Gene Fashaw

1
Online Bill Pay
An easy alternative

• Gene Fashaw
• MWF 1-150
• October 29, 2004
• Professor Sistrunk

2
Table of Contents

• Click on topic to jump directly to slide
• What is Online Bill Pay?
• Advantages v. Concerns
• Business and Consumer Protection
• Companies that offer online bill pay
• Direct Billers vs Banks
• Who benefits?
• Future Direction
• Who is at future risk?
• Interview
• End notes
• Bibliography

3
What is Online Bill Pay
?
In the last decade, the internet has brought
about change in the way we handle our finances.
In 1997, Checkfree launched the first fully
integrated electronic billing and payment
solution in the country and the first Internet
bill or e-Bill.1 Since then, an increasing
number of companies are allowing their customers
to pay there bills online. You are able to pay
bills directly through your savings
or checking account, or use a debit or
credit card. Today, nearly 30 of U.S.
consumers now say they pay bills online, the
largest share ever recorded in the four years
since the American Banker/Gallup
Consumer Survey first asked this
question.2
4
Online Bill Pay...
Concerns
Advantages

• Ability to pay anytime
• Save on postage and envelopes
• No postal delays
• Saves time

• Security
• Questions of reliability
• Comfort
• Lag time

5
Business and Consumer Protection

• 10 million Americans were victims of identity
  theft in 2002, and this crime cost businesses
  more than 47 billion.
• James Van Dyke, believes that using the
  Internet for banking and paying bills actually
  reduces the threat of identity theft and banking
  fraud.
• 5 of all identity theft could be reduced
  if paper billing were eliminated.
• Using the Internet for bill paying and
  banking can reduce risk by up to 18.3

6
Companies
There are numerous organization that offer there
customers the option to pay their bills online,
including
All of which offer some form of online bill pay
service.
7
Direct Billers
Banks
vs

• 68 of those who pay bills online do so with
  billers, not banks.4
• Many banks charge a fee for bill pay services
  in which you are able to pay all your bills at
  once.
• Direct billers are able to provide detailed
  bill summaries, faster transaction rates and
  account history information.5
• Banks are attempting to attract customers to
  its bill pay service through various means.
• Consumers face a lag time between payment
  initiation and biller receipt when paying through
  banks, however that time is decreasing

8
Who benefits from online bill pay?

• Banks who are willing to adapt to the current
  trends, like U.S. Bank and Bank of America, have
  eliminated fees for online bill payment.6
• Organizations that offer its customers online
  bill pay directly
• Companies that power the services provided,
  such as Checkfree
• Consumers who are comfortable and demand
  online bill pay

9
Future Direction

• A survey showed that there has been a steady
  rise in the amount of people using online bill
  pay 18 in 2002, 24 in 2003, and 29 in 2004.7
• Online bill payment is still an alien
  concept for many consumers.8 so ways to inform
  customers are improving
• Banks are moving toward free online banking
  to compete with direct billers.
• More and more companies are beginning to
  offer online bill pay services

10
Who's at future risk?

• Banks unwilling to do away with fees for
  online bill pay
• Banks, as more people elect to pay bill
  through the billers
• Postal services that are being replaced by
  online bill pay and online transactions
• Organizations that fail to inform consumers
  of there service or do not offer it at all

11
Interview
David Fontaine Director, Public
Relations Checkfree Corporation [phone]
12

• http//www.checkfree.com/about.htm
• Online Satisfaction Rises Along with Web Bill
  Pay, Daniel Wolfe. American Banker. New York,
  N.Y. Oct 5, 2004.Vol.169, Iss. 192  pg. 14.A
• Identity Theft Online Debunking the Myths,Jack
  M. Germain, TechNewsWorld, 01/17/04 200 AM PT
• Banks Face Dilemma in E-Payment Trend, By
  Elizabeth Millard, E-Commerce Times 04/29/04 526
  AM PT
• Banks Face Dilemma in E-Payment Trend, By
  Elizabeth Millard, E-Commerce Times 04/29/04 526
  AM PT
• Banks Face Dilemma in E-Payment Trend, By
  Elizabeth Millard, E-Commerce Times 04/29/04 526
  AM PT
• Online Satisfaction Rises Along with Web Bill
  Pay, Daniel Wolfe. American Banker. New York,
  N.Y. Oct 5, 2004. Vol.169, Iss. 192  pg. 14.A
• In Brief Web Video Brings in Bill-Pay
  Customers,Steve Bills. American Banker. New
  York, N.Y. Aug 17, 2004.Vol.169, Iss. 158  pg. 1
  7

End Notes
13
Bibliography
Banks Face Dilemma in E-Payment Trend, By
Elizabeth Millard, E-Commerce Times 04/29/04 526
AM PT
Identity Theft Online Debunking the Myths,Jack
M. Germain, TechNewsWorld, 01/17/04 200 AM PT
In Brief Web Video Brings in Bill-Pay
Customers,Steve Bills. American Banker. New
York, N.Y. Aug 17, 2004.Vol.169, Iss. 158  pg. 1
7
IRS Enlists Banks to Push E-Pay, LAURA THOMPSON
OSURI. American Banker. New York, N.Y. Sep 3,
2004.Vol.169, Iss. 171  pg. 4
Online Satisfaction Rises Along with Web Bill
Pay, Daniel Wolfe. American Banker. New York,
N.Y. Oct 5, 2004.Vol.169, Iss. 192  pg. 14.A
David Fontaine, Director, Public Relations
Checkfree Corporation [phone]
14
THE
END