailed via USPS for billers that do not accept electronic transfers.

Setting up bill pay takes about ten minutes. Log into Valley First online banking, navigate to the bill pay section, and add each company or individual you want to pay. You will need the billing address and your account number with each biller. The system remembers every biller you add, so after the initial setup, paying a bill takes under thirty seconds — select the biller, enter the amount, choose the payment date, and confirm. Valley First members can manage billers, schedule payments, and view history from both the desktop online banking platform and the mobile app.

Recurring Payments and E-Bills

Schedule recurring payments for fixed-amount bills like rent, mortgage, or car payments, and enable e-bill delivery to see bill amounts and due dates directly in your Valley First dashboard.

Recurring payments eliminate the risk of forgetting a due date. Members can set payments to repeat weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. The system sends an email reminder three days before each recurring payment processes, giving you time to cancel or adjust the amount if needed. For fixed expenses like a mortgage, car loan payment, or storage unit rent, recurring payments ensure on-time delivery every cycle without manual intervention.

E-bills take automation further. When you add a biller that participates in e-bill delivery, Valley First bill pay retrieves your bill summary automatically. Instead of logging into a separate utility website or opening a paper envelope, your electric bill, water bill, credit card statement, or insurance premium appears right inside the bill pay dashboard. The system displays the amount due, minimum payment, and due date. Most members who use e-bills configure them to trigger automatic payment for the full statement balance on the due date, which effectively puts routine household finances on autopilot.

Not every biller supports e-bills. Regional utility companies, small landlords, and individual service providers typically do not. For those, the recurring payment feature handles the scheduling while you manage the bill amount manually. Valley First bill pay works with any biller that has a U.S. mailing address or accepts ACH transfers — there is no need for the biller to sign up for anything on their end.

Payment Tracking and Guarantees

Every bill pay transaction generates a confirmation number, and the system retains searchable payment records for 24 months with on-time delivery guaranteed for properly scheduled payments.

After scheduling a payment, the bill pay dashboard displays the estimated delivery date based on the payment method — electronic or paper check. Electronic payments typically credit the biller within one to two business days. Paper checks print and mail within one business day of the scheduled send date, with delivery taking an additional five to seven days through USPS. The system updates the payment status from "Scheduled" to "Processing" to "Delivered" as it moves through each stage.

Valley First stands behind its bill pay service with an on-time delivery guarantee. If a payment arrives late due to a processing error on Valley First's side, the member services team will contact the biller to request a late fee waiver. When a waiver is not granted, Valley First reimburses up to $50 in late charges. This guarantee applies to payments scheduled with at least five business days of lead time — the minimum lead time the system recommends for reliable delivery.

The payment history archive stores 24 months of transactions, searchable by payee name, date range, amount, or confirmation number. Each entry shows the scheduled date, delivery method, amount, and final status. For tax preparation or expense reporting, members can export payment history to CSV or PDF. Business checking members who process high volumes of vendor payments through bill pay can export categorized CSV files compatible with QuickBooks and other accounting platforms.

Bill Pay Feature Overview

Feature	Description	Delivery Speed	Cost
Electronic Payments	ACH transfers to billers who accept electronic payments	1-2 business days	Free
Paper Checks	Physical checks mailed via USPS to billers without electronic acceptance	5-7 business days	Free
Recurring Payments	Automated payments on weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual schedules	Per method above	Free
E-Bills	Electronic bill delivery from participating billers directly into bill pay dashboard	Varies by biller	Free
Rush Delivery	Expedited paper check via overnight mail for time-sensitive payments	Next business day	$14.95 per check
Payment History	Searchable archive of 24 months of payments with export to CSV or PDF	Instant	Free
Email Reminders	Automatic notifications three days before scheduled recurring payments	Instant	Free
On-Time Guarantee	Up to $50 late fee reimbursement for payments delayed by Valley First processing errors	Per policy	Free

Getting Started with Bill Pay

Adding billers to your Valley First bill pay account requires only the billing address and your account number with each payee — most members complete full setup in under fifteen minutes.

Before using bill pay, you need an active Valley First checking account and online banking access. Navigate to the bill pay section within online banking or the mobile app. Click "Add a Biller" and search for the company name. The system maintains a database of millions of billers with verified mailing addresses and electronic payment capabilities. If your biller appears in the search results, selecting it auto-fills the address and indicates whether electronic payment is available.

For billers not found in the database — common with individual landlords, local service providers, or small businesses — you can add them manually by entering the payee name, mailing address, and your account number with that biller. Manual entries default to paper check delivery. After adding a biller, you can immediately schedule a payment. Valley First recommends sending a small test payment of $1 to new manual billers to confirm the address is correct before scheduling larger amounts.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers guidance on managing automatic payments, including your rights to stop payment on preauthorized electronic transfers and best practices for monitoring recurring charges. Valley First bill pay gives you full control to cancel or modify any scheduled payment up until the processing cutoff time of 2:00 PM PT on the send date. After that cutoff, the payment processes and cannot be stopped — a safeguard that prevents last-minute cancellation of payments that have already been transmitted to the payment network.