Once you’re interested in offering walk-in bill payment services to your customers , you need to go through the process of choosing a provider.   (See Bill Payment: Getting Started if you want to know more.)  There’s no universal right and wrong here, but remember to think about the following when you select a vendor.

1. Buy-rate / commissions

You will want to know how much the provider is going to charge for the service; also referred to as your buy-rate.  The buy-rate determines what commissions you receive each month.  If your buy-rate is 70 cents on a $1.50 payment, you make 80 cents

2. Biller List

Make sure the program you select includes some of the key utility billers in your area.   In addition, having lots of different billers in your program offering will encourage loyal customers and ultimately grow your walk-in bill payment business.  The more bills they can pay, the more likely they will return.

3. Consumer fees

Consumers don’t have to pay bills at your store.  They choose to do it there because it’s convenient and/or you have good pricing.  Look for programs that offer competitive consumer pricing — if you offer bill payment for $2 and store down the street has the same service for $1.50; guess where those people are going to pay their bills.

4. Timing

• Post-times – if you are an authorized bill pay location (see description below), the payment will post immediately to the biller. Most other non-authorized payments post in 1-2 days; but could take longer depending on the biller.

• Cut-off times – this is the time when the bill pay provider stops accepting payments for that particular day. For example if the cut-off time was 5pm EST; and a customer came to your store at 5:10pm on Wednesday to pay a bill that had a post time of 1-day; the payment will not post until Friday, as the cut-off time already passed for the day.

5. POS Materials and Customer Service

Most bill pay providers offer free point-of-sale signage to promote your bill pay services; just ask for it.   Also, make sure you have some ability to escalate problems directly to the bill pay provider via a Customer Service contact or number.

6. Additional Services that Differentiate Your Store

• Prepaid wireless reloads – most bill pay services include prepaid wireless minutes.  Commissions vary greatly among these reload programs, so be sure to check out the rates and participating programs.
• Cross-border bill payment – allow your customers to pay bills for family still in their home country.  Some international billers are available for payment from the US; so immigrants can pay international bills directly at your retail store.  Predominantly available for Latin American countries; international billers in other regions are being added regularly.
• Authorized bill payment – while commissions for merchants that participate in authorized bill pay programs are minimal; there are two advantages: (1) Utility company lists your store as authorized bill pay location (driving traffic to your location), and (2) Customers are likely to pay more than one bill when they come to your store, ensuring you get some revenue.

For more about offering bill payment services or to learn about the AllTrust Bill Pay program, visit us online or speak to sales representative today by calling 1-866-280-1679.

Walk-in bill payment services are a great way for retailers to expand their financial service product offering; while building consumer loyalty and earning monthly commissions.  Here’s a quick primer on what bill pay is and how you can start offering it!

What is walk-in bill pay?

With walk-in bill pay; you are offering your customers a fast, easy way to pay their bills at your store.  Your customers can pay their utility (electric, gas, water), credit card, phone bills, and add minutes to their prepaid wireless phones.

How does it work?

You sign up for service with a bill payment processor; and they ensure that the payment is posted to the biller.  Using it in your store…

• Your customer presents their bill.
• A clerk enters the bill information through a web browser or a terminal device (e.g. credit card processing terminal).
• The clerk collects cash from the customer equal to the value of the bill, plus a fee
• Money you collect is transferred out of your bank account via ACH the next day
• Once a month you receive commissions!

What equipment do I need?

If you have a PC or a POS terminal you can start offering bill payment services.  If using a PC, you may need to purchase a printer; to print copies of payment receipts.

What information do I need to sign up?

Each biller has their own application process, but they do require similar support documentation; as you might find for other financial based service applications.

• Copy of Business license
• Copy of Articles of Incorporation
• Voided check
• Valid US identification (e.g. driver’s license of owner)
• Other support documentation as required

Phrases to understand

Authorized biller – means you are contracted by the utility or biller to receive payments on their behalf.  For more on this see ‘Authorized Walk-in Billers’ blog post.

Cross-border – traditionally immigrants with family still in there home country could wire transfer money to their loved ones in order to pay bills.  Now some of these international billers are available for payment from the US; so immigrants can pay international bills directly at your retail store.  While these are predominately for Latin American countries; international billers in other regions are being added regularly.

For more on how you can offer bill payment services in your store, visit AllTrust’s website; or speak with an AllTrust representative today at 1-866-280-1679.

Good news for retailers providing walk-in payment services!  Traditional bill payment methods are still the choice among the roughly 106 million underbanked.  According to a new study by Aite Group, 41% of unbanked / underbanked prefer to go to a retailer to pay their bills; while 45% use the mail.  The remainder use online services or the phone.  “Electronic bill payment methods have a long way to go to gain greater acceptance among the unbanked and underbanked” says Gwenn Bézard, research director with Aite Group and co-author of this report.

Walk-in bill payment services have been a great way for retailers to expand their financial service product offering; while building consumer loyalty and earning monthly commissions.  With no inventory required and nominal start up costs it’s kind of a no brainer for store’s who have a high percentage of underbanked consumers.

To learn more about the Aite report, visit http://www.aitegroup.com/reports/201002162.php.   Read more on offering in-store bill payment services at AllTrust Networks.

Paying Bills

The value and demand for walk-in bill payment services is undeniable. It is estimated that over $80 billion will be processed in 2009. In large part, an individual retailer’s bill payment volumes are driven by their physical location, the speed and convenience of their store experience, and the other money services they offer. Additionally, retailers offering bill payment services may stimulate higher transaction volumes by being granted ‘authorized’ status.

So what does ‘authorized’ mean?

By law, public utilities must provide a certain density of walk-in payment locations in the communities they serve. In the last decade, utilities have moved away from setting up their own payment centers throughout the neighborhoods they serve, and instead are partnering with local retailers and bill payment networks to fulfill this obligation. Retailers interested in offering bill payment have the opportunity to be an ‘Authorized’ (aka ‘Contracted’) payment location for certain public utilities (aka ‘billers’).

When ‘unbanked’ consumers call or visit a biller’s website to pay their bill, they are instructed to visit an Authorized retailer to make payment. Retailers benefit from this ‘free’ advertising in increased traffic; and consumers can have their payment immediately post to their account. This is often necessary to avoid service shut-offs. As well, retailers charge little or no fee to the consumer to process these payments.

Authorized retailers see significant greater volumes of bill payment transactions in their store. Businesses find the value of increase foot traffic and greater bill payment volume is worth the trade-off of 75% – 80% lower commission rates than ‘non-authorized’ bill payment transactions.