It's isn't often you see one of the companies that we write about make it to the top of Inc. Magazine's list of fastest growing private companies (note 1). But this year, Timonium, MD-based Bill Me Later landed at number six.  

To make it to the top, it takes an amazing amount of growth over a three-year period; in Bill Me Later's case, 87-fold, usually combined with a very small number in the base year ($600,000 in 2003) to top the chart (note 2). 

The self-reported revenue figures for the company are:

2003: $610,000
2006: $53.6 million
3-Year growth: 8,650%
Number of employees: 100

The company's been on a fabulous run and it will be interesting to see how long they stay private. Depending on the credit quality of the company's receivables, it could be an attractive acquisition target for a traditional financial institution or for a certain Web-based payment giant. 

Two other companies we follow made the top 500:

#205: CreditCards.com (Austin, TX) with an amazing $43 million revenues, up 10-fold from its $3.7 million in 2003. With 16 employees, the company does almost $3 million per.

#382: CashEdge (New York, NY) up 7.5 fold from $2.4 million in 2003, to $20.4 million last year, 315 employees. 

Congratulations to this year's high fliers.

Notes:

1. The Inc. list was expanded 10-fold this year to 5,000 companies 

2. The percent-growth rankings are far more dependent on the denominator than the numerator. If Bill Me Later would have had $400,000 less revenue in 2003 they would have grown 268-fold and topped this year's list. However, even $10 million more in 2006 revenues would only push them up one spot. 

This past week, two Web-based personal finance firms, Wesabe and Billeo, have announced feature upgrades (Wesabe release here, Billeo here). One common thread: the ability to easily capture screen images of ecommerce transactions and file them for later reference (note 1).

The time-saving feature was added to Quicken several versions ago, but it's still not yet supported at any financial institution or credit card issuer (see Online Banking Report: Personal Finance Feature for Online Banking here). While it won't change the world, it sure eliminates one of life's little hassles, the decision each time you transact online as to whether you really should "print out this page for future reference" (and where to store the pesky printout if you do.)

How image capture works today:

1. Pay a bill or purchase something online.
2. At completion of the transaction, select "browser snapshot" from Wesabe's drop-down menu or "save & file" from Billeo's toolbar (see screenshots below). 
3. The image of the transaction confirmation screen is stored within the personal finance area and is available for future reference should there be a problem with the transaction; since it's stored as an image file, it can easily be emailed to a disbelieving customer-service agent. Billeo includes a "forward" button in its vault to make it even easier.

How image capture can be enhanced in the future: 

1. It will automate the transaction-reconciliation process, scraping data from the confirmation screen and automatically verifying that the transaction was processed against the user's bank or credit account properly.
2. If not, an email/text alert will notify the end-user of the potential problem.
3. A template could be provided for communicating with the merchant to rectify the problem.
4. The scraped transaction data could also be run against a tagging engine to add very specific transaction tags, e.g., the purchase at Amazon could be split into x dollars for music, y dollars for housewares and z dollars for housewares.

Billeo's Screenshot Capture Feature
To save a screenshot of a payment confirmation, or anything else, users select the shopping button on the Billeo toolbar. That causes a popup to appear (see inset for closeup) where the user selects the bank/card account, enters a transaction description if desired, chooses a page type, selects the correct purchase amount from the values scraped from the screen, and edits the date paid if necessary.

Billeo popup provides users a method of capturing payment details along with the screenshot of the page

Page viewed later in the transaction records
Users can view the transaction and/or image file later in two Billeo areas: My Vault (not shown) and MyBills (below). Mousing over the paperclip launches a thumbnail of the page; clicking on it launches a full-size view of the page.

Wesabe's Screenshot Capture Feature
To save a screenshot, users click on the Wesabe button on the Firefox toolbar. A few seconds later, the screenshot loads (second screenshot below) and users choose whether to "upload to Wesabe" or "save to disk" or both. After the picture has been saved, the user closes the screen. In our test, save-to-disk worked as expected, and it was easy to retrieve the file through Windows Explorer. However, although the upload to Wesabe seemed to work, we couldn't figure out how to access the uploaded screenshots within our Wesabe account.

Closeup of Wesabe tool

 

Full screenshot of page after launching Wesabe screenshot uploader

Note:

1. Billeo has supported page-capture since its 2005 launch, but it was not integrated into the payments-transaction register.

