Fiserv Rolls Out New Bill Payment System Focused On Automation

Financial services company Fiserv has released a new system called CheckFree Next that will enable companies to provide automated and personal bill paying experiences for customers, according to a release on Thursday (Oct. 24).

“Electronic bill payment has become an intrinsic part of many people’s daily lives, however, features that were once cutting-edge are now status quo,” said Tom Allanson, division president of enterprise payment solutions at Fiserv. “Knowing that people have higher expectations than ever before, we stepped back and challenged ourselves to make paying bills at a financial institution as easy and smart as the best digital experiences people have every day. CheckFree Next is the answer to that challenge.”

CheckFree Next automates basic tasks and uses technology to automatically match payers with their accounts. It also automates payment and data entry.

“As electronic bill payment has become a mainstream technology, a variety of players have challenged financial institutions as providers of the service. Following several years of relative quiet, innovation in this area has taken off in the past 18 months,” said Krista Tedder, director of payments for Javelin Strategy & Research. “Fiserv has a long history in electronic payments, and CheckFree Next reflects a knowledge of the space, capitalizing on the current trend toward smart digital experiences that anticipate next steps to streamline experiences.”

Using CheckFree Next, customers can sign up for reminders that provide a better sense of when payments are due and when they are withdrawn from an account. There is also an option called Withdraw Now, which will let payers have their money taken out right away or at a later date.

CheckFree Next also includes instant notifications, with plans to add real-time money movement in 2020. There are also plans for enhanced notifications, which will let a bill payer get information about an account in real-time and immediately see changes in their accounts.