TAMPA, Fla.–Suncoast Credit Union here is rolling out a new payment service to its members that it part of a process that seeks to move away from a payments process to an enhanced “payments experience.”
The $9.2-billion Suncoast has partnered with Glastonbury, Conn.-based Payrailz to offer consumer and business bill pay, bill negotiation services, P2P and A2A money transfer services.
According to the company, Suncoast Credit Union has an in-house innovation department dedicated to mobile and online banking development and decided to partner with Payrailz to gain specialized expertise in payments and to help chart its defined roadmap for the future.
“We prioritize adding value to our members through enhanced services, particularly in ways that simplify their lives by improving their user experience,” said Ted Hassenfelt, CIO at Suncoast Credit Union. “Partnering with Payrailz fits with our digital strategy to provide the best service to our more than 200,000 electronic bill payments each month, and numerous member-to-member and account-to-account transfers.”
Company Discusses Offering
In an interview with CUToday.info, Mickey Goldwasser, VP-marketing with Payrailz, said he believes there has been stagnation in the payments space but that new “smart” payments will be a difference-maker.
“We are incorporating AI, which has a broad definition, but for us, because credit unions have the data on members, we are able to use that data to do a few things,” he said. “For example, if a credit union has a member who tends to pay these five bills every month, the credit union can reach out and say, ‘You have these five bills are due this month, do you want to take care of it?’”
The same data can be used to monitor if a member is overdue in making a payment and then offering a reminder, Goldwasser said.
“For credit unions it’s about how do you simplify your members’ lives and add value, and we think one of the ways to do that is to make the payment process smarter,” he said.
Negotiating Lower Payments
Another benefit offered through the Payrailz solution, according to Goldwasser, is the opportunity to help members negotiate lower payments with various providers. It provides that service through a partnership with Boston-based Billshark.
“People talk about developing payment products. We’re trying to develop payment experiences,” said Goldwasser. “If you always have enough money to pay your bills, why not siphon some of that into a savings program?”
Goldwasser said that while the company thinks of itself as a fintech, it is focused solely on financial institutions and not consumers. It is a fintech friend, he explained, not a fintech foe. It doesn’t operate like PayPal, for example, by helping the member to make a payment and then offering a savings product or credit card to the member, he said.
“When we talk about making payments smarter, we’ve hit a point where the technology is there, including with voice,” Goldwasser said. “We want to carry that through with the ability to say to Alexa, ‘What does my week look like?’ and Alexa says, ‘You have these five bills, do you want me to pay them?’ Or you don’t have enough money in your account do you want Alexa to transfer it.”
Goldwasser said Payrailz has worked to make the payments process as easy and intuitive as possible. Its solution is branded to the respective FI.
“Direct billers make it so easy. What if the credit union made it so easy and add to it that it’s one stop and you can see your whole portfolio in one place?” he asked.
The Suncoast CU rollout of the solution is planned for Q1 of 2019.