ACI Worldwide Teams With PayPal On Bill Payments Via Digital Wallet

PayPal and Venmo will be payment options for utility customers as part of an effort ACI Worldwide is undertaking to expand digital wallet payments, ACI announced in a Monday (Aug. 16) press release.

ACI provides instant digital payment software solutions for thousands of clients across various industries, including consumer finance, government, education, healthcare, insurance, telephone and cable, as well as subscriptions and utilities.

One such ACI client is New York-based Monroe County Water Authority, which will now integrate PayPal and Venmo into its ACI Speedpay billing application, giving its customers more choices in bill payment methods. Prompted by customer requests for digital payment options, the Authority, which provides water to customers in six counties in Rochester, added PayPal and intends to add Venmo in the future.

According to a recent PYMNTS study, digital card use is growing at a fever pitch. Forty-one percent of U.S. consumers have a debit or credit card in a digital format as part of their digital wallets. Digital payments are used by various means, including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay; mobile banking apps; and popular retailers’ digital wallets or online pay buttons, such as Amazon Pay, PayPal and Click to Pay. In addition to those who actively use digital wallets, 47 percent expressed interest in using digital cards for in-store purchases over the next year. The greatest level of interest in digital cards came from millennials, with 57 percent wishing to pay for in-store items with a digital wallet.

Read more: 28M US Consumers Without Digital Cards Are Interested In Them

A recent ACI Speedpay Pulse study showed that 56 percent of Generation Z and millennial customers polled said they would consider paying a bill with digital options such as Venmo or PayPal.

“For too long, paying bills has been a cash or check process that is inherently inefficient and costly to both consumers and billers,” said Dan Leberman, senior vice president of partnerships, PayPal. “The past year and the increased digitization of commerce has shown the value digital wallets can provide not just to retailers, but also to billers and other service providers.”