A recent iPhone app dubbed Plastiq allows users to pay for bills using their credit or debit card by simply taking a photo of the bill.
The developers note that paying bills is "as easy as taking a selfie" when you use Plastiq and the coders worked hard to offer users a procedure that can compete with a bank's online bill pay capability.
It should be noted that Plastiq's unique selling point is that it permits bills to be paid with plastic - which makes users independent of drafting money from their bank account.
Plastiq expects that its main pool of clients will be formed of card owners who find it convenient to have all bills paid via a particular card. A part of the customers might also want to purchase goods and services with credit cards, thus gathering reward points.
Users do not need to have a Plastiq account to tap into the app's potential, as they can use it from their mobile devices by simply supplying their email address. The next step is to take a phone photo of the invoice or bill, leaving the app to dive into the details and analyze things such as due date, amount owed and your account information.
Two options are available: paying on the spot or saving the payment for a later date.
The second feature comes in handy when you add the bill to your virtual "bill stack." This is a section of the app which centralizes your purchases and notifies you when the payment is nearly due.
The notifications roll out a few days before the due date, but users also get the option of last-minute payment. The advantage of having multiple options makes sure you seldom chip into the debit account, or if you use credit cards, you may benefit from higher ranges.
The Plastiq mobile app is currently available for free on iOS only and it works in Canada and the United States. The firm actually deployed the app in Canada first and launched the web service for the U.S. during 2015.
The app plays nice with the three major credit card companies, namely Visa, American Express and MasterCard. Another notable detail is the convenience fee that the startup charges: 1 percent for debit card transactions and of 2.5 percent for payments using credit cards.
It remains to be seen if services such as Android Pay and Apple Pay will borrow some ideas from Plastiq.
