ILD Payment Solutions Blog

Hello and welcome to ILD's blog.

There are a lot of questions about alternative payments these days, who uses them, how and why, so our blog sets out
to provide answers, with a focus on the people, process, and purpose of third party “bill to phone” payment. Please share
your thoughts and ideas – we appreciate and encourage your feedback.

To Charge or Not To Charge?

Monday, October 5th, 2009 | ConsumerAffairs, Current Events, Helpful Hints & Tips, Phone Billing Market Research | Monica

credit cards Found a service online that you’d like to sign up for? Need to add points to an online game that you’re really enjoying? Heard about a new diet program on-line and want to start it right now?

As you’ve probably already experienced when you get to the point where you want to purchase something online, you see that your options for payment are either credit card or Paypal. Paypal is of course another form to pay on your credit card but with added security. But what if you are part of the 23% of US households who don’t have a credit card? What if you don’t want to add to your credit card balance and risk paying more in the end for your online purchase? Or, what if your credit card company just increased your APR from 12% to 24.99%, like the BoA consumer Rockerchic4God (search video on YouTube) who launched debtorsrevoltnow.com? As our economy tries to climb slowly out of the recession, we are all still gun shy with our spending and trying to get the most for our money, without paying all those surcharges and fees.

So, given the option to purchase an item online without spending any extra on credit card fees or interest rates, wouldn’t you? Would you benefit from knowing that you can make the purchase now, haveit added to your phone bill and pay it on a monthly basis? Well according to researchers like Jupiter, more consumers want just that. Jupiter’s study claims 48 percent of all online adult shoppers prefer the convenience of alternative payment methods. So, you have the luxury of purchasing an item without the risks of using a credit card and if you don’t have one, you’re not left out! Alternative payment methods, like bill to phone, gives consumers an extra month to pay for purchases. When I use a debit card to make purchases, the banks withdraws the funds from my account immediately. Oh, and if the account is a penny short, you know how the banks love to tack on those overdraft fees. Allowing you to add charges to your phone bill is a convenient, no risk, consumer friendly way to make a purchase online for certain items in which merchants have chosen to give you that option.

I think that given the credit card crisis and the recent consumer revolts, there is a market for other forms of e-currency (without the use of credit cards). So why not alternative payments like bill to phone? What do you think?