Online bill payment becoming popular with consumers

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March 29, 2000
Web posted at: 8:31 a.m. EST (1331 GMT)

by Linda Rosencrance

(IDG) -- International Data Corp. (IDC) predicts that people will be paying their bills online in increasing numbers, which will bring market revenues to $1 billion in 2004.

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According to an IDC report, electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) over the Internet is exploding. IDC said that last year, worldwide revenues jumped 540%, to $32 million. EBPP is the process that allows bills to be created, delivered and paid online. The report, Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment Market Forecast and Analysis 1999-2004, analyzes the Internet-based EBPP market and forecasts application and transaction revenue and volume through 2004.

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"Buying products over the Internet with a credit card has become a common occurrence, but viewing the credit card bill itself and submitting a payment to settle it electronically is still considered a novelty," Albert Pang, research manager for IDC's eCommerce Software program, said in a statement. "However, this will change as electronic bill presentment and payment products become more sophisticated, with the inclusion of features such as secure e-mail delivery, and as the technology becomes increasingly implemented in business-to-business ecommerce."

Transaction-based revenues will jump from $700,000 last year to $825 million in 2004, according to Framingham, Mass.-based IDC. Pang said much of the growth is based on the potential use of EBPP to replace the 1.5 billion paper transactions sent to consumers ÷ generating nearly $6 billion in processing fees ÷ every month in the U.S.

However, according to Pang, only a portion of these transactions will be done online, because consumers are still resistant to this technology.

"This is a market that is still in its infancy, but it has the potential to blossom into a staggering opportunity," Pang said.

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International Data Corp. (IDC)

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