If you think about it, the pre-internet era was barely 20 years ago. Our parents and grandparents must have had a field day paying bills back then.
So we put ourselves in the previous generation’s shoes and tried to imagine the things that they had to endure paying bills in a world that was not as connected as it is today.
After going through all the possible issues they ran into, we can’t help but kowtow to the person who invented the World Wide Web.
1) Waiting in line
Back in the day, whenever bills are due, people had to make their way to the biller offices to make payments. We all know what that means – get a number and wait for your turn to be called.
This is something that we still experience today because there are certain things that can only be done at the physical office, like opening a new banking account, applying for loans, renewing your IC or driver’s license, etc.
Now, can you imagine how it was like for the previous generation when they had to do all that, on top of paying their bills? The queue must have been insane!
The only way to get things done fast was to be one of the first people in line, which meant getting there super early, most likely even before the offices opened.
So thank you, internet.
2) System down
Oh, the two words we hate getting when we are trying to pay bills or to settle some serious business at the payment offices. It happens so often that it makes you wonder if ‘system down’ was just a keyword for certain people when they are too lazy for work.
We’re not trying to point fingers here. Cough.
If we face this even today, think about what our parents had to handle in the pre-internet era. The ‘system down’ would have taken ages to fix and they would have had to wait a lot longer or worse, waste more time looking for another office just to settle their bills.
So thank you, internet.
3) Transaction failure
When we were younger, we remember witnessing our parents issue more cheques than we do today. The most
Sometimes, people whose cheques have bounced may not be notified immediately because it takes at least three working days to process a cheque. So, what if your cheque bounces and you are only notified after your bill is due?
Die lah.
Then, you would have to drop everything and go all the way to the bill payment office again to see what is wrong, which brings us back to the first two issues we talked about.
So thank you, internet.
4) Access to bill payment offices
Another problem the previous generation encountered was having access to bill payment offices. Most people did not live near commercial centres like that, so commuting to those places alone would take a lot of time and energy.
The worse part was that there was no one-stop shop to pay everything. You would have had to make one stop at one payment office, one more stop at another payment office and then another pitstop to pay electricity bills.
Now, top it off with all the time spent just to look for parking at different locations, which is a never-ending nightmare for us.
So thank you, internet.
5) Not available 24/7
All the previous points we mentioned have led us to one major issue – these payment offices only operate during working hours on weekdays. So where does that leave people who are also working during those very hours? Don’t they have to pay bills as well?
Some had to resort to taking day-offs just to run errands and ugh… pay bills. What a waste of those precious leave days!
So thank you, internet.
6) Extra expenses
Last but not least, besides forking out money to pay bills every month, travelling to different payment offices and government offices also meant spending extra cash for petrol and parking. And of course, time is money!
So thank you, internet.
Don’t you feel grateful now that you can ‘adult’ more conveniently with the existence of internet banking and payment? In fact, bill payments have been made much easier with JomPAY!
JomPAY is a national bill payment scheme established and operated by Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet). This scheme allows you to pay any registered Biller via internet or mobile banking. You can even do so at the ATM by drawing funds from your Current, Savings or Credit Card accounts.
You may have noticed a JomPAY option at your respective bank’s websites now whenever you make a bill payment because the scheme is available at 40 banks nationwide and counting!
Now you have the liberty to pay anywhere, anytime without the hassle of waiting in line, and at zero cost! Just follow these easy steps:
- Spot the JomPAY logo and ‘Biller Code’ on your bill or invoices
- Log in to your internet or mobile banking and look for JomPAY
- Enter the JomPAY Biller Code, Reference Number and payment details with payment from Current, Savings or Credit Card account
- Confirm payment
- Add the Biller as ‘Favourite’