PayPoint is fast becoming a household name across the UK. The company offers businesses and other bill-issuing authorities a highly cost-effective solution for the collection of cash payments from consumers. Unlike other cash payment systems that focus primarily on mobile top-ups or a few utility schemes, PayPoint serves the customers of energy, telecoms, water, TV, cable, transport, and mobile telephony companies. These customers make 400 million visits each year to PayPoint terminals to complete payments worth over £5bn.

A significant proportion of UK consumers prefer paying in cash. Around 18 percent of adults still do not use bank or building society current accounts and recent research shows that many ‘banked’ consumers of all ages and social class also have an underlying preference for paying in cash wherever they can.

Versatility is a major strength of the PayPoint system. The multi-function terminal incorporates barcoded bills or documents, magnetic swipe cards, smart key and both contact and contactless smart card readers which make it compatible with every type of consumer payment identifier. For example, many pre-payment meter customers of electricity suppliers such as British Gas, EDF Energy, npower, Powergen, Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern depend on PayPoint for re-charging their smart keys or buying tokens, whilst those of Northern Ireland Electricity can also buy PINs for their keypad meters.

In March 2006, PayPoint became the sole provider of TV Licensing’s over-the-counter licence payment services across the UK. It was recognized that PayPoint outlets are normally open longer hours than Post Offices making payment more convenient and easier than before. Offering comprehensive coverage of both urban and rural areas, PayPoint continues to fill the gap left by Post Office closures.

Using a wealth of consumer postcode and payment pattern data, PayPoint has built a high quality, well distributed network of over 17,500 terminals in the UK. Since 1997, PayPoint has signed up the pick of local newsagents, convenience stores, supermarkets and garages, all carefully selected for their location, long opening hours, local popularity and financial stability.

For clients of the mobile phone companies including Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, O2, Virgin and Three who seek the maximum number of top-up points for their pre-payment customers, the network is continually being extended by the addition of retail outlets processing transactions via their EPOS systems at each till.

PayPoint’s daily polling of terminals, rapid overnight processing and prompt next-day transmission of payment files ensure that customers’ accounts can be updated within 24 hours of payments being made. This smooth operation regularly handles many hundreds of thousands of transactions a day, with ample additional capacity if required.

The collection and delivery of funds is equally well managed. Agents are direct debited every banking day and the resulting monies are settled gross to clients’ accounts four banking days later, or weekly if required. PayPoint currently settles over £5bn a year and possesses an enviable record in the payments industry for minimising bad debt as a result of its rigorous agent accreditation procedure and stringent credit control.

PayPoint has shown strong growth and demonstrated a commitment to extending and improving its services. It recently expanded into internet payment services, which will enable merchants to provide online shoppers with a secure payment service. PayPoint’s existing skills in transaction processing, retail and client management and focus on new payment technologies will allow it offer even more clients a broader range of services to meet their needs.

PayPoint’s new generation terminal is unique in its added ability to re-charge contactless smart cards for transport industry ticketless travel schemes. Its ‘simple’ and smart card ticket vending solutions have been trialled extensively and are variously in regular operational use with bus and coach service operators such as Arriva, First, System One Travel, Metrolink, National Express, Stagecoach and Lothian Buses.