BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : OCTOBER 30, 2000 ISSUE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Paying Up Banks, merchants, and Net startups want consumers to pay their bills electronically. Here's how the competition stacks up: BANKS Banks are selling services that let you pay bills electronically. PRO: By bundling bill payment with other online services--including the ability to check balances and apply for loans--banks say customers will be able to pay bills while watching their broader financial picture. CON: Not automated enough. The approach often makes users remember each due date, then enter billing information, reducing time savings. MERCHANTS Retailers, utilities, and other billers send customers bills by e-mail instead of paper. PRO: Merchants cut costs and can tailor promotions that accompany bills to each customer. CON: Receiving e-bills straight from merchants forces consumers to log on to each biller's site individually. BILL PRESENTMENT SERVICES Services like Paytrust and CyberBills send consumers bills by e-mail. Users tell their creditors to forward monthly statements to these cyber-billers, who scan paper bills into their computers and zip an e-mail alert to customers when a payment is due. PRO: Presentment services cut manual labor out of online bill-paying and save consumers time. CON: Skeptics say high labor costs of scanning will keep such services too expensive for large-scale adoption. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS The Check Is in the E-Mail TABLE: Paying Up INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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