Thursday January 7, 8:02 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: National Automated Clearing House Association
Postage Increase is a Good Reason to Pay Bills Electronically
Time and Security Are Also Considerations
HERNDON, Va., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), an industry association that advocates the use of electronic payments, is advising consumers to consider paying their bills electronically now that the price of a stamp is increasing.
Harold J. Piotrowski, Chairman of NACHA and Vice President of Retail Operations for Charter One Bank in Cleveland Ohio, said, ''Electronic bill payment simplifies your life by taking the hassle out of paying your bills. Consumers save time and money, and also eliminate the risk of having their checks lost or stolen.''
The average American household pays about 200 bills per year. At the new rate of $0.33 per stamp, it will cost a household about $66 per year to mail its bills. Including check printing costs and an occasional late fee, it could cost a household about $100 per year just for the privilege of paying bills.
''With 100 million households in the U.S., as much as $10 billion in savings can be achieved if consumers paid all their bills electronically,'' Piotrowski said. ''Time is also an important consideration. A household that pays bills twice a month, at an hour each sitting, can spend 24 additional hours a year doing things they enjoy rather than paying bills.''
There are several ways to pay your bills electronically. One is Direct Payment, in which a consumer authorizes a company to debit his or her bank account electronically to pay the bill. An example of Direct Payment is making monthly mortgage payments automatically.
NACHA estimates that in 1998, 1.18 billion bills were paid using Direct Payment, an 18% increase over 1997. Piotrowski noted, ''Direct Payment already saves consumers $375 million a year in postage.''
Consumers who want to use Direct Payment should contact the companies that regularly bill them. These include: insurance companies; utilities such as gas, electricity, oil, water, sewer, and telephone; other services such as cable television and Internet; loans and credit payments such as mortgages, home equity loans, car loans, lines of credit, and credit cards; and other recurring payments like health club memberships.
Another way to pay bills electronically is to use technologies such as telephone banking, PC banking, Internet banking and personal financial management software. NACHA estimates that in 1997, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 283 million bills were paid using these technologies.
Consumers who want to use electronic banking services should ask their financial institutions which of these services they offer. Piotrowski concluded, ''Electronic payments are on-time, accurate and confidential. You are many times more likely to have security or privacy problems with a check than with an electronic payment.''
About the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA)
NACHA represents more than 13,000 financial institutions through its 35 regional ACH associations, six councils and corporate Affiliate Membership program. A leader in the payments industry, NACHA develops operating rules for the Automated Clearing House Network and for emerging electronic payment solutions in the areas of Internet commerce, bill payment and presentment, financial electronic data interchange, cross-border transactions, electronic checks, and electronic benefits transfer. NACHA produces marketing collateral and technical publications, and provides extensive education services, including major conferences and seminars. Visit NACHA on the Internet at www.nacha.org.
SOURCE: National Automated Clearing House Association
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