7/28/2003

Direct Payments Are Now Only A Click Away

July 28, 2003

Town Crier Online.ca
By: Ken Shular
Chances are you do, as it is estimated that 56 per cent of all Canadians use this service provided to them from their selected financial institution.

Well a local resident is taking it a step further, introducing a service for consumers to pay for transactions directly to the biller made over the Internet using merely their debit card.

“We already know how successful debit is in the real world,” says Brian Crozier, vice-president, business development of UseMyBank Services, Inc. “At one time you could only use your ATM card at ATMs and then they expanded it and now we know how successful it is. We’re duplicating what people like to do; they like to pay for things from their bank account . . . and people are comfortable with it because they’re at their own bank; they’re not at some other bank. We take them to their bank and they pay their bills — it’s all filled out for them — and then boom, the merchant gets paid in real time.”

Launched at the end of last year, UseMyBank, is a revolution in the Internet age. According to a study conducted by financial research firm The Clearing House, on behalf of major American banks, “security is a major concern in moving payments over the Internet;” and “banking information necessary to initiate payments is not always readily available.”

As Crozier points out, when paying bills or making other transactions online, or even on the phone, there is usually a two to five day wait before that money finds it way into the pockets of the biller. As well, anyone familiar with the Internet knows that payment options for goods and/or services has been limited to credit cards . . . until now.

“If you go to a Web site like Sears and you wanted to buy a pair of pants, today you could only use VISA and MasterCard,” Crozier says. “At UseMyBank, we allow you to pay for it from your Royal Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC, TD Bank — you can buy it with your bank card; your debit card . . . At UseMyBank you are able to use your bank anywhere on the Internet that accepts UseMyBank. So, for example, you had to go buy some airline tickets and they told you ‘we only take VISA and MasterCard.’ With UseMyBank you take VISA, MasterCard and all debit cards from all the major banks. In Canada that’s seven million accounts.”

The service is available in partnership with all five major Canadian banks, as well; literally thousands of merchants are starting to provide it as a payment option. Typically a consumer clicks on the UseMyBank feature and they are then plugged into their bank and paying for their purchase directly to the biller.

Canada, which is known the world over for its banking system, is so far the only country that offers this service, though Crozier, who lives in the Yonge and St. Clair area, is hoping to introduce it to the United States this year.

“UseMyBank has revolutionized the entire Internet by allowing all major bank holders — people who have banks in Canada — to be able to buy things anytime, instantly,” he says. “It’s the same as you paying a cable bill at your bank; the same feeling of actually paying it, except it’s all automated — just one click.

“In Canada we’re the perfect nation for it because we totally appreciate the power of debit. They don’t have this power in the States, yet. We’re the ones who are right up to date, because we had five banks that got together and shared the banking ATM network.”