Le team, c'est YHOO et CKFR
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -(Dow Jones)- Internet portal Yahoo! Inc. on
Wednesday unveiled its long-expected bill-payment service, through a
deal with CheckFree Holdings Corp.
The service, called Yahoo! Bill Pay, will enable users to pay
electronically any biller in the U.S., not only to corporations, but to
individuals such as landlords, friends and family members as well.
Billers who aren't able to accept electronic payments will be mailed a
paper check by CheckFree, of Norcross, Ga., which will run the
co-branded service for Yahoo.
Yahoo is offering the service free for three months, after which
customers can either pay a $2-a-month fee with a 40 cent per payment
charge, or $7 for 25 payments and 40 cents a payment after that.
Users of Bill Pay may specify the date they want payments to be
received by recipients. After a payment has been scheduled, it appears
in the user's list of upcoming payments until the payment has been
processed. Once a payment has been processed, it will appear in the
user's Bill Pay payment history with a status of "Paid," Yahoo said.
To pay for the service, CheckFree will automatically debit the bank
account from which users' Bill Pay payments are made.
Bill payment and presentment online is expected to become a big --
and highly competitive -- business as banks, Internet companies and
others offer to deliver electronic bills to consumers and businesses.
Recently, three of the country's biggest banks, Chase Manhattan
Corp., First Union Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co., formed a venture to
create a billing service for their customers to combat those such as
Yahoo's.
And earlier this summer, portal company Lycos Inc. announced an
online banking agreement with WingspanBank.com, a Web-based unit of Bank
One Corp. under which Lycos users will be able to perform a variety of
financial transactions on the WingspanBank site, including gain access
to their checking accounts, pay bills and manage their investments.
Other companies vying to capture a piece of the fledgling market
include Microsoft Corp., which has formed its own billing system, called
TransPoint, with several partners.
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