"These enhancements are part of our continued effort to make Internet banking and bill pay faster, easier and safer for our customers," said Steve SaLoutos, senior vice president of consumer products and services for U.S. Bank. "Bill pay is one of our fastest growing services, so we work very hard to understand our customers' needs in order to deliver the best Internet banking and bill pay experience in the country."

Key new features include: faster payment speeds so customers can schedule same day or next day payments for many billers; easier set-up so a phone number is all that is needed to automatically add new billers; a "Payment Center" page to view payments and recent payment history in one place and more tools to manage bills including reminders to help customers avoid late payments, confirmation numbers for improved tracking and new calendars for easier selection of payment dates.

U.S. Bank Internet Banking is backed with a risk-free guarantee that covers any losses if there's ever any unauthorized use of the service. It also guarantees that every payment will be delivered on time or U.S. Bank will cover any related fees.

Growing customer interest in Internet bill pay has led to the growth of Internet banking overall at U.S. Bank. The company announced in April 2005 that more than one million customers enrolled in U.S. Bank Internet Banking in the previous year. The total number of customers enrolled in Internet banking at U.S. Bank now exceeds three million.