Little did I know when I wrote about Verizon Wireless promoting Bank of America billpay on its site (here), that the company that brokered the deal, CheckFree, along with representatives from both consumer giants, would be presenting the results of the effort at Nacha's Payments conference last week (see note 1). I wasn't there, but I was filled in on the details by CheckFree's PR director Sheryl Roehl.

First, my assumption was wrong. It was NOT a paid placement by BofA. No money changed hands. It was classic joint marketing with each company promoting the other on their websites. The exposure to each others' massive customer bases trumps any concern over who benefits most by converting Verizon customers into ebilling users (see note 2).

In the prior post, I showed you BofA's ad on Verizon's site, here's what the Verizon placement looked like on the bank's site (note 3):

Verizon banner in BofA's main online banking area

Landing page for the Verizon promo

Email me if you'd like the presentation slides, which also include more figures about ebilling adoption (note 4).

Notes:

1. The joint presentation was by: Angeline DePauw, director electronic remittance Processing, Verizon Communications; Laurie Profilio Sass, eCommerce marketing, Bank of America; and Lori Stepp, managing executive E-bill Adoption Services, CheckFree

2. It's hard to say which company gains the most in an ebill conversion. Verizon saves money by eliminating the paper and BofA potentially converts a customer into ebilling, an important retention benefit.

3. The screenshot is from the NACHA Payments presentation; it is a mockup, note the 2004 date, but presumably is an accurate representation of what the promo looked like.

4. CheckFree presented the latest penetration numbers at the conference, as determined in their Feb. 2007 research conducted by Harris Interactive. Three-quarters of ONLINE households, or about half of all households, now pay a bill or bills online with biller direct (55%) leading pay-anyone (38%) by a measurable margin (19% do both). See inset.

Update: It turns out that this was NOT a paid placement, but a joint marketing program. See April 27 post here.  

Here's an interesting twist on marketing bill payment services, Bank of America's  presence  on the Verizon Wireless post-login account page (see note 1). Here's how it works, according to a long-time reader and Verizon customer:

When Verizon wireless customers log in to their Verizon account online, the main page has a banner encouraging them to pay their bills at Bank of America's online billpay site (see below). Verizon also hosts a page on the benefits of paying through Bank of America and a link to the bank's login screen (see below).

I haven't seen this before, but since it all takes place behind Verizon's login, it's not visible to the outside world. I checked out the Verizon website this morning and Bank of America is not mentioned in the public areas. Has anyone seen this at other merchant sites? Leave a comment or email jim@netbanker.com.

Analysis
Everyone assumes that merchants want the bills paid directly on their site to maintain full control of the customer relationship. But evidently, even large merchants can be convinced to share the payment relationship if given proper incentives. 
 

Bank of America Banner on Verizon Main Account Page

More-info Page Hosted by Verizon Wireless

Note:

1. I am assuming Bank of America is paying for the linkage; but it could be a joint marketing relationship where the bank pitches Verizon Wireless services in return for the exposure. The screenshots were submitted in early April.

If you've been reading this blog for long, you know I'm going through a "mobile" phase. There's two reasons for that:

1. It's an interesting and important extension to online banking, our core area of expertise.

2. I am in the process of writing two extensive reports on the subject, the first was published a few weeks ago on mobile banking (link here) and the second is due out by the end of the month on mobile payments.

So I had to laugh when I opened by Wells Fargo credit card bill today, not at the size of the bill which was not at all funny, but at the insert that fell out pitching, "cellular phone protection at no cost" (see front of insert right, back of insert below).  

This is a different type of "mobile payment" than what I've been thinking about lately. But, this Wells Fargo program is brilliant, and has a much better business case, at least in the short term.

Here's what Wells Fargo is proposing:

1. Put your mobile phone bill on automatic payment via your Wells credit card.

2. In the event your phone is damaged or stolen, you will be reimbursed for up to $100 in damages, after a $50 deductible (see note 1).

Analysis
The business case for this program looks fabulous. Assuming an average mobile phone bill of $60/mo x 12 months x 1.5% ROA = about $10 per year in revenue. While the cost should be just a few pennies per year in insurance payouts, given the difficulty in filing a claim. 

Even though the bank will pay out benefits to cardholders who had their cellphone charged to Wells even without the incentive, the bank should earn 10x to 20x the cost of the program each year. Maybe Wells can put some of that windfall into a new mobile access to online banking and credit card info. 

