User Guide

Account Access

Account Summary is the first screen that appears after your initial sign on.  View the current and available balances for each account number as well as pending transactions.  To view history for an account, select the account number.  (A pending transaction is an item that has not yet posted to your account but is pending and therefore held against your available credit. )

To view copies of cleared checks, click on the highlighted check number available in account history.

Transfer Funds from one account to another.  Select either an immediate or scheduled transfer.  A scheduled transfer allows you to schedule a transfer on a regular basis, by completing the additional fields Next Date, Frequency and Number Of (transfers) for up to ten years.  The first transfer date must be less than 18 months in the future.

Loan Advance transfers funds from your ALEC home equity line of credit into any of your available on-line accounts.

Loan Payment allows you to make a funds transfer to your loan or ALEC Visa.   Select either an immediate or scheduled transfer.  A scheduled (loan payment/Visa) transfer allows you to schedule a transfer on a regular basis, by completing the additional fields Next Date, Frequency and Number Of (transfers) for up to ten years.  The first transfer date must be less than 18 months in the future.

Scheduled Transfers allow you to view scheduled transfers and, if necessary, change or delete them before they occur.  You may change or cancel a scheduled transfer up to 1:00 p.m. CST on the scheduled date.  Scheduled transfers are processed on the scheduled date.  Transfers scheduled for non-business dates, such as holidays or weekends, are processed on the next business day for one-time transfers and the previous business day for automatic transfers.

Transfer History provides the details and status of transfers.  You may select which transfer (s) you want to review by the Confirmation Number or by any of the Transfer Details listed, such as Account Name, Start Date/End Date or Amount.  If you do not specify any criteria, the prior 30 days of transfer history will be shown. 

Bill Pay  

Virtual Branch’s optional Bill Pay service allows you to pay nearly all your bills on-line. Just set up your merchant accounts and schedule your payments. Payments must be scheduled on business days.

Bill Pay provides a confirmation number for every payment (record this number) and keeps track of your payment history for up to 18 months. 

NOTE: When setting up an on-line bill payment, it is necessary to create a merchant account (see “Merchant Accounts”). 

Set Up/Change Payments schedules payments to pay any vendor any amount you have available.  However, Bill Pay does not make the following payments: 

The first time you pay your bills, it is recommended that you allow extra time for processing.  It is the merchant’s responsibility to post the payment in a timely manner. Virtual Branch cannot control the merchant’s payment processing time.  Allow ample lead time for the merchant to receive and post the payment.

How the service pays your bills:

Virtual Branch supports the following types of payments:

Payments that are set up for future dates are called scheduled payments. These include one-time and automatic payments. The first payment date may be no more than 18 months in the future. 

Bill Pay and Insufficient funds- If your account balance is less than the dollar amount of the payment, one of the following occurs:    

Quick Pay allows you to schedule multiple payments from one screen. However, merchants that already have scheduled payments will not appear. The use of this feature is recommended after you have become familiar with the payment processing time (paper/electronic) for each merchant. 

Payment processing time is not altered by using Quick Pay. 

Scheduled Payments allow you to view scheduled payments and, if necessary, change or delete them before they occur.  You may change or cancel a scheduled payment up to 1:00 p.m. CST on the scheduled date.  Scheduled payments begin processing on the scheduled date.  Payments scheduled for non-business dates, such as holidays or weekends, are processed on the next business day for one-time payments and the previous business day for automatic payments.   

Payment History provides the details and status of payments.  You may select which payments you want to review by Confirmation Number or by any of the Payment Details listed, such as Merchant Name, Start Date/End Date or Amount.  If you do not specify any criteria, the prior 30 days of payment history will be shown.   

Merchant Accounts allow you to create merchant accounts for on-line bill payment. Before you can pay bills on-line, you must first create your personal list of merchants (select Add Merchant). Make sure you include the correct merchant address and account information. If your information is incorrect, your payment may not post properly. After you create your personal list, it is important to keep your merchant remittance address and account information current.  

E-Mail 

Important account information is sent to you through E-Mail. You can also use this service to send your questions or comments directly to our Member Service Department. An ALEC representative will respond by the end of the next business day.

With E-Mail, you can:

Options

Personal Information allows you to update your address or other personal information. 

NOTE: Notify ALEC of these changes as they do not automatically update in the ALEC system. Use the E-Mail function, Compose New Mail, or print out the personal information screen, sign and fax it to us at 847.599.0056. 

Account Information allows you to delete (closed accounts), or add accounts (must be a co-owner) to your financial account list.  Accounts cannot be deleted if any scheduled transfers or payments are pending. 

Change Security Code allows you to change your security code. Your security code must be 8-16 characters with at least 2 alphabeticand 2 numeric characters. It is a good idea to change this often. 

Select Passphrase is used in the event that you forget your security code. You may reset your security code by providing your email address and by correctly answering two pass-phrase questions.

Change Logon ID allows you to personalize your Logon ID. The minimum number of characters is 6. The following characters can be used 

Setting up a personalized Logon ID is highly recommended in order to add another level of security to protect your personal information. It is not, however, required.

Alerts sends an email message to your personal email address if ever a bill pay or transfer may fail. While we hope this does not happen, the option will help you keep on top of your finances. Select this option to keep your email address current and to select the alerts you would like to be notified for. 

Export 

Download this information onto your computer and use it in your personal money management software program. Please reference your software program user’s guide for more information. 

With Export, you can:

Security

Virtual Branch has several levels of security including a secure site. This security ensures that the information is authentic, cannot be deciphered, and has not been altered en route. The service also has fire walls, filtering routers, and trusted operating systems that ensure safety as you transact your banking business. For added security, after ten minutes of no activity in Virtual Branch, the system will end your session and you must log on again. 

To ensure security, please follow the recommendations below: 

For additional information about Virtual Branch security, click here.