VISA Bills Mon, Aug 21, 2006
By Julia Spencer, CardTrak.com
Last year, Americans paid $89 billion in household bills, including electricity, cable TV, home and cell phone, insurance and rent with VISA debit and credit cards, about 25% above 2004. This week VISA has signed its largest electric utility system to-date offering the VISA payment option. OH-based FirstEnergy Corp. is introducing a fee-free program to offer an online payment option that enables customers to automatically pay their monthly electric bills with their VISA credit or check card. FirstEnergy serves 4.5 million customers. Operating companies include Ohio Edison, The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, and Toledo Edison in Ohio; Metropolitan Edison, Pennsylvania Electric and Pennsylvania Power in Pennsylvania; and Jersey Central Power and Light in New Jersey. Since 2000, bill payments on VISA cards has more than tripled.
| Consumer Bill Payments on VISA Cards | |
|---|---|
| 2000: | $25.1 billion |
| 2001: | $31.6 billion |
| 2002: | $39.9 billion |
| 2003: | $50.6 billion |
| 2004: | $71.4 billion |
| 2005: | $89.0 billion |
| Source: CardData (www.carddata.com) | |
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