Segment: Credit Cards
Publication date: Friday, February 26, 2010
# Pages: (46 pages)

Abstract | Table of Contents

Online Card Payment tools are one of the major features of every firm’s private site, and have been around since the earliest days of online account management. In this report, we examine the state of online payments at each of the 11 Credit Card Monitor firms, looking for tools that provide the most flexibility and functionality for card holders. In particular, we focused on the following issuers:

• Are users able to generate Immediate, Future and Recurring external payments?
• What scheduling options are available?
• How many steps are in each firm’s payment process?
• What account information is provided for users within the payment interface?

At this point, every firm but one offers external payments via their private site payment tool, and almost all firms provide all three of the main payment scheduling types. Of the nine firms that offer one-time future payment scheduling, only five allow clients to schedule payments beyond the end of the current statement cycle – the lead time for these future payments varies from three months to five years. Most firms also allow clients to have multiple payment accounts registered within the payment tool, with 80% of firms enabling clients to schedule payments from three or more separate deposit accounts.

In terms of account information, the details provided to clients are somewhat different at each firm. All but two firms offer the Minimum Payment, Statement or Current Balance and $X as payment options, with half of issuers offering both Statement Balance and Current Balance as quick-pay amounts. Beyond this, every firm but one includes the Payment Due Date on their payments mainpage, and three issuers list the date and amount of the most recent card payment – excellent information for users. Seven issuers also offer dedicated Payment History sections within their card payment tools, with most firms offering between six months and 13 months of payment data.

Subjects

Online tools, calculators, etc.

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