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To: StocksMan who wrote (19895)	12/4/2002 4:22:23 PM
From: StocksMan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20297

TowerGroup Finds U.S. Consumers Viewing, Paying More Bills Online - But Paper Checks Still A Hard Habit To Break Wednesday December 4, 9:30 am ET Extensive Consumer Survey Shows Greater Education, Behavior Shifts Still Needed NEEDHAM, Mass., Dec. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- While consumer use of electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) is on the rise, paper checks remain a hard habit for most Americans to break. New consumer research from TowerGroup charts significant jumps in both online bill viewing and paying. But it also finds that the attitudinal and behavioral barriers that have kept EBPP growth to a snail's pace are still very much in play. TowerGroup surveyed nearly 4,000 households, weighted by age and income to represent all U.S. households. The survey offers a comprehensive assessment of consumer attitudes about EBPP - as well as implications for both banks and non-banks looking to expand and profit from EBPP-related services. Highlights of the research findings include: More consumers are looking at their bills online. In 2002, 20% of U.S. consumers have viewed electronic bills or billing statements online - versus only 1% in 1998. The use of online bill payment continues to grow. In 2002, 13% of all U.S. consumers used online bill payment - versus only 2% of households in 1998. In total, households that use online bill payment are currently paying an average of 3.7 bills per month via the Internet. Despite changes in behavior, paper checks are still a hard habit to break - even for active online bankers or bill payers. Today, forty- one percent of online banking users still prefer to write checks and use the U.S. mail for bill payment purposes. The same holds true for 26% of the households using Internet bill payment. Where consumers view - and pay - their bills online will become an increasingly important question for banks and billers (such as utilities or credit card providers) alike. Currently, only 6% of consumers prefer to use their online banking service for reviewing all their various bills - while 22% say they want to review bills at each biller's own Web site. However, another 25% remain uncertain which location they prefer. . . biz.yahoo.com