The bill-payments firm Doxo has signed a deal with InComm Payments, which has connections to more than 65,000 retail stores, to make it easier for cash-dependent consumers to pay bills in person.
Consumers using Doxo's app may request a bar code from a biller and visit a store in InComm's VanillaDirect retail network to pay in person. The partnership expands InComm's bill-payment reach by adding Doxo's 100,000 billers, including utilities and thousands of landlords, to InComm's, according to a release.
The move underscores growing competition in cash bill payments, where many providers charge fees ranging from about $1 to $3 for guaranteeing same-day bill payments by consumers juggling tight finances.
Walmart in June announced a
Doxo charges $2.50 for cash bill payments and makes a large number of billers eligible for walk-in cash payments at a time when the pandemic has closed many offices where consumers previously paid bills in person, according to Roger Parks, Doxo’s vice president of business development.
“Over the last year in many towns across the U.S., COVID-19 has closed a lot of city offices for people who always paid their water or electric bills in cash, increasing demand for other options,” said Parks, who co-founded Doxo in 2008.
Doxo, which is based in Seattle, has more than 5 million users of its bill-payment app. InComm's VanillaDirect platform already supported payments for many billers including most wireless service carriers at stores including Walgreens, CVS, 7-Eleven and Dollar General.
“Doxo has a large base of biller partners and a large base of subscription partners and they recognized a need for another payment option to meet the needs of a customer segment that is often overlooked,” the Atlanta-based InComm said in an emailed statement.
PayNearMe, of Santa Clara, California, also supports cash bill payment through some of the same retailers, and the company welcomes the competition, said Mike Kaplan, PayNearMe’s chief revenue officer.
In addition to needing to pay at least some bills in cash, many consumers are unsure when their bills are due, driving the need for same-day confirmation of payment. In an online survey of more than 2,600 consumers in April, PayNearMe found that 53% of consumers aren't sure exactly when bills are due, or have no idea of the due date.
“It's a rising tide for fintechs in the bill-payment space. We connect to consumers through billers’ sites, and Doxo has consumers coming directly to their site to access,” Kaplan said.
While approximately 20% of U.S. consumers continue to
“A biller-direct model is where things are moving because the billers have the data about rates, usage and the breakdown of specific fees within bills, and cash remains an important way for a lot of people to pay at least some of their bills,” Kaplan said.
