Consumer electronic bill payment service providers (CSPs) processed more than 400 million Internet-initiated consumer bill payments in 2001, according to a new survey of CSPs jointly sponsored by NACHA’s Council for Electronic Billing and Payment (CEBP) and TowerGroup. The dollar amount of these bill payments was $120.9 billion.
“The results of the NACHA and TowerGroup EBPP Consumer Service Provider Survey clearly document the adoption of Internet bill payment by consumers,” said Beth Robertson of TowerGroup, the survey’s principal investigator and a CEBP member. “The survey also found that the number of consumer bill payments on the Internet has increased by 35 percent annually for two consecutive years.”
The Council for Electronic Billing and Payment first surveyed consumer bill payment service providers in 1997. That original survey estimated electronic bill payment volume in 1996 of 113 million items, worth $26.9 billion. Bill payment volume and value have quadrupled since then.