PayNearMe, the cash transaction network, today announced the availability of a new mobile cash payment system, changing the way millions of consumers pay their bills and purchase goods or services.
Deploying this option, Greyhound and Progreso Financiero became the first companies to offer the 25 percent of U.S. consumers who lack credit or debit cards or who prefer to pay with cash the ability to use their mobile phones for payments.
PayNearMe's mobile service is designed to provide cash consumers, including those who are unbanked and underbanked, with a cash-payment option that utilizes a tool that is already a part of their everyday lives. Currently more than half of U.S. mobile phone owners have smartphones, and prepaid smartphones commonly used by cash consumers and the unbanked are one of the fast-growing segments of the mobile market.
"Since its inception, PayNearMe has offered the most effective mechanisms for companies to serve cash consumers, including the un- and underbanked," said PayNearMe CEO Danny Shader. "By adding a fully mobile payment option to our platform, we're not only providing businesses with the ability to better serve their existing customers, but we're giving them a foundation from which they can expand to reach new audiences, such as mobile gamers and the next generation of consumers."
With PayNearMe's Mobile cash payment system, merchants of all types can cost- effectively offer their customers more convenient cash payment options by rendering a barcode on their mobile browsers. The mobile barcode then can be scanned at payment locations, such as more than 6,600 participating local 7-Eleven® stores, enabling consumers to quickly and easily use cash to re-pay loans, pay bills, and buy goods and services such as Greyhound bus tickets. Within days of deploying the mobile option, Greyhound experienced a high volume of mobile transactions, averaging more than 20% of its PayNearMe cash payments.
"Our passengers represent a wide cross-section of the public, but the one thing they have in common is their smartphones," said Dave Leach, President and CEO at Greyhound. "We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to purchase bus tickets, and PayNearMe's new smartphone-enabled barcodes have given our passengers a great way to pay for their tickets using an indispensable part of their everyday lives."
"We are excited to be among the first companies to provide our customers with the PayNearMe mobile payment experience," said Dave Tomlinson, President of Progreso Financiero, which provides financial services to the Hispanic community. "In doing so, we give them greater flexibility to turn their phones into cash-payment tools, making their overall experience in paying off their loans with Progreso Financerio effortless and convenient."
PayNearMe's mobile option is the company's latest offering to serve cash consumers, including the un- and underbanked population. PayNearMe's platform has already helped companies across a wide range of businesses complete transactions with cash. The demand for its innovative cash payment technology is evidenced by the 30+ percent monthly compounded growth in transaction value that PayNearMe has experienced since it launched 16 months ago.