Payrailz, Mastercard collaborate on bill payment pilot

Mastercard is extending its experiments with real-time bill payment technology to smaller banks and credit unions in a pilot it’s launched with Payrailz.

Payrailz, a Glastonbury, Conn.-based payments startup launched in 2016 that leverages AI to streamline bill payments and money transfers, will integrate its platform with Mastercard Bill Pay Exchange to explore ways to enhance the consumer bill payment experience.

The move streamlines consumers’ ability to manage and pay telecom, utility, rent, credit card, mortgage and other bills through a financial institution’s website or mobile app, and it expands the range of payment types billers may accept, including cards, instant payments or transfers from savings and checking accounts.

“With this solution, Payrailz will be able to bring speed, transparency and efficiency to bill payments,” said Ronald Schultz, Mastercard’s executive vice president of New Payment Flows for North America, in a release.

Payrailz has been developing “concierge” type payment services financial institutions and other organizations may embed in existing processes to streamline and speed up transactions.

“The Mastercard Bill Pay Exchange represents a major shift in the way consumers, billers and financial institutions will handle bill payments,” said Fran Duggan, Payrailz’ CEO, in the release.

Payrailz has raised about $10 million in two funding rounds.