DALLAS & SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Convenience-store retailer 7-Eleven Inc. has partnered with financial services technology company PayNearMe to introduce the PayNearMe Bill Pay app, enabling U.S. consumers to pay more than 17,000 national and local billers with cash using a convenient barcode scan at participating 7-Eleven stores.
The PayNearMe Bill Pay app serves as a full-service bill payment center, allowing cash users to keep track of payment history, set reminders and securely pay their bills in under 60 seconds with one trip to their local 7-Eleven store.
Most of 7-Eleven's nearly 8,000 U.S. stores are open 24/7, allowing users with even the tightest schedules to easily and conveniently stay on top of their bills.
The range of billers that are payable include cable companies, utilities providers and insurance companies, as well as PayNearMe's existing merchants such as Greyhound and Indego, the city of Philadelphia's bike share program.
"Cash users are largely neglected in today's bank-based digital economy,” said Danny Shader, PayNearMe's founder and CEO. “By building a suite of easy-to-use financial services that are also easy for retailers to provide to their customers, we will make it possible for everyone to benefit from the convenience of digital transactions."
With money transmitter licenses already secured in all 48 states where they are required, PayNearMe expects to add national and regional retailers to its payment location network in the coming months. It also plans to add other financial services.
For retailers, the PayNearMe Bill Pay app offers a new way to provide additional value to customers, increase in-store traffic and attract new customers. The app's cloud-based technology gives retailers the ability to implement PayNearMe with minimal change to their existing systems.
7-Eleven is the first retailer to capitalize on PayNearMe's technology by partnering with PayNearMe to offer a co-branded app. Called 7-Eleven Bill Pay Operated by PayNearMe, the app features the same 17,000 national and regional billers as PayNearMe Bill Pay, but is marketed exclusively by 7-Eleven to its customers.
"7-Eleven Bill Pay app builds on 7-Eleven's portfolio of products and services that are affordable and convenient for financially underserved customers." said Raja Doddala, 7-Eleven's vice president of innovation and omnichannel strategy. "This app is one in a series of innovations that will take 7-Eleven stores from being convenience stores to 'convenient' stores."
Both the PayNearMe Bill Pay and 7-Eleven Bill Pay Operated by PayNearMe apps are available to download for free in the Google Play store or iTunes App Store.
A convenience fee applies, depending upon the biller and the size of the payment, but most of the time, it is approximately $1.99 per payment. Most payments are posted to the account within four business days, though many billers post payments the next business day.
"There is a lot of buzz around the potential of digital payments, but you can't push cash into a smartphone or a computer," said Shader. "We are digitizing cash transactions to make it easier for consumers to pay, for billers to accept and for retail partners like 7-Eleven to process."
PayNearMe is a technology company that offers consumers an electronic way to pay with cash using their mobile device. The PayNearMe Bill Pay app enables consumers to pay for cable and phone bills, insurance, utilities, rent, loans, and much more with cash. Consumers can pay bills on their own schedule, in their own neighborhood, in less than one minute at nearly 17,000 retail locations in PayNearMe's nationwide network, which includes 7-Eleven and Family Dollar stores.
Based in Dallas, 7‑Eleven operates, franchises or licenses approximately 10,500 convenience stores in North America. Globally, there are more than 56,600 7‑Eleven c-stores in 16 countries.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.