Paying Bills

Topkey gives you several ways to pay vendors directly from a bill — including same-day ACH, standard ACH through a connected bank, mailed check, or a manual record for payments made outside Topkey. Once a bill is marked Ready to Pay, you can initiate payment in just a few steps.

Payment Methods

Topkey supports four payment methods for bills:

• ACH (Same-Day): Funds are sent the same business day using your Topkey Deposit Account. This is the fastest electronic option for vendors with ACH banking details on file.
• ACH (Pass-Through): Funds are pulled from a connected external bank account using standard ACH timing — typically 5 business days. Use this method when you want payments to originate from a bank account outside Topkey.
• Check: Topkey mails a physical check to the vendor on your behalf, drawn from your Topkey Deposit Account. There is a $2 fee per check. The vendor must have a valid mailing address saved before you can use this method.
• Manual: Records a payment that was made outside of Topkey — such as by cash, credit card, wire transfer, or a check you wrote yourself. This does not move any funds; it simply marks the bill as paid and keeps your records accurate.

Paying a Bill

When a bill reaches Ready to Pay status, the Pay option becomes available from the bill's action menu.

1. Open the bill you want to pay.
2. Select Pay from the bill's action menu (or click the Pay button if it appears directly on the bill).
3. In the payment form:
   • Select a payment account — choose your Topkey Deposit Account or a connected external bank account.
   • Choose a payment method — ACH (Same-Day), ACH (Pass-Through), Check, or Manual.
   • Confirm payee details — for ACH payments, verify the vendor's bank account and routing number; for checks, verify the vendor's mailing address.
4. Review the payment summary, then confirm to submit.

Combined Payments

Combined payments let you pay multiple bills to the same vendor in a single transaction, rather than sending separate payments for each bill.

Requirements

For bills to be combined into one payment, all of the following must be true:

• All bills are from the same vendor
• All bills use the same payment account
• All bills use the same payment method

Enabling Combined Payments

Combined payments are configured at the vendor level. To turn this on for a vendor:

1. Navigate to Vendors and open the vendor's profile.
2. Find the Combine Payments setting and enable it.

Once enabled, any eligible bills for that vendor will automatically be grouped into a single payment when you pay them.

Payment Statuses

After initiating a payment, the bill will show one of the following statuses:

• Scheduled — The payment has been queued and will be sent on the next available processing window.
• Processing — The payment is in transit and cannot be cancelled.
• Paid — The payment has been completed successfully.
• Failed — The payment was not completed. You can retry a failed payment from the bill.

Managing Payments

Cancelling a Scheduled Payment

If a payment is still in Scheduled status, you can cancel it before it begins processing:

1. Open the bill with the scheduled payment.
2. Select Cancel Payment from the payment section or action menu.
3. Confirm the cancellation.

The bill will return to a payable state so you can re-initiate payment with updated details if needed.

Retrying a Failed Payment

If a payment has a Failed status:

1. Open the bill.
2. Select Retry from the payment section.
3. Confirm to resubmit the payment.

Returning a Pass-Through ACH Payment

If an ACH (Pass-Through) payment has already been sent but needs to be reversed, you can return it:

1. Open the bill with the sent pass-through payment.
2. Select Return Payment from the payment section.
3. Confirm the return.

The funds will be reversed back through the connected external bank account. Use this option carefully — returns are typically used when a payment was sent to the wrong vendor or for the wrong amount.

Deleting a Payment Record

If you need to completely unlink a payment from a bill — for example, to correct a manual payment that was recorded by mistake — you can delete the payment record:

1. Open the bill.
2. Select Delete Payment from the payment section.
3. Confirm the deletion.

Deleting a payment record removes the payment from the bill entirely and returns the bill to a payable state. No funds are moved by this action.

Viewing a Paid Bill

Once a bill is marked Paid, the bill details panel shows a summary of the completed payment, including:

• Payment method used (ACH, Check, or Manual)
• Paid At date — the date the payment was completed
• Vendor details — the payee name and associated address or banking information confirmed at the time of payment

You can access this view by opening any bill with a Paid status from the bill list.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if my vendor doesn't have banking details on file? If a vendor is missing ACH banking details, ACH payment methods will not be available for that vendor. You can pay by check (if a valid address is on file) or record a manual payment. To add banking details, update the vendor's profile in the Vendors section.

Can I combine payments across different payment methods or accounts? No. Combined payments require that all bills share the same vendor, the same payment account, and the same payment method. Bills that differ on any of these criteria will be paid as separate transactions.

Is there a fee for ACH payments? Topkey does not charge a fee for ACH payments. Check payments incur a $2 fee per check. Manual payments record an outside payment and do not involve any Topkey transaction fees.

Questions? Contact Support