When it comes time to pay the bills each month, there’s two types of people: the early birds and the strategic payers, aka the procrastinators. Historically, the early birds pay immediately because they want to make sure they don’t forget about the bill and that they’re not going to get slapped with late fees by unintentionally missing the due date. The procrastinators on the other hand wait until the last possible moment to pay their bills because if the bill isn’t due, why bother paying beforehand? With the addition of online bill pay offered by most banks, new challenges are introduced because often times the payer doesn’t have control over when the payment is actually sent. In many cases, these payments arrive late causing extra burdens on the staff explaining to customers why, although they think they paid their bill on time, the payment was received after the due date. Leaving water billing departments’ staff ready to scream!
This trend in accounts receivable leads to a surge of payments at the beginning and even a larger flood oa payments near the due date, with a vast lull in-between. This isn’t an issue for those who get paid electronically or who have online billing options, but what about water companies’ largest paying base those that send paper checks? This ebb and flow of payments can cause a headache for businesses like water departments who are primarily paid via check. Water departments need more employees to sort and process these checks at the beginning and end of the billing cycle, which means they end up understaffed at these times. As a result, employees are borrowed from other departments causing their work to pile up. Alternatively, they could end up with too many employees during the slow middle weeks of each month. In either case, the billing department isn’t operating as efficiently as it could be.
A solution that could save your business labor hours and streamline the way checks are processed is a Stub and Check imaging solution, aka a digital remittance processing solution. These systems are able to scan large volumes of payment stubs/coupons and checks in a fraction of the time it would take the average person. Our Stub and Check imaging software not only scans the checks, but also gathers and records payment information to get your payments posted faster and the money in the bank quicker. These systems can free up valuable time for employees in your billing department, and put an end to the fluctuations in labor many water billing departments experience.
F&E Payment Pros provides payment solutions specialized for water and utility departments because they understand the unique problems they face. Stub & Check Processing solutions are just one of many water payment solutions F&E has to offer. Check out this video to see how it works: