Set up a payee and pay your bills with your chequing account

In this article:

Overview

Once you've opened a chequing account, you can pay your bills directly from any of your Wealthsimple chequing accounts (including Business chequing accounts). Types of bills you can pay with Wealthsimple include:

  • Phone bills
  • Utility bills
  • Tuition
  • Student loan repayments (such as OSAP)
  • Credit card bills
Note: Bill payments are only supported via CAD chequing accounts at this time. Bill payments from USD savings accounts aren't currently supported.
Tip: If you have a Wealthsimple credit card, you can transfer funds from your chequing account to make a credit card payment instead.

Add a payee

The first step to paying a bill is to add a payee to your account. Once you add your payee, you can select them anytime you need to pay a bill.

Tip: You cannot add people as payees in your Wealthsimple account. If you're looking to send money to another individual, you’ll need to send them an e-Transfer instead.

To add a payee, follow these steps:

Wealthsimple app Web
  1. Log in to the Wealthsimple app
  2. Tap your chequing account
  3. Select Pay a bill
  4. Tap Pay a bill to add a new payee
  5. Search and select the relevant CRA payee (income tax or payroll deductions)
  6. Enter a Nickname for your payee (optional) and your Account number
  7. Select Add and pay or Add only to confirm
  1. Log in to your Wealthsimple profile
  2. From the Home page, open the Move money dropdown in the top right corner
  3. Select Pay a bill
  4. Select the Settings button in the top right corner
  5. Select Manage payees
  6. Select + Add payee
  7. Search and select the relevant CRA payee (income tax or payroll deductions)
  8. Enter a Nickname for your payee (optional) and your Account number
  9. Select Add only to confirm
Note: If you can't find your payee, double-check with your payee on ways to pay. Some payees only accept pre-authorized debit or credit cards.

Troubleshoot finding a payee

There are a few reasons why you may not be able to find your bill payee:

1. Try browsing categories or suggested payees

If you aren't sure of the exact name, try looking through the For You section or specific categories like Telecom Payments or Insurance. These sections surface the most popular payees based on your residential address on file.

2. Possible user error
Double-check that you've spelled the payee's name correctly. Our system can't identify a payee you spelled it incorrectly. 

3. Payees that don’t accept payment through the bill pay feature
Check with your payee to find out which payment options are available to you.

For example, most subscriptions (Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime) require payment with a debit or credit card. For these cases, you can use the Wealthsimple prepaid Mastercard to pay.

4. Unsupported by Wealthsimple
We support certain bill payments to Revenu Québec (RQ) in the Wealthsimple app and web. At launch, you can pay using a 20-character RQ payment code as your account number. This payment code can be found right after you file your taxes with Wealthsimple Tax or through the RQ’s portal after they’ve reviewed your tax filing.

The following payment types are supported for individuals:

  • Payment codes
  • Income tax 2025

The following payment types for individuals aren’t supported, but will be available at a later date:

  • Personal income tax instalments
  • Payments related to a Notice of Assessment (NOA)
  • Support payments (pension alimentaire)
  • Payments using payment codes or Clic Revenu codes
Tip: If you don’t see Revenu Québec in the payee search, try searching Revenu Quebec or RQ.
Note: Revenu Québec business or corporate taxes payments through bill pay aren’t available yet.

Pay a bill

You can pay as many bills as you want, as often as you like. You can pay up to $250,000 in a single bill payment to a payee. 

Follow these steps to pay a bill:

Wealthsimple app Web
  1. Log in to the Wealthsimple app
  2. Tap your chequing account
  3. Select Pay a bill
  4. Select your desired payee
  5. To schedule the bill payment for a future date, tap the Date dropdown to select a future date
  6. To schedule the bill payment to be recurring, tap the Frequency dropdown to select a frequency
  7. Enter an amount to send and tap Next
  8. Review your information and tap Confirm to pay your bill
  1. Log in to your Wealthsimple profile
  2. From the Home page, open the Move money dropdown in the top right corner
  3. Select Pay a bill
  4. Select your desired chequing account
  5. Select your desired payee
  6. Enter an amount to send
  7. To schedule the bill payment for a future date, select the Date selector to choose a future date
  8. To schedule the bill payment to be recurring, select the Frequency dropdown to select a frequency
  9. Select Next to continue
  10. Review your information and select Submit to pay your bill
Note: If you don't have enough available funds in your account to pay the bill, your bill payment won't go through, and you'll receive a notification that it failed. To re-initiate the bill payment, you'll need to add funds to your account, wait the settlement period if applicable, and then follow the instructions above. 

