Pinnacle chose CheckFree RXP to expand its online billing and payment capabilities. The bank will now offer features known to improve customer satisfaction, usage and loyalty, including same-day settlement and data-fed e-bills - which were not available through the bank's previous bill pay provider.

The Nebraska-based Pinnacle Bancorp is a $5.8-billion holding company operating 115 branches in eight states. Matching industry trends, bill pay services are an important feature for Pinnacle's customers. Since 2000, the number of households using bill pay has increased from 5 million to 33 million, according to the Fiserv Consumer Billing and Payment Trends Survey. That's why Bruce Paitz, director of eBanking for Pinnacle Data Services, calls feature-rich bill pay services a "must-have" for financial institutions.

With CheckFree RXP, Pinnacle customers can easily schedule payments and keep tabs on their finances with payment reminders and alerts. Payments will be processed using same-day settlement. With this processing model, a customer's account is debited no sooner than the date that funds are to arrive at the merchant, which is a practice preferred by consumers. In addition, customers can receive, view and pay electronic bills (e-bills) from more than 400 national and local companies. E-bills contain all the same information as paper bills, and are delivered directly to the user's online banking account.

"CheckFree RXP will provide a superior user experience for our customers," said Paitz. "Same-day settlement is a big plus because it is an intuitive process - money leaves the account on the same day the bill is paid. And enabling our customers to receive and pay e-bills without ever leaving the online banking site is another way for us to make bill payment less of a hassle."

Fiserv delivers tight integration between CheckFree RXP, online banking and account processing platforms from Fiserv. This integration was an important factor for Pinnacle as they considered moving to the Fiserv solution. Single sign-on, simple enrollment, and the ability to view e-bills and bill pay information on the same page as a'count balances are all important features made possible by Fiserv?s full integration. "The fewer clicks they have to make, the happier our customers will be," said Paitz.

Fiserv continues to enhance CheckFree RXP, based on extensive consumer research and usability testing, to help companies like Pinnacle grow their user base. CheckFree RXP is updated through "Feature Packs," regularly scheduled additions that automatically ensure the Fiserv network of financial institutions and their customers have immediate access to the most up-to-date online payment tools. The latest enhancements include new payment reminders and alerts and streamlined activation of electronic bills.

"Pinnacle Bancorp's move to CheckFree RXP will provide them with an online payment solution that is intelligent, intuitive and interactive," said Erich Litch, SVP and GM, Consumer Services, Fiserv. "Pinnacle will be able to offer superior money movement functionality through a service that has been, and will continue to be the benchmark for leadership in online payments, both in terms of functionality and user experience. They will also be able to deliver the latest functionalities to their customers on an ongoing basis thanks to the streamlined CheckFree RXP Feature Pack update process."

According to an October 2009 Aite Group report, Fiserv supports online bill payment services for 76 percent of the consumers who pay bills online through their financial institution, and delivers 93 percent of the electronic bills received through the online banking channel.

Pinnacle has utilized the Premier(R) bank platform from Fiserv since 1996, deploying a wide array of Fiserv products and services, including outsourced account processing services, mobile banking, cash management, branch banking and source capture solutions, electronic document management and online banking.