With more than 31 percent of Huntington checking households actively banking online - the industry average is 27 percent according to a March 2004 Council on Financial Competition report - that should make a lot of customers happy. That was the plan, says Huntington's Retail Group Director Mary Navarro.

"Our goal is to be an essential partner to our customers," Navarro said. "That means we listen to their needs and respond with things to make their banking experience useful, more meaningful and something they ultimately enjoy. Our customers want to pay their bills online for free, and now they can."

With free Online Bill Pay, customers can pay bills online or over the phone from their Huntington checking accounts. They can make one-time payments or set up regular payments to handle repeating bills. Customers can even electronically send money to bank accounts at other financial institutions.

Huntington was one of the first banks to introduce banking services via the Internet, according to Tim Scholten, senior vice president of Enterprise Online Services. "We strive to make our site as innovative, secure and customer friendly as possible," he added. "In fact, the Huntington site was recently rated in the top ten of the best financial services Web sites by Gomez, an Internet performance management company."

Future enhancements to Online Bill Pay will allow customers to place memos on online payments, check the status of payments and enter invoice information for business accounts. This will add to a full complement of online banking services that let customers review accounts, check rates, apply for new accounts, chat with banking partners and submit information changes and review statements - all online for free.