Treasury Strategies Finds Billers’ Overall Cost to Accept Card Payments Less Than Other Payment Types

Study in Line with PreCash Position That Converting Paper and ACH Bill Payments to Cards via Services Like PreCash Billocity Can Reduce Biller Cost, Fraud and Errors

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Billers face the constant challenge of balancing cost, risk and consumer satisfaction when offering bill payment options. Treasury Strategies’ new whitepaper, Optimizing the Collection Portfolio, implies that converting more consumer bill payments from paper and Automated Clearing House-based (ACH) transactions to card transactions can be a viable strategy to keep cost and risk under control, especially with payments from the underbanked.

“For billers, there’s more to bill payments than first meets the eye”

The whitepaper is based on a survey of large billers and states that when payment exceptions – like errors and returns – are factored into the total cost, ACH and other bill payment types are more expensive to process than card payments.

“This whitepaper is compelling because it supports what we’ve been saying for years – that our PreCash Billocity Expedited Bill Payment Service can be a lower cost option for billers,” said Blair Jeffery, senior vice president, sales and business development, PreCash. “It replaces paper checks, money orders and other payment types with virtual card transactions. With Billocity, we streamline a biller’s back-office operations by eliminating paper and payment exceptions. Most importantly, it improves the consumer experience by expediting bill payments without the excessive fees other vendors charge.”

Total Biller Cost of Consumer Payment Options*

The whitepaper compares four different bill payment routing options, and takes into account bank and third-party processing fees, exception rates and costs per exception for large billers.

Payment Type:	Cost to Biller:
• Debit / Credit Card	$1.65
• ACH Payments	$1.78
• Checks	$2.72
• Money Orders	$5.70

“For billers, there’s more to bill payments than first meets the eye,” adds Jeffery. “Billers often look at finite areas of a payment like interchange when comparing card payments, but they overlook other critical savings. If you dig deeper, it’s clear that card payments are more efficient for billers and better for consumers. With our virtual card bill payment solution we are solving a long-standing payment issue – balancing consumer satisfaction with business costs.”

The PreCash Billocity Expedited Bill Payment Service routes expedited payments through a biller’s existing, automated Internet and telephone channels using virtual Visa^®, MasterCard^® and Discover^® card accounts. It dramatically accelerates average payment delivery time – cutting out 2-3 days in most cases. Additionally, there are practically no development costs for bill payment processors or billers, making the service quick, easy and extremely inexpensive to implement.

“The Billocity value proposition has always been clear for consumers and businesses like retailers, processors and financial institutions,” said Steve Taylor, CEO, PreCash. “For businesses, Billocity improves cash flow and significantly reduces their costs. For consumers, we offer low-cost expedited payments allowing them to avoid late fees and service interruption. Now we have strong evidence that Billocity delivers a major cost savings for billers as well.”

The study is available at www.precash.com.

About PreCash, Inc.

PreCash improves lives and business through payments and is a leader in payments services and transaction processing. We help cash-paying and underserved people access mainstream financial services, help financial institutions deliver their customers faster transactions, and help our partners generate revenue and build stronger bonds with consumers. We offer bill payment processing solutions, walk-in payments services, Visa^®, MasterCard^® and Discover^® prepaid solutions, mobile apps and online payment solutions to retailers, financial institutions, consumers, the mobile industry, and more. PreCash serves more than 3 million consumers and touches nearly $3 billion in payments annually. Our products are serviced in more than 100,000 retail locations nationwide. Founded in 1998, PreCash is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with an additional office in Portland, Oregon. For more information, visit www.precash.com.

*Treasury Strategies - Optimizing the Collection Portfolio, September 2012