Sunday, December 16, 2012

Pay bills through ATM

In Indonesia, many people pay their bills and insurance premiums through the ATM or bank transfer, instead of sending a cheque. I am quite impressed with their payment system. Many companies ask their customers to pay directly to their bank account using the ATM. There is a network connecting the ATM of most of the banks, so payment can be made from one bank to another.

This system seems to be quite advanced. In Singapore, our payment system is quite fragmented. Even eNETS is hardly used, and is quite complicated. We are still using archaic methods to make payments, i.e. cheques.





5 comments:

Buay Tah Han said...

You left out the services offered by AXS and SAM machines. Although they are not as common as ATM machines, bills can also be paid using them through NETS transactions.

Singapore's 5 Minute Investment Diary said...

Why don’t bad ideas ever die?
See article below.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/why-dont-bad-ideas-ever-die/2012/12/13/919ded36-4475-11e2-8061-253bccfc7532_story.html?wp_login_redirect=0

Tan Kin Lian said...

Tah Han,
SAM and AXS can only pay bills to companies that have pre-registered with them.
I like to be able to pay bill to any party just by quoting the bank account of that person, instead of writing a cheque.

yujuan said...

In Singapore, guess Trust and convenience is the issue.
Surprisingly, the ATM user is some Pop and Mom 1 or 2 persons service providers asking payment through ATM into their accounts first, before they provide the service. Customers dun trust them to deliver.
Many people prefer make cheque payment, as they find hassle to go to ATM machine, transport costs may be higher than cheque cost.

Tan Kin Lian said...

yujuan,
Most people need to go shopping at least once a week. They can pay their bills at the ATM at that time. There is no need for them to make a separate trip.

We need the facility, at the ATM, to pay to any bank account. To prevent making a mistake, the ATM should display the name of the receiving party for confirmation. It should also allow the payer to enter a reference number, such as the invoice number or customer number, for the right account to be credited. The name of the payer should also be transmitted to the receiving party.

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