Three Bank Giants Offer Bill Paying

The Spectrum coalition formed by three of the nation's largest banks to adopt a common approach for bill presentment and payment moved forward this month with an announcement that Sun Microsystems and Netscape have developed the first system to meet the banks' standards requirements.

The announcement means that if all goes according to plans, the three banks - Chase Manhattan Corp., First Union Corp. and Wells Fargo and Co. - will soon be offering a bill payment service through Sun/Netscape software that allows customers one source for paying their bills.

Currently, many banks offer bill payment, but only to some billers. Consumers also often pay directly to merchants through individual merchant Web sites. And billers usually get lump sum checks from banks or bill paying services with a list of paying customers, which they have to match against individual bills. The service being offered by Spectrum will allow consumers to access one bill paying area online. There, they will see a list of their bills and they can choose to pay the bill then or be linked to the biller's site for detailed information about the bill and pay it when they want.

Copyright © 2000 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1/00