Note:

1. To keep costs down, the maximum number of claims is two per 12-month period, $200 in total. And the claim procedure is  cumbersome, especially for a maximum payout of $100. You'll need copy of receipts, statements, other insurance coverage, police reports, and so on. The full details of the fine print are online here.   

Earlier this year, we wrote about how easy it is to run an online instant prize contest using ePrize (see post here). Today, we see that Citibank is using the company to power an instant-win game and billpay usage sweepstakes. They share the same creative and both run March 1 through April 30, but otherwise have little to do with each other.

The instant-win game can be played by anyone and finishes with an ad for Citi's e-Savings account. The sweepstakes rewards Citi billpay customers with automatic sweepstakes entries tied to billpay usage. Here are the specifics:  

1. Instant win: Anyone who registers with an email address and date of birth may spin the wheel up to three times each day to win won of 300 prizes awarded randomly between March 1 and April 30, 2007. The total prize pool is $15,000 with one-hundred $100 winners and two-hundred $25 prizes. At the end of each play, Citi pitches its e-Savings account with 4.75% APY and $25 signing bonus, which is slightly different than its website promotion of 4.65% and $50 bonus (see screenshots below). 

2. Usage sweepstakes: Citibank billpay customers are also entered into a sweepstakes with a single grand prize of $25,000. Each bill payment of more than $5, after the first four during the 60-day run, receives one automatic entry into the sweeps. 

The promotion is advertised on its main Banking page with a small banner (see screenshot below). A larger promotion (see inset above) appears on the Online Banking page (see note 1).

Screenshots: Citibank signup page, "spin" the wheel to play, loser's page with cross-sell of 4.75% savings account (click to enlarge)

Citibank main "banking" page with sweepstakes promo

Note:

1. Tested from a Seattle, WA IP address at 10 AM PDT. Cookies are enabled and will show multiple visits to Citibank, but no evidence of any Citibank accounts.

According to eCheck.org, the "modern" check dates back to the early 1500s; that is, if you don't count chiseled IOUs from the Roman era 2,000 years earlier (see history here).

Five-hundred years ago, I'm sure a "user customizable" piece of paper you could trade for a goat was an exciting new way to pay for something. But there hasn't been a whole lot of innovation since then. As a matter of fact, the paper check-writing practice has all but disappeared in most countries.   

That's why it's newsworthy when someone puts a new spin on a five-centuries-old product as ING Direct is attempting with its new Electric Orange (EO) checking, currently in invitation-only trial, but soon to be released to the entire country. And they are having some early success, landing more than 60,000 accounts as we mentioned here, and creating some online buzz as Ron Shevlin points to here at Marketing ROI.  

What are the features of Electric Checking? 

• Cool name
• Great user interface for payments (see screenshots below)
• Same-screen initiation of electric (ACH) or paper payments
• 24-hour payment delivery for $15 fee
• High-payment limits: $100,000 for paper, $25,000 per day on debit card, $5,000 for ACH, and $1,000 per day on ATM withdrawals
• Good branding with the ING Direct no-nonsense design, colors, and copy
• 100% fee-free (other than a few rare items)
• 4% to 5.3% interest depending on balance (see note 1)
• 30-second account setup for existing ING Direct customers
• Easy-to-use website and online access
• No paper checks

Analysis
Electric Orange is an outstanding product, with one major exception which I'll discuss later. The online integration of electronic and paper payments on the same screen makes it intuitive to use and perhaps the best bill-pay suite on the market (see screenshot below). With 32,000 free ATMs, high interest rates, and a MasterCard debit card, this account competes fairly well with old school checking accounts that also come bundled with unlimited free access to 5,000-square-foot human-powered branches. 

But I take issue with the account's most unique feature, "no paper checks" (see note 2). While I understand the marketing advantage of this anti-paper non-benefit, it's actually somewhat limiting for account holders. Instead of not supporting paper at all, why not simply charge a hefty transaction fee for paper checks while keeping electronic items fee-free? Sell me bright orange checks for $5 per 100 and charge a quarter per cleared check. That'll keep the volume down, while allowing customers the convenience of the old-fashioned paper check. And ING Direct gets the "viral marketing" benefit of those bright orange negotiable instruments being literally flown across the country.

I'd be willing to give up preprinted paper checks if a good subsitute were available. Reading earlier descriptions of the account before its introduction, I thought the bank had invented a new in-home process for printing checks, like printing through Quicken but a whole lot easier. Unfortunately, the paper option is good old online bill pay, complete with five-day mailing delays. That won't cut it when you need to pay the lawn guys standing in your front yard with a truck full of toxic liquid (see note 3).  

