US consumers are embracing the idea of online bill payment at their financial institution's Web site, according to a survey conducted on behalf of MasterCard.
The study, conducted by Harris Interactive among 2233 adults, indicates that convenience, control and security draw consumers to bank Web sites for bill payment.
Significantly, more than two-fifths of participants who pay their bills in this way would change financial institutions if their current one stopped offering the service.
Cathleen Conforti, senior vice president of MasterCard RPPS, comments: "Consumers see the benefit of managing their finances with one-stop shopping. Nearly three quarters of respondents choose this bill payment method because of the ability to not only pay all their bills in one place but also review account balances, transfer funds and so forth."
Credit card payments are the bills most frequently paid through a financial institution's Web site, followed by bills for utilities, phone/cellular service, cable/ISP, insurance and mortgage.
Market researcher Gartner estimates that 35 million people pay their bills online now, a number that is tipped to grow to 65 million by 2007.