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Visa acceptance for billers

Managing bill payments by check or ACH can be a drain on resources. Providing customers with expanded payment options, including Visa acceptance, can make a real difference to your efficiency and cash flow.

Visa is actively working to improve acceptance and make it easier and more cost-effective for billers. Online bill pay is growing rapidly, and customers - especially younger ones - have come to expect the ability to set up recurring payments and take advantage of other conveniences associated with using their Visa cards. In fact, 3 in 10 consumers have changed the way they pay their bills in the past two years, and finding a more convenient way to pay was the most frequently cited reason.1

Merchants can opt to accept Visa by setting up automatic payments for recurring bills or by taking card information for individual payments over the phone or online.

 

1 Source: Aite Group Report: How Americans Pay Their Bills: Sizing and Forecasting Bill Pay Channels and Methods, 2010–2013  

Potential for lower costs and increased profits

Visa acceptance can deliver significant benefits to billers, not just to their customers, making it a true win-win.

 

  • Help reduce expenses incurred by delinquent accounts.
  • Contribute to improved cash flow. Visa payments post faster than checks. Merchants that accept Visa are guaranteed payment (as long as they adhere to simple authorization rules), usually within 24 to 48 hours. In comparison, it can take up to five days to receive payment from checks.
  • Assist in cutting payment processing and check-handling costs. A 2012 study found that 69% of U.S. businesses surveyed that accept payment cards saw improvement in some area of their cash management process.2 Visa acceptance reduces administrative time and effort and can potentially reduce calls to your customer service center.

 

2 Source: 2012 Visa Small Business Cash Management Survey

Improved customer satisfaction

Help increase customer retention and loyalty. By offering the payment options people want and expect, billers can show commitment to their customers’ needs.

  • Strengthen and build relationships.
  • Set up automatic, repeat payments. Billers can make it even easier for customers to pay by letting them enroll in recurring payments.
  • Boost satisfaction among your younger customers. Nearly one in two Gen Yers prefer online bills with email notification, while paper check usage barely registers and continues to decrease.3 A recent Visa study found that 64% of respondents use credit or debits cards to pay for household and personal bills.4
  • Make paying bills more convenient. Customers appreciate paying bills with Visa because it eliminates the hassle of writing checks, buying stamps and getting everything in the mail on time.
  • Customers appreciate the added benefit of earning points by using rewards cards to pay bills. Roughly 4 in 10 say they would be very likely to change how they pay their bills if they received rewards for paying with a debit or credit card.5

 

3 Source: 2011 LIMRA Pinpointing Customer Preferences Study

4 Source: Visa Bill Payment Usage & Commitment Study, November 2011

5 Source: Aite Group Report: How Americans Pay Their Bills: Sizing and Forecasting Bill Pay Channels and Methods, 2010–2013