The last missing piece in EO is electrification of the deposit process. Since the bank opened its doors in late 2000, it's been exceptionally easy to ACH money into the account. That's been one of its key growth drivers. But now that it offers full checking services, the bank should adopt remote deposit capture technology so EO customers could zip paper checks to them over the Net (see USAA's remote deposit service here).

ING Direct Electric Orange main payments screen
Select electric or paper checks

Electric Orange "send paper check" interface
Looks just like a "paper" check, and no need to have the payee set up prior to creating the payment (see next step)

ING Direct "add payee" interface
If the payee in the previous step is new, users simply "address" this virtual envelope to set up the payee; users also have the option of not saving the payee info.

Notes:

1. In online forums and blogs, some confusion has been expressed about what happens within this account when more than six transactions are made in a single statement period. In the account disclosure, ING Direct says that each Electric Orange account is divided into a savings account and checking account, and that the bank will direct deposits into the appropriate account as it deems appropriate, but that after six transactions, all funds will be put into the checking subaccount. However, all monies EARN THE SAME RATE OF INTEREST, so there is no impact on the customer, nor does the customer even see these transfers. It's a technical manipulation that saves ING Direct from having to maintain transaction account reserves on most balances, thereby cutting costs. 

2. Actually ING Direct does offer "remote paper check" initiation via the online bill pay function where users choose from electric or paper checks (see screenshot above). The bank just doesn't allow users to have the paper in their own hands.

3. The bank does offer a quicker ACH payment function, but you need to have access to the bank account number of the recipient, which is not readily available from most people/businesses to whom occasional checks are written. And ACH usually takes 48 to 72 hours to post in the recipient's account, unless they are ING Direct customers.

Intuit's $1.3 billion acquisition of Digital Insight closed yesterday, marking the beginning of a new era of innovation in small business online banking (previous coverage here). It's a market that's been underserved for years (see Online Banking Report's, Small- and Microbusiness Online Banking, #107/108).

Intuit, which has iPod-like domination of small business accounting and bookkeeping via Quicken and QuickBooks, can now leverage the software relationship into the banking relationship.  The bloggers at Intuit's QuickBooks team-blog expanded on that theme here, discussing their goal of integrating electronic invoicing and payments into the bank site:

Why the purchase? One reason is to try to sell functionality of our record-keeping software as a service through banks, letting small businesses create, send, and get paid for invoices, all online at a bank's site. With millions of QuickBooks customers, we think we have some insight into small business' needs.... We learned from our tax return business how quickly packaged software can move to a Web service. Last year, for the first time, more people used the online version of our Turbo Tax Web service than the desktop version.

This is not necessarily bad for financial institutions. In fact, it probably levels the playing field for the smaller banks and credit unions that are the core of the DI client base. Through integration into Intuit's accounting products, smaller banks will be able to offer sophisticated small business solutions that equal or surpass what Bank of America or Wells Fargo offers today.

For the past few months, I've been more or less obsessed with RSS feeds (see our latest full report on the subject here). All of a sudden every information-delivery problem seems solvable with a feed.

And there is enormous potential for feeds in everyday banking which primarily involves simple information queries: What's my balance? Did my check clear? Was my mortgage paid? 

The first account-specific financial feed
I've been on the lookout for the first financial institution with account-specific feeds. That search continues, but a non-bank has been using feeds for bill-payment-status updates: previous OBR Best of the Web winner billQ <mybillq.com> (see previous coverage here).

The company has an "RSS Feed" option on its list of automated bill-payment-tracking mechanisms which also include an iCalendar subscription, an Apple OS X widget, or a toolbar applet (see screenshot below for billQ subscription options).

When using the RSS feed option, bills automatically appear in the user's newsreader software. Below is an example using the Newsgator Web-based reader:

In a distribution deal similar to the Visa.com partnership launched earlier this year, Billeo is now powering biller-direct payments for Target's REDcard (see inset). See previous coverage here.

Billeo received an Online Banking Report Best of the Web award in 2005 for its innovative toolbar-based payment services (see 15 March 2005 post).

How it works
New users start by searching for credit-card-accepting billers via zipcode and company search (see screenshot below).

