Pay your bill by taking a picture

Al Broberg pays his bills by taking out his smartphone, opening up his mobile banking app and snapping a picture of his bill. After those steps, he's done.

"It's just wow technology," he said.

Recommended Videos



"Wow technology" that experts predict will be digitally desired by smartphone users. In fact, a recent survey found 28 percent of consumers between the ages of 26 and 34 say they'd be likely to change banks to gain access to mobile photo bill pay.

"Photo bill pay is really in its infancy. It's a big thing you will see increasingly rolling out in 2014, 2015 and beyond. It's going to become a staple," said Mark Schwanhausser with Javelin Strategy & Research.

Right now, a small number of financial institutions are using mobile photo bill pay, and bankers report it's a high tech magnet for customers.

"The people who are using this really love it," said Gary Austin, Vice President of Operations and Payment Systems with Credit Union of America.

So how does just snapping a picture of a bill actually pay it?

"The bank is actually able to take that image and extract all of the information about the biller from the picture. So we can enable the customer to avoid having to type all that information into forms. Then, once the biller is set up the customer just has to confirm the amount, the date and send the payment," explained Chris Peper, Vice President, Mobile Channel Management with US Bank.

We found more photo payment options are coming soon: An app available now called Check will give anyone with a smartphone access to mobile photo bill pay, even if their bank doesn't offer it. Other programs will scan QR codes to pay bills.   But experts say to win over users, these apps have to be secure.

"Consumers won't try this stuff, these new things, these emerging technologies, unless they feel confident that it will be safe," Schwanhausser said.

Banks and app makers say the mobile technology has layers of security. Financial institutions already using mobile photo pay say, similar to remote check deposit, images are never stored in your phone, and using photo bill pay reveals less information than mailing a check. 

"If you think about what- the information that's on a physical check it has your name, address, sometimes your phone number and it always has your full account number and the routing number of your bank. So, really the less that you expose that type of information the safer you are," said Peper.

As for costs of using these products, experts say the jury is still out as to whether there will be fees as more banks adopt photo pay. The Credit Union of America, which is already using it, charges consumers 50 cents per bill to pay with their photo pay app. They say that's still cheaper than the cost of a check and postage.