"Xoom Bill Pay is completely changing the way cross-border bills get paid to Mexico and other countries, by providing a new and innovative experience for customers to pay bills in just a few clicks or taps," said Bobby Aitkenhead, Vice President of Xoom Bill Pay. "Now, immigrants can easily pay their loved ones bills online, from the United States. This helps Xoom customers save their loved ones from the hassle and risk of paying their bills in person."

"Xoom Bill Pay helps its customers take even better care of family members back home, with the same quality service and great experience they have with Xoom Money Transfer," added Aitkenhead. "Xoom Bill Pay shows customers accurate account balances in real-time, and then they can pay a bill —or multiple bills—instantly." The fee is $2.99 per bill paid.

Xoom Bill Pay allows customers to pay electricity, telephone, internet, cable, water and gas bills, from their mobile phone, tablet or computer. Currently, the service will facilitate payments to the most important utility providers in each country, including CFE, the sole energy provider in Mexico, TELMEX, the primary telephone provider in Mexico, and the CDEEE Group of Energy Companies, the sole energy provider in the Dominican Republic. Others include, Claro, Energuate, Gigacable, Movistar, Telefonica, Tigo, Tricomm, and more.

One Xoom customer, Concepcion Salinas, has already enjoyed the security, speed and reliability of Xoom Bill Pay. "My mom is 70 years old and lives alone," Salinas said. "In the past, I had to send money for her to pay the bills. My mom has to go pick it up, then stand in line and go to each separate company to pay bills. With Xoom Bill Pay, my mom now doesn't have to go out in the street. I don't put her at risk."

The ability to query account balances in real-time, using only an account number is a key differentiating feature of Xoom Bill Pay. This is crucial because:

• Senders have se:

   

  • Senders have more visibility into their recipients' expenses
  • It's difficult for senders and recipients to access bill receipts in a timely manner
  • Many utilities in developing countries don't allow partial payments
  • Many utilities disconnect service after a single missed payment

  "We believe Xoom Bill Pay is revolutionary for paying bills in developing countries, where it's very difficult for senders and beneficiaries to access bill receipts in a timely manner, and also hard to have good visibility over recipients' expenses," said Aitkenhead. "In the past, money transfer recipients had to spend hours out of their day traveling to a bill pay retailer, just to stand in line, fill out forms and hand cash over the counter to pay for telephone usage or electricity. This is now a thing of the past as we have transformed the process by allowing customers to pay the bills cross-border on behalf of their family in an easy and efficient way."

  In 2015, Xoom plans to roll out bill pay services to other Xoom countries, including the Philippines, India, Vietnam, Panama and countries in South America.