ACI Worldwide, InComm Payments Team On Cash Bill Payments

Digital payment software firm ACI Worldwide is partnering with InComm Payments to help consumers pay bills — from utility, cable and insurance to higher education and more — with cash.

Using Speedpay, an ACI product, and InComm Payments’ VanillaDirect Pay, consumers can get a barcode from their account provider online, which they can then print, scan, send to their phone by text or save in their moBills mobile wallet from ACI Speedpay. They can then pay their bills in cash at any participating retail store after presenting the barcode, according to a press release published on Monday (Mar. 1).

Direct bill pay provider Speedpay is an “integrated suite of bill presentment and payment services,” the press release said, while InComm Payments’ VanillaDirect Pay powers the barcode technology that lets users pay bills via cash. More than 60,000 retail stores participate in the payment technology company’s program, including all Family Dollar and Dollar General stores.

The availability of cash payment options has become essential to many, especially underbanked and unbanked consumers, the press release noted. “By offering alternatives for consumers to make cash payments, we are not only helping to improve the payment experience, but driving financial inclusion as well,” said Tim Richardson, senior vice president at InComm Payments.

During the pandemic, the traditional payments ecosystem has been challenged and subjected to change, noted Debbie Guerra, executive vice president of merchant payments and payments intelligence solutions at ACI Worldwide, in a recent PYMNTS article. As the digital shift continues, there is a growing number of “diverse new payment methods,” she noted.

“As digital payments proliferate across the bill payment industry, it is important to provide a cash payment option for those who lack the means to make digital payments,” said Sanjay Gupta, executive vice president at ACI Worldwide, in Monday’s press release.