A charge starting with SPI* on your statement

SPI* is Speedpay, a bill-payment service owned by ACI Worldwide. Companies that send bills, such as power and TV companies, use it to take card payments. The name after the asterisk is the company whose bill was paid, for example SPI*DIRECTV SERVICE or SPI*DELMARVAPOWER.¹²³

How we know SPI is Speedpay

Speedpay does not publish a page for people who find it on a statement. Three things tie the prefix to it:

• Asked whether a DIRECTV payment can show up as ACI Speedpay on a bank statement, DIRECTV’s own community specialist answered: "Yes, electronic payment will show up as ACI Speedpay on your statement."¹
• Delmarva Power’s "Pay as a Guest Online" button, where it says convenience fees apply, leads to internet.speedpay.com/DELMARVA.² Speedpay’s own terms call it "SPI" in one clause.³
• The name changed on statements in March 2021, and two unrelated card ledgers show the change. In Delaware’s data the last DELMARVAPOWER/SPEEDPAY line is dated 8 March 2021 and the first two SPI*DELMARVAPOWER lines are dated 15 March 2021, at a state office that had paid under the old name on 4 March.⁵ In Clay County, Missouri, one cardholder’s Ameren electricity payments read Speedpay-Amerenue on 23 March 2021 and Spi*amerenue from 12 April 2021.⁶

What it looks like on a real statement

The State of Delaware publishes every purchase its employees make on state cards, with the merchant name as the bank received it. When we counted on 30 September 2026 it had 580 lines starting SPI, from 15 March 2021 to 26 August 2026, and 143 lines from before, with Speedpay’s name at the end.⁵

One company can appear under more than one name. In the same data DIRECTV bills also appear 1,347 times as DTV*DIRECTV SERVICE, still in use in August 2026, and Delmarva Power bills 108 times as DELMARVA PWR PAYMENTUS, through a different payment company.⁵ A bill company can take payments through several services at once, so the SPI* line may be only some of your payments to it.

The fee

The company whose bill you pay decides whether Speedpay charges a convenience fee. Speedpay’s terms say the fee must be shown to you before you pay, and that the payment is only made if you agree to it.³ DIRECTV’s payment page says a one-time processing fee of $5 may apply when you pay through one of its agents by phone.⁴ In Delaware’s data 38 of the 182 SPI*DELMARVAPOWER amounts end in .95, eleven of them exactly $1,001.95, and two lines are $1.95 on their own.⁵

How to find what it was and stop it

1. Read the name after SPI* That is the company whose bill was paid. It may be cut short: SPI*DIRECT SERVICE was DIRECTV.⁵
2. Look at your account with that company Sign in to your account with the TV, power or phone company and look at its payment history for the date and amount. If you have no account there, ask anyone who uses your card whether they paid a bill with it.
3. Stop a repeating payment in time Speedpay’s terms say a recurring payment set up through its site can be stopped on that same site, or by calling it on (866) 316-3360, at least 3 business days before the next payment. If you call, it may ask you to confirm in writing within 14 days.³ If the automatic payment was set up in the company’s own account, turn it off there.
4. DIRECTV over the internet cannot be taken off autopay DIRECTV says autopay is switched on automatically for customers who stream over the internet, that the card on file "is charged each month", and "You cannot cancel autopay". You can only change the card it uses.⁴ To stop the charges you have to end the service itself.
5. If nobody you know made it, go to your bank Ask your bank to cancel the card and dispute the charge, and ask what its deadline is. It depends on the bank, the card network and the reason, and missing it can end your options. Speedpay will not refund it: "no refunds of principal or the Convenience Fee are available once Your bank card has been charged … unless we processed a Payment in error."³

Is this a scam?

The prefix is real: it is Speedpay’s. But a real prefix does not prove that the payment was yours: a stolen card number can be used to pay any bill. If your own accounts show no such payment, treat it as fraud and call your bank.

What Speedpay’s terms mean for a dispute

Speedpay’s terms send disputes with Speedpay to binding arbitration, with up to $200 of the fees on you. You can opt out within 30 days of a payment by calling (866) 316-3360.³ That is between you and Speedpay. It does not stop you from asking your bank to dispute an unauthorized card charge.

Why this page is on a site about held money

This site records payment companies that hold back money that belongs to someone else. Speedpay is a payment company, but the incident record has no Speedpay entries. The page is here so that people looking for a name on a statement find the answer. If your line starts WPY*, that is WePay; FSP* is Fullsteam; SQ * is Square; DNH*GODADDY is GoDaddy. A phone bill paid to Verizon itself reads VZWRLSS* or VERIZON BILL PAYMENT, and an Xfinity internet or TV bill paid to Comcast reads COMCAST / XFINITY. Other lines are in the table of statement names.

Sources

1. DIRECTV Community, "ACI Speedpay", question of 26 September 2024 and the reply by DIRECTVhelp ("Roland, DIRECTV Community Specialist"). forums.directv.com. Read on 30 September 2026. Archived copy of 30 September 2026.
2. Delmarva Power, "Pay My Bill", the "Pay as a Guest Online" option. delmarva.com. Read on 30 September 2026.
3. ACI Speedpay, "Terms and Conditions", sections 2 (methods of payment and Convenience Fee), 3 (documentation), 5 (revocation or cancellation), 6 (refunds), 8 (resolution of disputes) and 12, and the Customer Service number. speedpay.com/terms. Read on 30 September 2026. Archived copy of 30 September 2026.
4. DIRECTV Support, "How to pay your DIRECTV bill", sections "Pay DIRECTV by phone" and "Internet connection (No satellite)". directv.com/support. Read on 30 September 2026 from the archived copy of 7 February 2026, because the page refuses our requests. Archived copy of 7 February 2026.
5. State of Delaware Open Data, State Employee Credit Card Transactions, fields "merchant", "trans_dt", "dept_name" and "merchandise_amt". Lines starting SPI or containing SPEEDPAY; DIRECTV lines by name. Queried and counted on 30 September 2026. Lines starting SPI that are other businesses (SPIRIT AIRL and the like) are not counted.
6. Clay County, Missouri, "Credit Card/Invoice History Reconciliation", 2021, vendor AMEREN UE, lines dated 6 and 23 March 2021 and from 12 April 2021. claycountymo.gov. Read on 30 September 2026.