Simon Joyce, CEO of mobile payments company Upaid, has criticised the Post Offices recently-launched Payout system, which enables companies to send money to a consumers mobile phone in the form of a barcode that functions as a postal order. Although the service delivers cost and time savings to participating companies, Joyce says Payout offers no such benefits to the general public.
While payments by mobile phone offer a quick and direct way of transferring money, the Post Offices Payout system seems to be aimed solely at its corporate clients and not the general public, says Joyce. By forcing the recipient of the barcode to make the journey to the Post Office to access the cash, and not allowing them to transfer it by phone to a bank or credit card, Payout is removing many of the benefits of mobile payments. If the user then wanted to put it into their bank account, another journey to their local branch would be necessary, making an allegedly simple system even more complicated.
A recent YouGov survey commissioned by Skywire Software showed that Britons are notoriously bad at paying bills on time. 30% glance at their bills and then put them aside, whilst 2%, approximately one million people, ignore them altogether, with 18 to 29 year olds being the worst offenders. According to Upaid, by only allowing people to receive money and not pay bills via their mobile, Payout and the Post Office have missed out on the opportunity to improve these statistics and change the publics often passive attitude to personal debt.
Mobile payments are a great way to improve customer response rates while also cutting costs says Joyce. By receiving and paying invoices instantly, anytime, anywhere – even when travelling abroad users can settle bills more easily and avoid late payments, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. The benefits for the provider are also clear, more interest can be earned and resources arent wasted chasing late payments. Upaid is set to extend its services to include utility bill payment by mobile phone in countries such as Serbia, and we hope that the UK soon follows suit.