There’s something about paying bills – the checkbook, the stamps, the envelopes, the taste of the adhesive – that just rubs me the wrong way. It isn’t even the money making a one-way march out of my account, that’s just inevitable. If I never had to deal with a paper bill again, my life would be happier.
My world may have just gotten a little rosier, as one company has just released a tool to make paying those paper bills possible by iPhone, Android and Blackberry.
Mitek Mobile has developed an app that lets you pay your bills by simply taking a picture of the bill you want to pay and verifying your payment information.
According to the demo video, the app scans the bill for basic information, such as address, company name and payment amount. It then allows you to verify the information before completing the transaction through your bank account.
As Mitek puts it, it sounds like the “easiest way to pay non-recurring bills”, but why not simply use your bank account? While paying bills like your electricity or Internet might be simple to automate through your bank’s website, it sounds like this app is for the random medical bill that insists on a check or money order.
For my money, I’d like to see individual apps like AT&T’s own iPhone app, which integrates bill payment with the ability to customize my account, manage my information and view my usage statistics. For the AT&T app, I was lured in with payment, but it’s everything else that’s kept me from calling up their customer service lines and using up their resources.
Mitek offers a number of other mobile apps that allow you to deposit checks, fax documents and more, all using your smartphone. Neat.
