Similar to Pakistan, online shopping or e-commerce gained traction the world over because juggling between work and personal life has become something beyond challenging. Thankfully, the option of e-transactions offered by several banks in Pakistan and other depository services make it convenient for customers to take care of another important aspect of adult life — organising and paying various bills. Whether it is rent or house loan, internet, phone or TV cable, electricity, water, gas, or cellphones bills/top-ups, one of the benefits of paying bills online in Pakistan is saying goodbye to standing in long queues or paying penalties because of being late on a bill payment.
Types of Payment Methods Available in Pakistan
Several financial institutions offer various services to make online payments a smooth and convenient experience for their customers. Considering Pakistan, there are three main categories of payment gateways in Pakistan, including:
- Bank application
- Biller’s website or application
- Third-party services (for instance, EasyPaisa and JazzCash)
How to Switch to Online Payments in Pakistan?
No bones about it: paying bills online can be tricky for some people, especially for those who haven’t tried it before, as it involves a few tech-based steps. At times, when people are not particularly organised, let’s say, not really technologically gifted – they opt for paying manually assuming it is more accessible. But little do they know, it can be costly depending on the amount of time and fuel it takes to get to the billing departments – while there are no such expenses associated with online payments. To help you to switch to automatic payments in Pakistan, here’s a general guide:
- Check if the billing company has e-payment option
- Enter each deposit/bank account information into billing company’s bill payment tab
- Schedule payments or pay immediately
The payments can also be made using bank account application and other apps like JazzCash and Easypaisa.
Pro tip: To keep track of the upcoming payments, set reminders.
Now without any further adieu, let’s look into the benefits of paying bills online in Pakistan.
Proven Benefits of Paying Bills Online in Pakistan
Here’s a list of reasons why you should learn to make online payments in Pakistan and avoid getting charged for late payments:
- Convenient and Faster
- Simplifies Payment Process
- Safe and Secure Transactions
- Consolidates the Financial Record
- Ecologically Beneficial
Convenient and Faster
At times, people confuse online bill payments with drafting payments through bank accounts. However, the most popular way to make an e-payment is to use a mobile phone or any internet-enabled gadgets running Android or iOS. The convenience and speed of payments are among the reasons why people are rapidly switching to “click-and-pay” rather than writing a cheque and forgetting it on the counter-top.
As a matter of fact, online payments are convenient and faster than the traditional method, and they eliminate deferment – which can result in late charges. So, it only makes sense to go for automatic payments or online payments to make sure there are no outstanding bills on the counter-top longing to be paid before the due date. Another advantage of online payments is that they enable a user to schedule monthly payments through their bank account or any other depository services.
Furthermore, when all the payments become central, you do not have to wait in long queues at several locations and memorise multiple tasks to sort.
Simplifies Payment Process
Undoubtedly, paying bills online gives you better control over your financial situation since the method is extremely simplified, thanks to the many existing automatic payment services in Pakistan. The track of the payment and the status can be checked from anywhere in the world without digging into files or statements and losing track of time. Even if you’re travelling, you can schedule your payments and let the automatic payments option work its magic.
Moreover, considering the number of services we’re using monthly, it gets challenging for one person to make several transactions. Hence, paying bills using the internet becomes a gateway to set up outstanding payments, right from the comfort of your home. It requires no legwork (pun intended) and can be done within a few taps or clicks.
Consolidates the Record
Since online transactions enable users to keep all their payable bills at a single location, they can easily keep track of their monthly expenditures. Online payments also help a user to retrieve any financial information which is usually of great help when they’ve taxes payable. On the same note, you can manage your taxes online through FBR’s Tax Asaan App.
Another additional benefit of paying bills online is that it enables users to declutter bills, financial statements, and payment receipts in one fell swoop. There are quite a few payment services in Pakistan that allow customers to consolidate all their transactions at one place without having to pull out their cheque book/ATM card here and there. In such scenarios, third-party services could be the answer to all your prayers.
Safe and Secure Transactions
Paying bills online can assist individuals in the long run. Although each financial institution has its own set of rules, generally online transactions are ensured by implementing complete secrecy to user’s personal/financial information. Owing to such commitments, details like account number, passcode, user’s signatures, and other confidential details are never exposed to anyone.
Additionally, various methods are inculcated into bill payment services to keep the client’s data confidential such as encryption and programmed sign-off when online session remains idle for too long. To put it all together, it will be justified to say that online payments are much safer than paying manually, which intensifies the chances of identity theft — personal data is more vulnerable to fraud if it is on paper. Hence, people today are making transactions using mobile apps in every imaginable way – paying tuition fees, utility bills, postpaid bill, debts, rent, and anything else you can name.
Ecological Advantages
According to experts, there are many lesser-known ecological benefits of paying bills online. A research study suggests that by completely switching to electronic billing and online payments, an average household can save up to 3 kg of paper along with 77 kg of greenhouse gas emissions. Although the paper used in bills, receipts, and statements might seem trivial, by e-billing option, we can save our environment from many harms.
Also, even though paper can be recycled, often it is not, resulting in bills and receipts received from billing companies ending up in landfills. Even if the paper gets recycled easily, it is certainly less beneficial to the environment than simply cutting down the resources used in its making.
In a nutshell, when you sign up for online transactions and e-payments, you’re setting yourself up for financial success and saving the environment by going paperless, at the same time.
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