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U.S. Households Pay $925 a Year in Hidden Costs Associated With Paying Billsdoxo, the innovative web and mobile bill pay service, today released its newest doxoINSIGHTS statistical report: The Hidden Costs of Bill Pay - 2021. Each year U.S. households spend over $4.4 trillion on household bills, and almost $3 trillion on the 10 most common recurring ones. Staying on top of these bills is the single largest determinant for consumer financial health. The hidden bill pay costs - obscured in identity fraud, late fees, overdraft fees, and detrimental credit impacts - amount to an additional $119 billion annually, averaging $925 per household. These figures are considerably higher than they were for last year's Hidden Costs of Bill Pay Report, which showed that the hidden costs of bill pay had an overall market impact of $74 billion, and an average annual cost per household of $577. The steep increase in the cost of hidden fees was due to a growth in the gap in APR rates between people with high and low credit scores. While the financial benefit of having a 35-point credit score bump was $301 in 2020, it rose to $684 in 2021. In 2020, the difference in credit costs between prime and sub-prime credit scores increased substantially. This was most likely due to the higher unemployment rate and overall industry concern that those with low credit scores may not be able to service their debt. For example, the charge off rate for credit cards in 2020 climbed over 4%, the highest it has been in almost a decade. While the federal government substantially decreased interest rates in 2020 due to concerns over a sluggish economy, and the general credit industry responded with lower rates overall, the gap between the rates that a prime credit score received as compared to a sub-prime credit score widened in all 3 major lending categories: auto, mortgage, and credit card. doxo's report uncovers the concerns American consumers have about these hidden costs and quantifies the expense for the typical U.S. household. Breaking Down the $925 Consumers Pay in Hidden Costs Associated with Paying Household Bills: Analysis of consumer survey and statistical data shows the average U.S. household incurs $925 per year on additional hidden costs associated with bill payment, comprised of:
High Consumer Concern about Identity Theft and Credit Impacts Consumers are increasingly concerned about the variety of ways they get stuck with expenses when managing and paying their bills. doxo's survey of active household bill payers shows:
doxoPLUS Tackles the Hidden Costs of Bill Pay doxo's secure, all-in-one bill pay service facilitates secure payment to any biller, with any payment method, on any device - delivering payments from millions of paying users to tens of thousands of billers across the country. doxo users can now upgrade to doxoPLUS and receive five key Bill Pay Protections that directly address the hidden costs of bill pay: Private Pay™ Protection, Identity Theft Protection, Overdraft Protection, Credit Score Protection, and Late Fee Protection. Collectively, these protections reduce the hassle and anxieties of paying bills and improve household financial health. About doxoINSIGHTS doxoINSIGHTS leverages doxo's unique, aggregate, anonymized bill pay data comprised of actual bill payment activity to confirmed household service providers across the country. doxo bill pay statistics bring together the broadest available data set for analyzing actual household payment activity, pulling from over 6 million paying consumers across all more than 30,000 US zip codes. doxo's payment network covers over 100,000 billers in 45 different service categories and enables payments using bank accounts, credit cards or debit cards. This uniquely broad statistical foundation powers doxoINSIGHTS reports - uncovering key trends for household financial and bill payment behavior. About doxo doxo provides simple, secure all-in-one bill payment to any biller, with any payment method, on any device. For consumers paying through a linked bank account on doxo, bank payments made on doxo are free. A doxoPLUS subscription adds five essential financial protections that boost household financial health. Through these services, doxo currently serves over six million paying users who can make payments to over 100,000 local and national businesses, making doxo the largest bill pay directory in the nation. Billers on the network get paid directly, fast and free - and consumers have complete bill pay independence over when and how they pay their bills. doxo expanded its user base by more than 70 percent in the past year and is expanding its team to further accelerate growth and change the bill pay landscape to focus on the customer. doxo investors include MDV, Sigma Partners, and Bezos Expeditions. doxo is based in Seattle, WA.
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