Upcoming Changes to eBills: What SIU Credit Union Members Need to Know

If you use our SIU Credit Union Online Bill Pay service to manage your monthly payments, we want to let you know about an upcoming update.

Starting September 1, 2026, our provider will be retiring their “screen-scraped” eBill service. While that sounds highly technical, we want to break down exactly what this means, why this change is happening, and how it affects you as a member.

What is “Screen Scraping”?

To understand this change, it helps to know how different eBills work. When you connect a utility company, credit card, or other business to your online bill pay system, there are two main ways our system gathers your bill details:

1. Direct Connect (The Smooth Way): The company you owe (like your electric provider) and our bill pay system talk directly to each other using a secure, official digital pipeline.
2. Screen Scraping (The Old Way): If a direct pipeline isn’t available, an automated computer program essentially logs into that company’s website on your behalf. It reads the text on the screen, “scrapes” off the numbers (like your balance and due date), and copies them over to your SIU Credit Union Bill Pay dashboard.

Why are Screen-Scraped eBills going away?

While screen scraping was a helpful workaround in the early days of digital banking, it has become outdated and unreliable for a few key reasons:

• Website updates break the system: Think about how often companies redesign their websites. Whenever a biller changes a button, shifts text around, or updates their login page, the “scraping” software gets confused. This causes the connection to break, meaning your bills don’t show up until the code is manually fixed.
• Higher security and strict logins: Financial Institutions and billing companies have rightfully added tougher security, like two-factor authentication (sending a text code to your phone). These security walls make it very difficult for automated scraping software to log in for you.
• Industry shifts: Major financial institutions are actively blocking third-party scraping tools altogether to better protect consumer data.

Because of these constant interruptions, screen-scraped eBills just aren’t reliable enough to give you the seamless experience you deserve.

Important Dates to Keep in Mind

To make this transition as smooth as possible, we are phasing this service out in two steps:

• July 1, 2026: You will no longer be able to set up new screen-scraped eBills.
• September 1, 2026: The service will be completely turned off. Any existing screen-scraped eBills will stop appearing in your dashboard.

What do you need to do?

First, don’t worry—your ability to pay bills through SIU Credit Union isn’t going away!

• Direct Connect eBills will still work: If your eBill uses an official “Direct Connect” relationship, it will continue to flow into your account normally, depending on whether that specific biller supports it.
• Switch to Standard Bill Pay: For any bills that were using the old scraping method, you can easily transition to using our standard bill pay features. You will simply add your bill amount directly through your provider (via their website, app, or a paper statement) and use our standard bill pay tool to schedule and send the payment.

We are committed to keeping your financial data secure and your digital banking experience running smoothly. If you have any questions about your specific accounts or need help adjusting your bill pay settings, our team is always here to guide you through it. Stop by any of our branches or give us a call at 618-457-3595.