Online bill payment is a process that involves payment against a bill through the medium of the Internet. In simpler words, while paying a bill online, the buyer pays the amount mentioned in the bill through online bank transfer; from his online bank account to the seller’s online bank account. Online bank accounts are specialized bank accounts used for online financial transactions. These days, almost any kind of bill, such as: telephone bills or electricity bills or payment of insurance premiums or other such kind of payment is paid online.

As online bill payment is a technology based process, it has certain advantages and disadvantages associated with it. However, the advantages of online bill payment outnumber the disadvantages. Some of the advantages of online bill payment are discussed in the next paragraphs.

Advantages of Online Bill Payment

Paper; used in printing bills, goes waste once the bill is paid. Online bill payment cuts off the dependency on paper as a bill is presented electronically. This saves paper. However, the electronic bills can be saved and they can be printed later on.

Clearance of payment takes time. More time is taken for clearing bills with large amounts. Online bill payment consumes less time, as certain necessary checks are performed once a new account is opened, and need not be repeated every time any transaction is done using online bank transfer accounts. This saves time in getting clearance for payments. Sometimes, the payer can avail the facility of scheduling the online bill payment for routine payments, such as: Insurance premiums.

Every resource costs money and so does the paper, printing machine, ink used in printing, bill postages and associated administrative costs. In comparison to this, online bill payment reduces the expenditure to a minimum as all the information is transferred electronically without printing every detail on paper and posting it after completing every single step. However, the expenditure incurred via online transfer is much less than the expenditure in traditional transfers.

Online bill payment offers convenience to the payers. The users get freedom from tedious file management tasks, from filling and submitting cheques, from standing in long queues for submitting cheques, from waiting for cheque clearance. In some cases, it also offers freedom from the payment recovery agents and their unwanted (reminder) phone calls, as well.

Last but not the least, online bill payment provides freedom from fear of losing bills and their corresponding receipts. Every transaction is confirmed via an email. Automated emails are sent for updating the payer (account holder) with the proceedings.