How long does it take to establish an account for online billing?

I have a CitiBank credit card that I tried set up online payments for. They said on the phone that it takes like 4 weeks or so before you can use it. Does that sound right? Seems way too slow to me.
How long does it take to establish an account for online billing?
If you are trying to setup automatic payments online or just online payments for your credit card, you are starting at the wrong end. Avoid ever giving anyone permission to take money out of your banks account, especially if the amount is not exactly the same amount on an unchangeable schedule. It is too easy for too much money to be taken from your account and can be way to hard to put a stop to the payments.





If you want to pay your credit card online, talk to your bank about their bill pay program. You should either authorize fixed monthly payments or authorize the amount to send each time you pay. The main concern is that you are telling your bank what they should send and you are not giving anyone else permission to do that.





Most banks that offer online bill pay service, can set it up in a day or two for existing accounts in good standing.





I also recommend not starting online bill pay until you have established effective and inexpensive overdraft protection because not all of your checks will be recorded in your check book anymore (if they ever were).