Citi's 1.5 million-plus customers will still be able to pay their bills over the telephone or through their PCs.
"Electronic bill payment is one of our most popular services, but our research showed that most customers used it through Citibank Online," Citibank spokeswoman Maria Mendler told the New York Post. She said that just 1 percent of Citibank's customers ever used an ATM for bill payment.
Citibank in June joined Spectrum EBP LLC -- a consortium founded by Chase Manhattan, First Union and Wells Fargo -- that will allow customers with PCs to both receive and pay bills online. Union, N.J.-based Spectrum serves as a hub that allows utilities and others to route eletronic bills through a Spectrum switch to the home banking sites of participating financial institutions.
According to a May 31 report in American Banker, 22 banks had become affiliated with Spectrum or had signed letters of intent to do so.
