Use online bill pay to pay a family member?

My bank allows me to create a ‘vendor’ for any bill I want to pay, including a family member. I would imagine your bank is similar.

do a money transfer + Frequently Asked Questions
Get Answers to some common questions. + How do you initiate a wire transfer?

How do you initiate a wire transfer?
DOMESTIC:
To transfer money to a bank in the US, call our wire department at 800–762-5884 (option one). If you’re calling from overseas, the number is 412–803-8862. The first thing you’ll need is a wire transfer agreement. That must be completed and filed with PNC before initiating the transfer. You’ll also need the account and ABA/routing number of the account to which you are transferring funds, the name(s) on the account, the bank’s name, address and telephone number. View Wire Transfer Fees

INTERNATIONAL:
To transfer money outside of the United States you will need to call us at 800–762-5884. If you’re calling from overseas, the number is 412–803-8862. The first thing you’ll need is a wire transfer agreement. That must be completed and filed with PNC before initiating the transfer. You’ll also need the account number and ABA/routing number of the account to which you are transferring funds, the name(s) on the account, the bank’s name, address and telephone number. View Wire Transfer Fees
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Wire transfers generally cost money, while paying a ‘bill’ online usually does not.

@augustlan thanks.

@coffeenut, wires cost $$ which is why I’m trying to avoid them.

We don’t use checks anymore in Norway. It’s all by bank transfer. If we know the person’s bank account number, we are able to put an amount of money in their account. It’s free if we do it online, and costs a pretty big fee if we go into a our bank or theirs to do it.

I’ve used online bill pay to send my daughter money. You set your relative up as an account, assign an account number to yourself that goes on the the check they receive. It doesn’t have to be numerical; it could be “Monthly Allowance”.

Yes, my bank allows this.

One thing to keep in mind is that the envelope from the bank will look pretty generic, so it is best to let your family member know that you have sent them money using this method. That way they can be on the look out for the envelope and won’t put it in a pile of potential junk mail.

Here is the simpliest answer to your question. if the receiver has a checking account, go to your bank and withdraw the cash amount to be sent. then, go to their bank and make the deposit in their account. you will need their account number. their is a lot of trust here, but a family member should be no problem. making a deposit is no problem from coast to coast. the most you may be charged will be $3.00.

We do this all the time with our daughter that lives in Seattle.

I’d do it online using the method people have suggested. That is far simpler that physically hauling yourself around and needing to find out account numbers and whatnot.

I use Quicken, but it’s pretty much the same as what others have described. I set up a payee, name, address and account number. For account number I put my name. Then I click the upload button and Quicken does its thing. Quicken then writes the check and mails it out to the recipient, just like any other check.

It’s so easy. All my payees are set up. I just type in the amount and the date and click enter and I need do nothing more to write a check. It’s gotten to the point where when I have to write a check, my fingers barely know how to write any more. In any case, my writing is increasingly illegible, and that’s a trick, because it already wasn’t legible!

Yes, we do this all the time. My son pays his rent that way. My husband is the representative payee for two elderly people and he provides their spending money by bank transfer between two accounts at the same bank.

Order some checks…

@fireside I see that this question is pretty old, but I just wanted to point something out. After I got divorced, I was awarded alimony and my ex-husband simply set me up as a “vendor” on his PNC account. This was how I received my alimony every month. But when I received the checks, they were never in a somewhat-generic envelope. It showed his name and address as the sender, me as the recipient and the envelope was printed with “Payment Enclosed”. I actually found this kind of ridiculous. Aren’t they just begging someone to steal that piece of mail?