Today, many consumers are looking for ways to make paying bills more convenient. And, chances are, many of them are your customers. Recurring payments — when your customer authorises you to bill a card account monthly, quarterly, or annually — can give them the convenience they want. Payment amounts can be fixed or fluctuate and payment agreements can exist indefinitely, providing the easiest way to ensure timely payment. And that also brings a host of benefits for you, including a significant competitive advantage.
Benefits to service providers
- Satisfy demand for payment card options
- Increase enrolment in e-billing
- Reduce payment-related customer service calls
- Improve cash flow and reduce exposure to lost payments and bad cheques
- Reduce delinquencies
- Improve collections
- Increase customer retention
Benefits to Cardholders
- Convenience of setting up account payments once
- Time savings from writing fewer cheques
- Relief from stress, knowing bills are paid on time
- Cost savings on postage
- Earning points/frequent flyer miles in eligible rewards programs
Learn more about recurring payments from MasterCard®
If you already accept MasterCard for payment, contact your acquirer (your merchant bank) to see how easy it is to start receiving recurring payments. Your acquirer has all the information you need to get started.
Save more by offering recurring payments
For cable and telecommunications service providers, the Service Industries Incentive Program (SIIP) provides a lower interchange rate on qualifying recurring payment transactions.
Keep card account data current
If you maintain card-on-file data for your customers' automatic recurring bill payments, you face the challenge of card payments that decline due to account changes that have not been communicated to you — with each billing period. Declines compromise revenue flow and are inconvenient to customers as well. They also increase your direct and indirect expenses by forcing you to contact customers for either updated account information or alternate payment arrangements.
The MasterCard Automatic Billing Updater helps to ensure uninterrupted payments for you and uninterrupted service for your customers by seamlessly updating card-on-file account information. It helps to build and maintain customer satisfaction.
With our online Service Provider Directory, customers can connect to you when you offer one-time or recurring payments using MasterCard. This directory provides exposure for your company and participation is FREE! MasterCard offers turnkey marketing support to help you build awareness and educate your customers about recurring payments. Our Selling Recurring Payments to Your Customers brochure explains how to target customers, offer incentives, and build relationships with recurring payment customers.
Contact your financial institution for more information on accepting MasterCard, starting a recurring payments program, or enhancing your current program.
Note: MasterCard has prepared this information as an overview of recurring payment transactions. The information is based on a variety of research projects conducted by MasterCard.
The data set forth above in this study is derived from information provided to MasterCard and is subject to certain limited verification by MasterCard. Certain information indicated on the study may not have been independently verified by MasterCard. All data is subject to revision and amendment by MasterCard subsequent to the date of the release of this study.