Helping You Achieve the Economies and Efficiencies of Electronic Bill Payment Processing

Visa ePay is a fully electronic, bi-directional solution for payment delivery. Visa ePay can help your business reduce costs, streamline operations, and receive better payment service as more and more of your customers choose electronic ways to pay.

Visa ePay® is a fully automated, electronic payment delivery system that links financial institutions, payment originators, billers, and credit counseling agencies to ensure that online bill payments initiated by consumers remain electronic from entry to posting.

Whether you're a billing financial institution, payment originator, or biller, Visa ePay enables you to fully realize the economies and efficiencies of electronic bill payment. Even payment adjustments, error corrections, and reversals are processed electronically. No more costly converted checks or check-and-post items to process, and fewer customer service issues associated with delayed or mispostings.

Visa ePay also includes a credit counseling automation feature that enables agencies to submit Debt Management Proposals (DMPs) and pay creditors — completely electronically.

Fast, Safe, and Cost Effective

Visa ePay is a proven and tested electronic payment remittance service that facilitates exchange of electronic funds and remittance information among participants that process consumer bill payments initiated online. It fully automates bill payment delivery, provides standards and operating regulations that support consistent electronic delivery formats, ensures payment arrival, and provides reliable access to complete accounts receivable information — while minimizing exception processing.

The effectiveness of Visa ePay is enhanced by broad participation of payment originators and billers including many of the country's largest financial institutions, utilities, insurance companies, and retailers.

Operating since 1995, Visa ePay processes electronic bill payments each month valued in the billions of dollars.

Who Can Benefit From Visa ePay?

All parties in the online bill payment stream can benefit by participating in Visa ePay including:

• Payment Originators. Financial institutions or online bill payment service providers as well as financial institutions that originate balance transfers.
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• Biller Financial Institutions. Payment receivers, cash management providers, and consumer lenders.
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• Billers/Creditors. Utilities, financial institutions, insurance agencies, and retailers.
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• Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies. Organizations that offer financial planning and debt reduction services to consumers.
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Key Features

Visa ePay's key service elements create an environment of certainty in online payment processing. These elements include:

• Fully electronic payment delivery. Visa ePay's sophisticated electronic communications and processing capabilities support end-to-end electronic processing of consumers' online bill payments — even returns and corrections. Full automation eliminates paper-based, labor-intensive procedures and ensures that exception items can be addressed in one billing cycle. In addition, Visa ePay facilitates electronic tracking of transactions requiring research and offers procedures and help desk support for exception item handling and dispute resolution.
• Universal Biller File. The Universal Biller File (UBF) is a database that provides industry-wide standardization and controls the accuracy of Visa ePay biller information. UBF updates are distributed electronically to all participating payment originators, providing a reliable mechanism to identify Visa ePay billers and their individual requirements.
• End-to-end standards and operating regulations. Visa ePay has established industry-wide standards covering the content and flow of remittance messages and operating regulations governing the rights and responsibilities of all participants. These standards and regulations are governed by Visa USA,providing an environment of confidence for all participants.
• Risk management. Innovative Visa ePay controls ensure system integrity. All payment data is delivered via dedicated, encrypted connections. Controls guard against introduction of duplicate files. And, rigorous file, batch, and detailed edit checks (including extensive account number checking) are performed on every file introduced in the Visa ePay system to ensure accuracy and adherence to standard formats.
• Connectivity. Secure, dedicated connections and standard transmission protocols deliver batch files directly to mainframe systems for smooth, cost-effective integration into financial institutions' and billers' back-office systems.

Benefits

Visa ePay offers significant benefits for all parties involved in processing online payments.

Biller Financial Institutions and Billers

• Single-point access to multiple payment originators
• Lower remittance processing costs
• Fewer exception items
• Fewer customer service inquiries
• Guaranteed funds
• Faster funds availability
• Minimize processing errors
• Maximize electronic payments with reversibility

Payment Originators

• Single-point access to multiple biller financial institutions
• Increase electronic payment volume
• Lower remittance processing costs
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Enhance efficiency and control
• Increase operational certainty
• Maximize electronic payments with reversibility

Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies

Electronic Debt Management Proposal (DMP) Negotiation

• Standard interface to multiple billers
• Improve operational efficiency
• Save time and labor
• Increase Fair Share contribution
• Consolidate correspondence
• Improve client retention

Payment Origination to Creditors

• Post payments faster by eliminating paper processing
• Reduce processing costs
• Minimize processing errors
• Eliminate Fair Share invoicing

Visa ePay Payment Flow

1. Biller financial institutions register billers on the Visa ePay Universal Biller File (UBF).
2. Billers invoice their customers according to their existing procedures.
3. Consumers use an online bill payment service to authorize their financial institutions to make payments on their behalf.
4. The payment originator electronically transmits payment information to Visa ePay.
5. Visa ePay electronically collects, performs edit checks, and delivers consolidated consumer payments to the appropriate biller financial institution.
6. The biller financial institution forwards accounts receivable data to the biller for posting and deposits funds in the biller's account.
7. Returns and corrections are handled electronically via Visa ePay.

For More Information

For more information, please call your Visa Account Executive or Contact Us.