Bank of America is forecasting a doubling in the number of customers who choose to pay their bills online this month, compared to January 2002.
The West coast bank expects more more than 1.8 million customers will pay their bills online through the coming month, compared to 900,000 in the same period last year. The rise in user numbers will correspond to a larger increase in online volumes, projects the bank, from 5.6 million bills in January 2002 to approximately 11 million items this month, equivalent to $3 billion in online payments.
Bank of America attributes the rise in online bill pay to a number of factors, not least the fact that consumers are becoming more comfortable buying products online.
The bank says it will introduce a number of new features in January to further ease the process for customers, by reducing the number of steps to add payees, incorporating online histories and introducing online calendars.