ACI Speedpay Pulse Study Finds 35 Percent of Consumers Who Have Missed Bill Payments During COVID-19 Do Not Expect to Catch U...
16 December 2020 - 12:00AM
Business Wire
Driven by pandemic, consumers’ needs for fast,
flexible bill payment options increase
New data from ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW), a leading global
provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions,
shows that more than a third of consumers will take at least six
months to catch up on missed bill payments due to COVID-19. The
study, which surveyed 3,000 U.S. adults, also showed that 3 in 10
consumers in the U.S. saw a decrease in income following the onset
of the pandemic, necessitating the need for more flexible payment
options from billers.
According to the study, 1 in 10 consumers reported currently
having past-due monthly bills as a direct result of their financial
situation during the pandemic, with 65 percent stating it will take
up to six months to catch up on missed payments. To address this
growing uncertainty, 15 percent contacted billers for payment
arrangements or deferrals, according to the data.
“Customer satisfaction has been directly impacted by billers’
abilities to evolve alongside consumers’ changing needs and
concerns, and billers must act quickly to anticipate these through
flexible solutions,” said Sanjay Gupta, executive vice president,
ACI Worldwide. “For example, to ease financial strain and provide
loyalty incentives, we saw auto insurers offer rebates or policy
credits early on during the pandemic as many were driving less due
to stay-at-home safety measures. Trends around payment plans and
extensions will likely remain key differentiators as the pandemic
continues.”
The Pulse study showed that 80 percent of consumers check their
payment source within the same week, if not immediately, to see if
their bill payment has processed, indicating a need for faster
payments processing.
“We know that consumers have an appetite for faster
transactions, which has become critical in supporting people’s
daily lives, for example, disbursements and refunds from insurance
companies and government aid,” Gupta continued. “As billers are
faced with a choice — adapt their offerings to changing consumer
preferences or stick with the status quo — we expect the demand for
and adoption of faster payments to accelerate further.”
Key Findings:
Shift from paper to digital:
- 16 percent of respondents say they use digital platforms to pay
a bill more now than they did before the pandemic.
- Driving the shift from paper to digital is the fact that some
options like in-person payments came to a halt during the pandemic
— the number of consumers who paid a monthly bill in person at the
biller’s location decreased by more than 10 percent from 2019 to
the second half of 2020.
Increased need for faster payments:
- One in 4 consumers would consider changing their payment
channel or method if it meant the payment would be processed more
quickly.
- One third of consumers say they would consider paying a bill
using an app like Venmo or Zelle.
Generational differences:
- A higher number of the younger generation missed payments due
to the pandemic compared to the older generation:
- 18-34 – 28 percent
- 35-51– 14.4 percent
- 52-80 – 5 percent
- In fact, due to the pandemic, the younger generation is still
currently past due on bills:
- 18-34 – 26 percent
- 35-51 – 14 percent
- 52-80 – 5 percent
For more information on U.S. consumers’ billing and payment
preferences and behaviors, visit the ACI Speedpay Pulse interactive
tool.
Methodology The ACI Speedpay Pulse is a longitudinal
consumer billing and payment trends research study conducted by
Brownstein Group in partnership with ACI Worldwide. Each ACI
Speedpay Pulse data set includes responses from a survey of at
least 3,000 unique respondents (no repeat participation within a
one-year period). Each survey sample is U.S. Census-balanced among
adults age 18 and older who are responsible for submitting payments
for at least two of their household’s monthly bills. Survey margin
of error is less than 1.8 percent for questions answered by the
entire sample. Questions with a smaller base will have a higher
margin of error. If presented, stat testing is at the 95 percent
confidence level.
About ACI Worldwide ACI Worldwide is a global software company
that provides mission-critical real-time payment solutions to
corporations. Customers use our proven, scalable and secure
solutions to process and manage digital payments, enable
omni-commerce payments, present and process bill payments, and
manage fraud and risk. We combine our global footprint with local
presence to drive the real-time digital transformation of payments
and commerce.
© Copyright ACI Worldwide, Inc. 2020 ACI, ACI Worldwide, ACI
Payments, Inc., ACI Pay, Speedpay and all ACI product/solution
names are trademarks or registered trademarks of ACI Worldwide,
Inc., or one of its subsidiaries, in the United States, other
countries or both. Other parties’ trademarks referenced are the
property of their respective owners.
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Media Contacts Dan Ring dan.ring@aciworldwide.com
781-370-3600 Nidhi Alberti nidhi.alberti@aciworldwide.com
781-370-3600
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