Do you find yourself interested in moving to another bill pay vendor, but the cost of de-converting early from your current bill pay vendor is weighing you down? No worries! There are solutions out there to help with this type of situation.

Why would you need dual bill pay vendors?

Typically, bill pay vendors require a contract to be signed and agreed upon if you are attempting to move to another vendor before your current contract is up. There may be an early termination fee as well as the original deconversion fees. So, if you find that this is the case, then it might be time to explore your options. One such option many vendors and CUSOs now support is allowing dual bill pay vendors. And taking advantage of this strategy can help eliminate costs and help your members transition into their new bill pay system.

How does it work?

But how does having two bill pay vendors work, and how do they benefit your members? With this system, one will act as your primary vendor – typically the new bill pay provider that you are planning to move to – and the other as your secondary vendor. The primary vendor is where all the new enrollments will be under, whereas the secondary vendor (which you don’t want to break a contract with quite yet due to deconversion costs) will retain all currently enrolled clients.

What this means is that only existing members currently enrolled with your old vendor will still be able to use their bill pay without noticing any changes (until you fully convert to the new primary), giving them a period of time to plan for the move over to the new vendor. Likewise, all newly enrolled members will be assigned to the new bill pay vendor, as there is little point in getting them used to a system that will shortly be phased out. However, it’s worth noting that if a member un-enrolls and decides later that they would like to enroll back into bill pay, well, they will be with the new bill pay vendor going forward, so they should be made aware of those changes.

Additional support for your members

This strategy will also allow your credit union more time to advertise and market the new bill pay vendor. You can provide an end date to your members on when they will be moved over to the new bill pay, giving them time to come to terms with the change. Your credit unions should also provide necessary marketing materials instructing your members on how to use the new system, along with materials to help with the transition.

One such document you could consider providing to your members would be a tracking sheet on which they write down all of their payees and current payments they have established (along with any that are recurring). Doing this will make it easier for them to move all their data from the old bill pay vendor to the new one, eliminating the need for data files to be exchanged between the two vendors, which in turn will save the credit union money.

However, depending on the processor, your members will still need to be unenrolled from their current bill pay vendor before the system will allow them to enroll into the new system. This will prevent any of your members being enrolled in both products and subject to multiple fees if your credit union charges for bill pay. Your credit union should also consider setting up appointment times for any members that may need more assistance moving over.

Your bill pay strategy is just as important as other strategies that your credit union implements. Credit unions are trying to save money wherever they can, while providing good service to their members with minimal impact. As previously mentioned, reach out to your core provider to discuss your options, and see if you can make a strategic plan to move forward.