LowerMyBills Selects Yodlee BillDirect to Power New Online Bill Pay Offering
Consolidated View of Bills and Ability to Pay Directly at Biller Site Takes Web Site To The Next Level in Terms of Value Proposition for the Consumer
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 28, 2004--
Yodlee, Inc. today announced that LowerMyBills.com has selected Yodlee's BillDirect to power BillPay Plus, a free Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) service that provides consolidated online bill payment for consumers. BillDirect, which also powers AOL Bill Pay, is the only EBPP solution that leverages the convenience of the biller direct model for bill payment with the utility of consolidated bill presentment plus value-added alerts, charting and management tools for a comprehensive, easy-to-use bill pay and financial planning tool.
LowerMyBills.com is a free online service for consumers to compare the lowest rates on monthly bills, including credit card interest rates, mortgage rates and auto loans for over 300 service providers. The addition of online bill pay substantially expands the value proposition for consumers as more and more people are leveraging the convenience of the Internet to view, manage, and pay bills.
"What it boils down to is that consumers want an easy, comprehensive personal billing system to research the lowest possible rates coupled with a fast, safe method for payment," said Matt Coffin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LowerMyBills.com. "Yodlee's unique technology has allowed us to create unparalleled utility for our customers by providing significantly greater presentment features and zero lag time on payments. As one of the first providers of the free BillDirect model for consumers, we now have a significant edge in our market."
Online bill payment has become one of the fastest growing applications on the Internet. In fact, according to a January 2004 Gartner Group report, by 2007, 65 million U.S. adults will view their bills online. Today, most consumers view and pay their bills directly at their billers' Web sites. The reason for this trend is the user-friendly functionality of the biller Web sites, including same day payment, acceptance of credit cards and other alternative payment options, immediate confirmation of payment, bill presentment, and free payment. What becomes cumbersome to users, however, is the need to visit ten or more websites each month and an inability to centrally manage and track their bills in one place. BillDirect is the first solution to enable users to easily view, manage, and consolidate all their online bills from one Web site while providing deep links to the biller sites for payment.
"We believe the BillDirect model will play a significant role in the acceleration and adoption of online bill presentment and payment, and we're thrilled to add LowerMyBills.com to our list of customers leveraging this technology," said Anil Arora, CEO of Yodlee. "From the leading portals to global retail banks and brokerages, the financial services community is looking for a more affordable way to offer a rich EBPP solution for consumers, and at the same time accelerate the adoption of online banking and payments."
BillDirect leverages Yodlee's core iFinity aggregation platform -- which has the unique ability to pull individual account data from over 8,000 sources, including billers, brokerages, banks, credit card issuers, insurance providers, lenders, travel agents, email providers, and more. This enables Yodlee to present and pay bills for more than 2,700 billers and offer value-added capabilities like historical charting and transaction-level alerts to help users proactively manage how they're accruing expenses at their billers throughout the month.
Benefits of BillDirect for Financial Service Providers:
-- Superior Consumer Product Offering -- BillDirect give consumers more convenience, flexibility and choice, as well as industry leading bill presentment (more than 2,700 bills presented) and unparalleled account management capabilities
-- Cost Savings -- BillDirect leverages the efficiencies of the Biller Direct model to offer institutions a significant cost advantage -- almost 4:1 versus alternative solutions -- for a more robust EBPP offering
-- New Revenue Opportunities -- BillDirect can drive new revenue opportunities for financial service providers through interchange fees for credit and debit card payments
Benefits of BillDirect for Consumers:
Only BillDirect offers consumers the benefits of both the Bill Direct site functionality and convenience of bill consolidation and management.
End user benefits include:
-- Same day payments for improved cash management and avoidance of late payments
-- Ability to maximize card loyalty plans
-- Convenience of payment consolidation
-- Bill presentment and account management, including automatic charting, expense reporting, and personalized alert capabilities, all with no manual input required
About LowerMyBills.com
LowerMyBills.com (http://www.lowermybills.com) is the premier, free online service for consumers to compare the lowest rates on monthly bills and reduce the cost of living. LowerMyBills.com is the one-stop destination that offers savings through relationships with more than 300 service providers across 17 categories, including home loans, credit cards, long distance, auto and health insurance, and wireless services. To date, LowerMyBills.com has helped more than 500,000 consumers save over $172 million. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based company has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and on CNN and talk shows such as Dr. Phil.
About Yodlee
Yodlee is the trusted leader in enabling financial service providers (FSPs) to develop and deliver superior financial products and services, increasing customer profitability. Yodlee's unique aggregation technology powers and enhances a multitude of online financial offerings, including Personal Finance applications (OnCenter Suite), EBPP solutions (BillDirect), Wealth Management applications (AdvisorView), and Risk Management applications (Instant Account Verification). Yodlee operates in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Japan, and has amassed more than five million users, over $180 billion aggregated across its network, and more than 150 clients, including the world's top financial institutions and portals: AOL, Bank of America, Citibank, CUNA, Fidelity, Wachovia, J.P. Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, MSN and Yahoo! Yodlee is headquartered in Redwood City, California and can be reached at www.yodlee.com.
Contacts
Yodlee Inc.
Melanie Flanigan, 650-980-3707
mflanigan@yodlee.com
or
Merritt Group PR
Meredith Bagnulo, 703-556-6833
bagnulo@merrittgrp.com
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