Demand for Bill-Pay Portals Tempered by Consumer Security Concerns

A one-stop payment portal is a single-user interface through which consumers can pay several or all their bills. The trouble is that some consumers hesitate to use payment portals, chiefly because they have security concerns. This is an area that more providers should be upgrading accordingly.

Considering that roughly half of the adults in the U.S. pay six or more bills each month, there is pressure on FIs to deliver better bill payment experiences in terms of convenience, payment options and security.

Examining the issue in The One-Stop Bill Pay Playbook, a PYMNTS and Mastercard collaboration, based on a survey of nearly 2,100 consumers, we found that almost one in six (59%) of consumers are interested in using a bill payment portal.

That figure would likely be higher if consumers were assured that solid security is offered by one-stop shops.

As outlined in the study, “just 26% of billpayers open to using a portal cited improved security as a key reason for their interest — and a mere 9.2% named security their most important reason. This indicates that relatively few consumers view greater security as a primary benefit offered by one-stop shops, highlighting a gap in consumer perception that FIs can address to increase the interest in and adoption of these solutions.”

Those insights are contrasted by the fact that 44% of billpayers cited less secure information as the reason for their lack of interest in using a bill payment portal, with close to one-third of respondents (28%) saying security is the most important feature in one-stop bill pay.

Given the relatively low awareness of the security advantages combined with security fears, we concluded that “FIs should seek to close this perception gap to increase interest in and adoption of digital bill payment portals. More broadly, a substantial first-mover advantage awaits the FI seeking to become the go-to provider of a one-stop bill payment solution.”

Get Your Copy: The One-Stop Bill Pay Playbook