NACHA issues final guidelines for use of QR codes for bill payment

NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association’s Council for Electronic Billing and Payment (CEBP) issued final guidelines for the use of Quick Response (QR) codes in consumer bill payment.  The guidelines, developed in collaboration with CEBP members and refined through industry input, describe the use of QR codes in a variety of bill payment functions such as viewing bills, making bill payments, enrolling for eBills and setting up payees in online banking.

“With the help of the industry, the CEBP has been able to develop a clear, implementable standard for the use of QR codes in consumer bill payment,” explains Chris Huppert, SVP of Wells Fargo and chair of the CEBP.   “It is our hope that these standards will help encourage QR code use for bill pay, and ultimately provide an easy option for check writers to view and pay bills electronically.”

Specifically, the QR Encoding for Consumer Bill Pay Guidelines identify voluntary standards for using QR codes in both biller direct and consolidator/aggregator billing and payment models. It contains recommendations regarding QR code size, data to be included in the QR code, and layout of the data represented in the QR code, among others.

The goal of the guidelines is to establish a single QR code format that can be printed on a paper bill and scanned by the consumer’s mobile phone using a biller, mobile banking or generic QR code reader. In this way, billers and service providers can enable QR encoding in a standardized format, providing certainty for biller and banking clients, and ensuring a consistent experience for consumers.

 “We see QR codes as a bridge to help our biller customers move their consumers from paper to electronic adoption,” continues Rich Langan, senior product manager with DST Output, a customer communications provider and CEBP member that helped spearhead the Guidelines development effort.  “With diverse participation from key industry verticals, the CEBP serves as a great venue for these types of standards efforts.”

For more information about the QR Encoding for Consumer Bill Pay Guidelines, visit the CEBP’s QR code resource page at https://cebp.nacha.org/QRcodes.

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