BellSouth Adds $1 Fee for Customers Who Pay in Person

Jun. 18–For more than 10 years, BellSouth paid retailers to take customer payments. But for some retailers, the amount that BellSouth paid wasn’t worth the trouble, and luring more payment sites became difficult, said Laura Gandolfo, a BellSouth spokeswoman.

So when the Atlanta-based telephone giant centralized its bill collection systems last year, it contracted its pay-in-person service in several states to American Payment Systems, which began charging the service fee June 1. The company splits the fee with the retailer that accepts the payment.

About 18 percent of BellSouth’s 44 million customers, or 7.92 million people, pay in person. For now, the fee only applies to Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee customers and is levied anywhere that payments are immediately credited to accounts.

Some customers at the Five Points Western Union in downtown Atlanta didn’t seem to mind the charge.

“It’s just more convenient” to pay in person, said Brandy Beavers, who lives in the Five Points area. “A lot of times I’m late with my bill and don’t want my phone to be cut off.”

APS already works with 500 retailers across the country; its clients include AT&T and Verizon. BellSouth and APS agreed to the fee this year.

“The fee lets them expand to have more locations, and to have shorter lines at existing locations,” said Gondolfo. APS plans to double the number of stores that will take BellSouth payments in the four states where the fee has been initiated, said Steven LaBella, director of bill payment services for APS.

BellSouth isn’t alone. In some cases, retailers that accept payments for AT&T and Verizon charge a fee of up to $1.

Other companies, including some mortgage and automobile finance firms, charge a fee for making a payment over the phone with a check or credit card.

Still, the additional charge has raised concerns among consumer advocates.

Those more likely to pay their phone bills in person “tend to be lower-income people who don’t have credit cards or access to the Internet,” said Mark Cooper, director of research for the Consumer Federation of America. “The irony is that those who pay a higher price are least likely to afford the service.”

BellSouth doesn’t agree. Paying in person “is attractive to a wide variety of people,” said Stephanie Landry, director of collections management at BellSouth. “It’s a convenient thing to drop in and pay a bill on the way to work.”

Customers such as Beavers welcome the convenience but not the extra charge.

“It’s just a dollar,” said Beavers. “Still, I don’t think it’s really necessary.”

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