Make CRA payments from a Business chequing account

If you have a Business chequing account, you can make CRA payments from it. Learn how to get started in Making CRA payments from your Business chequing account.

Payment timelines

We'll send your payment to the payee within one business day. Depending on your payee's processing times, it may take up to five business days for them to mark the bill as paid on their end.

Bill payments made to Revenu Quebec are typically marked as paid within 1 business day, but payments may take up to 3 business days to show through the RQ’s portal.

Exception: Bill payments made to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will be marked as paid within 1 business day.
Note: Holidays may affect when a bill payment begins processing. Learn more about holidays that affect bill payments.

Manage or remove a payee

You can update your payee's nickname, view your payees, or delete a payee only on the Wealthsimple app. Follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the Wealthsimple app
  2. Tap your chequing account
  3. Select Pay a bill
  4. Tap Manage payees at the bottom of your screen
  5. Swipe left on the payee that you want to view or remove
  6. Select Edit payee to edit your payee information, or
  7. Select Delete payee to delete your payee
Tip: You can't update your payees' account number. If you need to change your account number, you'll need to delete the payee from your account and re-add it with the appropriate changes.

Cancel a scheduled bill payment

We process standard bill payments soon after you submit them. Once the bill payment is in the Sent state, you can't cancel it through your Wealthsimple profile.

To cancel a bill payment in the Sent state, we recommend reaching out to the payee to see if they can reverse it on their end.

Follow these steps to cancel a scheduled bill payment:

Wealthsimple app Web
  1. Log in to the Wealthsimple app
  2. Tap the Activity tab at the bottom of your screen
  3. Tap Scheduled activities at the top of your screen
  4. Select the bill payment you wish to cancel
  5. Tap Cancel to cancel the bill payment
  1. Log in to your Wealthsimple profile
  2. Select the Activity tab from the left-side menu
  3. Select Scheduled activities at the top of your screen
  4. Select the bill payment you wish to cancel
  5. Select Cancel, then select Cancel payment to cancel the bill payment
Note: You can cancel your scheduled bill payment until 5:30 am EST on the scheduled date. After this time, you can't cancel the bill payment.

Frequently asked questions

I have an issue with my bill payment. What should I do?

There are a few reasons why there may be an issue with your bill payment. Please check out our troubleshoot a bill payment resource. 

Why does my bank statement show my payment made via Royal Bank of Canada versus Wealthsimple?

Wealthsimple is working with RBC to facilitate your bill payments. Once enrolled, you pay your bills directly from your Wealthsimple chequing account, and Wealthsimple uses RBC's systems to facilitate payment to the biller. While some billers state the payment has been made by RBC, you can be assured your payment was made through Wealthsimple as a Wealthsimple client.

Why does the Add a payee screen look different?

We’ve redesigned the experience to help you find payees faster. You’ll now see a For You section with recommendations based on your postal code, province and popular categories you can browse. If you prefer the old way, the search bar is still available at the top of the screen.

I’m looking for a specific payee but can't find it in the new view. What should I do?

The new discovery view surfaces popular payees, but it doesn't show every single one. You can still use the search bar at the top of the screen to find any payee by name.

Why don't some payees have a logo?

Logos are available for the most popular payees in each category. If a payee doesn't have a logo, you’ll see a generic icon instead. This is expected and doesn't affect your ability to make a payment.

Why are different payees showing up at the top of my screen?

The payees displayed are based on the most popular bill payees in your province. The For You section also excludes any payees you’ve already added to keep your recommendations relevant.

What is the card prompting me to add the CRA as a payee?

During tax season (February 1 – April 30), you’ll see a promotional card at the top of your discovery view. This is a helpful nudge to make it easier to set up your Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) tax payments.

Was this article helpful?

Have more questions? Submit a request

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Pay your bills

Reach out for support

Our team is here to help - just get in touch.