Pay My Bills

I am staying in a rented apartment in Zhuhai, a Chinese coastal city. The landlady collects CNY3,000 of cash for the rent every month. She also gives me a passbook which is used for GIRO by electricity and water companies. So I am supposed to deposit some money into that bank account to pay off the bills. On top of that, I am supposed to go to the property management office every month to pay management fee, shared electricity (such as those on the corridors) and top up stored-valued card for pipe-gas.

I am kind of frustrated with all this and that payment. Can't everything be consolidated in a single payment?

Advance in technology and payment process has resulted in at least electricity and water companies using GIRO to deduct payment from owner's bank account. But that is still not good enough. Real-estate agents should look beyond just collect commission from making a rent deal. They should look at complete rent management, much like serviced apartments! So every month I can view all payment details from one central location and only deal with one interface to pay off the rent and bills. I don't mind paying CNY50 service fee for that every month!

Singapore's AXS station is a good solution that combines secure ATM payment with online services. But it will be more valuable with integrated bill management features. Different companies charge their bills at different time of the month. How nice that everything can be paid at one go! Different companies also send out bills in different ways: American Express provides online PDF bill which saves me from receiving those heavy paper bills; StarHub has all bills online and yet still sends out paper bills, one each for Mobile, CableTV/Broadband, and Landline. OCBC Bank allows you to view bills online, yet still sending out paper bills. And what is frustrating is that I don't have an option to not to receive those bills! What the heck!

Some time ago, there is this paymybills.com, which has now become paytrust.com I think. It is a pretty nice idea. AXS station, together with complete bill management, is the way to go. And I think there is some bright future for this! Time to work on a business plan? Well, that's always my wish but I never have managed to complete one. Sigh.