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Avoid bank fees at the BPay checkout
March 25, 2011
Despite a stereotype that insists that generation Y is online savvy, new research points to the contrary when it comes to the under-thirties group’s bill-paying habits on their transaction accounts.
The research from BPay found that a quarter of Australia’s youth population still queue to pay bills over the counter. In the past year, more than a fifth of 18- to 25-year-olds paid bills in person at their biller, a quarter paid bills at Australia Post and 15 percent paid directly at their bank.
Why not pay online?
Given the convenience of paying a bill from home with just a few clicks, combined with 90 percent of generation Y choosing to bank online, there must be good reason for a quarter of them avoiding BPay, such as fees and charges.
Of the 426 transaction accounts featured on RateCity, 112 charge a fee to make a BPay transaction online. Of those, the average online BPay fee is $0.52 per transaction and some financial institutions charge up to $5 per transaction. If you were to pay 12 phone bills per year, this can really start to add up.
But the majority of transaction accounts – almost three-quarters of those available on RateCity – don’t charge such fees. So either generation Y doesn’t know the fees of their account and avoid using online transactions just in case they will get charged a fee, or they have an account which doesn’t suit their spending needs.
Not ruling BPay out altogether
The BPay research also found that Australia’s youth are open to the possibility of making payments via the internet and on their mobile phones. More than a fifth of 16- and 17-year-olds, and almost 40 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds are willing to give it a go, the data shows. That’s why BPay will launch a campaign this month to raise awareness of Australia’s young people about BPay and the speed and ease of paying a bill online.
Whether you fall into the generation Y age bracket or not, and you’re wanting to try BPay, check that your account is one of the 314 transaction accounts compared at RateCity that does not charge a fee for BPay transactions before you pay online.
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Disclaimer
This article is over two years old, last updated on March 25, 2011. While RateCity makes best efforts to update every important article regularly, the information in this piece may not be as relevant as it once was. Alternatively, please consider checking recent bank accounts articles.
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