Visa is expected to use its request-to-pay platform to test a consolidated bill payment and subscription management service for the United Kingdom customers. Currently, Visa is working with partners like homelessness charity Crisis and digital billing specialist Revive Management to launch the service.
The new service will provide users with one platform from which they can split bills with others, change payment dates, forward bills to somebody else, separate payments into smaller sums, and communicate directly with the biller.
Working as a consolidated inbox itemizing regular bill payments, the new platform offers an entirely transparent view across all of the user’s forthcoming and repeating payments to various billers. It begins with the biller sending a request for payment to the consumer. The consumer can agree to pay partially or in full at a time of their liking.
On the other hand, they can query the payment, organize a payment plan, request an extension, or even decline the payment via the communication feature. Moreover, the platform comes with a scope to support various payments via different means including credit and debit cards or account-to-account.
Pilot partner Revive Management provides a cloud-based communications network used by institutions, companies, and businesses offering services to over 70% of the UK population. Its participation in the pilot is expected to see several of its utility partners giving their clients the ability to create and execute bill payments via Visa’s request to pay service from March 2022.
SVP, product, Europe, Visa, Mark Nelsen, stated:
“Most people have a long list of regular payments to keep on top of – from gas, electricity or water bills, to mobile phones, streaming services, and recurring deliveries. At the same time, a growing number of subscription services are gaining in popularity. Our new request-to-pay service consolidates these bills into one, easy-to-use platform, allowing consumers to pay in a way that suits them. Gone are the days of needing to manage multiple payments to different billers across separate accounts and logins.”
The platform offers customers the confidence that the bills they get are legitimate, and in doing that plays an integral role in mitigating risks of falling victim to fraudsters.
