With SVP, students or their parents initiate payments on a college or university web site and are automatically redirected to their own financial institution's online banking platform to select which account they wish to use for payment. They are then returned to the school's site, where they receive payment confirmation.

Financial institutions authenticate the payer and provide schools with real-time authorization and confirmation of payment. Because the payer doesn't share any financial account information, there is no need for the schools to store the payer's account information.

"We're pleased that the University of Wisconsin-Stout has joined the SVP network," said Eric Lim, senior product manager at U.S. Bank. "It's an online payment option that gives students and their parents a safe, familiar environment that is offered through a trusted source, their financial institution. And with the real-time authorization of funds on ACH payments, it can also help University of Wisconsin-Stout reduce their payment processing costs."

SVP was developed by NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association — in an effort to reduce paper checks and increase use of the ACH Network. The SVP switch technology that transfers users between the biller's site and the financial institution's site is provided by eWise, the exclusive network provider for SVP.