To schedule a payment and use the other tools, users must first register with Billeo. While the initial biller-search screen runs under Target branding, the sign-up page and subsequent user interfaces do not maintain any Target branding.

Previous Billeo users can skip the registration process and simply sign in to their previous Billeo account.

This week Yodlee announced its new Bill Pay Account Accelerator, a bill-pay-switching tool designed to help banks attract active users of competitive bill payment services. Not only does Yodlee's wizard move payee information, it also can cancel and move previously scheduled payments, including recurring ones.

The service will be piloted in fourth quarter and launched in early 2007.

Analysis
If it works, it could reduce the "retention benefits" of electronic bill pay by making it easier to switch banks. The American Banker article reporting the new service hit hard on that aspect. However, we think the concern is overblown. It's not that time-consuming for most people to move their payee information, requiring 10 or 15 minutes of "cutting and pasting" or "scribbling and retyping," then a few more minutes to reschedule upcoming payments.

What's MUCH harder for the user is making sure outstanding paper checks have cleared and, more importantly, unwinding preauthorized debits such as important insurance and loan payments. Those require contacting the payee directly and hoping that your instructions to change the debit are processed in a timely fashion.

But the biggest issue is motivating users to make a checking account switch in the first place. And that's where Yodlee solution could provide a big boost, offering the perception of radically simplifying the switchover. And if Yodlee expands the tool to also transfer the entire account history, not just the bill pay history, it could become an important industry tool.

Since it doesn't ship until next year, we'll refrain from superlatives until we've had a chance to test it. But Yodlee has a good track record in hooking accounts together, and we expect the new service to be functional. However, whether banks will adopt it is another matter. It will have to be drop-dead simple to use or banks will not want the ensuing customer-service nightmare.

Our most recent OBR Best of the Web winner (NB Sep 1), Seen Creative's billQ, has achieved another industry first, a bill payment-tracking widget for Apple Mac users (here's where you can download it from Apple's site).

The widget allows Mac users to drop a small billQ screen right onto their desktop (see NB 2 May 2005). It allows users to see what bills are due and mark them as paid without ever leaving their desktop.

The widget can also be downloaded at billQ's website <mybillq.com>.

Launched this month, Whatbills <whatbills.com> is a simple $1.95/mo Web-based service for tracking your bills and sending yourself email reminders to pay. Although the functionality is limited, it's the kind of service banks should be offering. We found out about the service through its Google advertisement on the phrase "quicken online" (see screenshot right).

The interface is similar to Billeo (NB Feb. 14), but with far fewer functions. Users can do three things:

1. Enter bill name, category, due date and amount
2. Send themselves email reminders to pay
3. Mark bills as paid

The entire program today is shown on the screenshot below:

Business model
At a cost of $1.95/mo, which is about what you'd pay each year for Intuit's Quicken Basic, the company doesn't seem to have a compelling selling proposition. It would make more sense to offer a limited free version, perhaps earning a few pennies per month per user by displaying advertising on the user interface. Then upgrade users to a premium plan with more features.

But neither of those business models will yield much more than low-six figures per year. A more likely scenario for the San Diego-based company is a sale to Microsoft, Google, or a major financial institution for a few hundred thousand, a price that would be less expensive for a large company than developing the application internally.

Update: A similar Web-based service, BudgetTracker <budgettracker.com> founded in 2003, has a free version that uses Google AdSense revenue to keep it running. For $19.99/yr users can upgrade to an ad-free version that also provides unlimited data storage and several additional features such as bank-data import. See the price plans here.

--JB

We believe a strong bill payment guarantee is crucial, not only to the credibility of your epayments program, but by implication, to your entire online banking offering. CheckFree has offered its logo up for years, but your customers want to know what YOU will do for them; most would prefer to know nothing about CheckFree.

And your guarantee needs to be visible to both online banking users and those just thinking about it. One of the best ways to increase visibility is by creating a "bill-pay guarantee" icon that users can click through to learn more about it.

One of the better examples is at Citibank (inset) on its logon page. When you click on the logo, a small popup appears (click on the thumbnail below):

*

This guarantee has great copy, you can tell the marketing department was heavily involved. Rather than just reiterating the rather droll performance guarantee,* the bank also highlights several benefits:

• No hidden charges, in other words, unlike "free checking," bill pay really is free
• 24/7 service with "fast response"

*Citi's bill-pay guarantee states that payments will be processed within 24-hours and delivered to payees according to the schedule, or the bank will pay for any fees incurred.

