This blog frequently explores issues related to electronic bill presentment and payments (EBPP), from defining frequently used terminology to busting common myths. But what exactly do we mean by EBPP? Here’s a high-level overview of the major components, features, and functionality of an EBPP solution to help get you started.  

EBPP Defined

EBPP is a holistic approach to presenting electronic bills and accepting digital payments from consumers. An EBPP solution is integrated into a biller’s systems to facilitate seamless e-bill delivery and payments acceptance. It allows billers to deliver the following capabilities to customers:

• Deliver e-bills in conjunction with or as a replacement for printed paper bills
• Send account alerts and notifications to consumers through digital channels such as email and text messaging
• Allow customers to fund digital bill payments using payment methods such as ACH and cards. Manual payments (point of sale card payments, personal checks, cash, etc.) can also be recorded in an EBPP solution
• Accept payments from a variety of payment channels, including web-based channels, telephone-based channels, and other channels
• Schedule payments using payment options including auto-pay, payment plans, one-time payments, etc.

Customer Support

In addition to client-facing features and functionality, an EBPP solution also allows billers’ internal staff to perform the following customer support activities:

• Add new customers, edit existing customer records, and reset user passwords
• View individual payment details as well as a top-down payments summary
• Schedule bill payments
• Communicate with customers via secure messaging

Online Reporting

Finally, an EBPP solution offers online reporting to give billers additional transparency into activities related to payments, customers, and settlement.

EBPP in Action

How does EBPP work in the real world? Our 2020 Trends Report sheds light on how consumers approached their bill payments over the course of last year. Some key takeaways include:

• Payment method trends for ACH, debit cards, and credit cards
• Payment channel trends for enrolled web, agent, IVR, and guest web
• Payment option trends for one-time, autopay, recurring, invoice, and payment plan

Download the report to learn more.  

To learn another payment term, go to our blog, What Are Real-Time Payments?

*This is an update on an original post published March 2019

Alacriti’s Orbipay EBPP is a customizable electronic billing and payments solution for businesses and financial institutions of all sizes. For more information, please contact us at info@alacriti.com.