Eric:
Here is the best I can do for you, without knowing who your bank is or exactly how they handle their services. For really authoritative information on that score, you should contact someone at your bank who really knows.
1. Automatic transfers. Again, I think you are describing the sort of arrangement where you authorize a biller -- typically a mortgage company -- to draft your account. CKFR is not involved (so far as I know). But this is NOT real competition for CKFR, in my opinion.
Why? For one thing, it takes a lot of work on the part of the biller. It has been around for years, and is not all that common. Also, it puts the BILLER in control of YOUR money. What if they take out too much? This can happen. I recently re-financed my house, and my mortgage company took $1,800 out of my checking account AFTER the loan had been paid off. It took them more than three weeks to refund the money. I am now paying the new mortgage company via CKFR.
2. On-line banking. I like banking through the PC because I keep all my accounts on Quicken. What some banks are now promoting, and many more banks WILL be promoting soon, are their own "branded" versions of home accounting software. I see a lot of growth in this type of PC banking, which includes CKFR billpay as a key feature. And when online bill presentment takes off (soon) this type of banking and billpaying will become even more convenient.
I believe many banks will also offer very simplified PC banking, essentially turning the home PC screen into a glorified ATM machine through which one can not only transfer cash between accounts, but also get and pay bills.
And for those who don't want to use a PC at all -- there will also be touch-tone billpay, I have no doubt. And it's my understanding that CKFR will be involved in these payments as well. If YOU initiate the payment, CKFR will be involved. The only place where they would not be involved is where the customer has authorized a biller to draft an account directly.
3. On-line billpay. You ask, " why will billers use CKFR and my bank rather than handle it directly through automatic payment or their own website?" The reason: BIG cost savings to the billers. Figure that it costs about $1 to send you a bill. Maybe more, maybe less, but counting postage, printing, folding, etc., it's a big expense. A bill sent via the web costs pennies. Multiply that by 12 bills a year, and again by thousands or even millions of customers, and you see the reason so many of us are excited that CKFR is signing up billers a lot faster than Bill Gates is.
As for their own website -- people who PAY bills are not going to want to chase down a dozen bills at a dozen different web sites. The logical place to get 'em and pay 'em is at one central place: the bank. But either way, billers are contracting with CKFR to handle e-bill for them.
Hope this helps. |