--JB

Just when you thought the banks were gaining an upper hand in the electronic bill payment battle, up pops a newcomer with a fresh approach. Take a moment to check out Billeo. An odd name, but so is iPod, and it seems to be working pretty well.

We haven't used it yet, so these comments are preliminary, but "on paper" this company and its approach appear to be winners. (One caveat: the business model is unknown, and the privacy policy is a bit ambiguous when it comes to the issue of adware. We'll keep you posted on what we find out.)

Billeo is a free toolbar-resident application that plays "virtual assistant," enabling more convenient and controlled direct bill payment at vendor sites. The toolbar also serves as an e-wallet simplifying online point-of-sale transactions.

Analysis
The toolbar contains several unique features, one of which is extremely impressive, the ability to save screen captures of transaction receipts. The application also includes payment reminders, a payment register, and a personal "bill payment" email address for users.

There are several familiar names associated with the startup. Nancy Langer, a former exec at Metavante, is the president. The advisory board includes Eric Dunn, formerly with Intuit, Shankar Srinivasan co-founder of Cyberbills, and Scott Loftesness of Glenbrook Partners.

We'll dissect the new service in Part 2 of our upcoming Electronic Payments Report in Online Banking Report.

--JB

Editor's Note: Billeo was named "OBR Best of the Web" in the second part of its series on E-Payments (OBR 119) published in June 2005. 

We just sent our latest report, "Pricing: The Fee vs. Free Controversy" to the printer. It should arrive in your mail in a week to 10 days.

In the report we look at the widespread practice of offering of online bill payment free of charge. You can read the report for our detailed conclusions, but suffice it to say, we are not wild about this trend. Online banking and bill payment provides significant value. And without a tangible revenue stream, it's difficult to make the appropriate investments in the channel. We think bank customers will actually be better off in the long run if they shoulder at least a portion of the extra costs of a robust online banking service.

Free bill payment is particularly vexing. Here's a service that runs circles around the paper equivalent. Users can save time, save money (postage, late fees, and check printing fees), can improve bill tracking and budgeting, and make their financial life easier. And, if the electronic payment doesn't post at the biller on time, the bank and/or processor will go to bat for them to resolve the problem. Try doing that with a paper check that's "lost in the mail."

So why do banks insist on providing this beneficial and costly service free of charge? They are doing it for the "relationship" value. No doubt users love getting something for nothing. And we won't dispute the correlation between bill pay users and higher household profitability. But so what. You can correlate higher profits with any service designed for a well-heeled audience.

The bigger question is this: Is free bill payment, costing $50 to $100 per customer per year, the best way to gain more loans and deposits from your best customers? It may be, but there may also be less expensive ways to achieve similar results, such as lifetime transaction archives or more account security options.

It's a tough call.

If you'd like to learn more about the future of online bill payment, check out the Online Banking & Bill Pay Forecast: Current, future and historical usage: 1994 to 2016 from our sister publication, The Online Banking Report.

Eliminating bill payment fees is the simplest way to make customers happy. However, there may be less expensive alternatives that position you better for the long term.

First, let’s look at how consumers choose a bill payment service provider. It’s not so much about the price. What they want is to have their bills paid in a timely manner with the least amount of effort and maximum amount of control. Other factors play a role as well:

• overall complexity of household finances
• technological sophistication and outlook
• financial experience and behavior
• risk tolerance

Table 9, right, lists 43 attributes related to the consumer’s bill payment purchase decision.

So, rather than offering it fee-free, perhaps you could improve your value-proposition in other ways to provide a similar adoption lift without losing the fee income altogether.  Following are five alternative approaches.

1. Conditional (on another purchase)

·      Free if you do add something that improves revenues, such as adding an account

·      Free if you do something that lowers costs such as switch to estatements*

·      Free with minimum balance levels

·      Free as part of an overall relationship account

2. Crippled (reduced features and benefits)

·      Free with usage limited to electronic merchants only

·      Free with reduced or pay-per-incident customer service

·      Free with reduced functionality

·      Free with reduced usage

*Two top-50 banks are using this approach, First Tennessee and National Commerce Financial

Table 9

Factors Used by Consumers When Selecting a Bill Payment Provider

• security
• customer service availability
• quality of customer service
• timeliness of payments
• turnaround time of the payment
• payment scheduling requirements
• guarantees in the event of late/lost payments
• usability
• tracking of payments in process
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