Cash Moves Out, Disbursements Settle Into The $18B Moving Market

Whether collecting fares as an Uber driver, an insurance claim as a homeowner or payment as a gig worker who just finished moving someone’s belongings, people want to get paid as quickly as possible. For these parties, the rise of disbursement solutions are enabling payments to be delivered shortly after they are authorized.

However, disbursements aren’t just enabling payments to be made faster. The new Disbursements Tracker explores how faster payment platforms are causing a shift in consumer attitudes toward their finances, while making older payment methods — including cash, checks and ACH transfers — less relevant.

Around the World of Disbursements

With the launch of Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP), disbursements are seeing a big uptick Down Under.

Among the earliest solutions to become available on NPP was Osko, from electronic bill payment solution provider BPAY, enabling users to make near real-time payments. Users have made approximately 1.9 million Osko payments weekly since the service became available, with the total transaction amount valued at over $66 billion AUD ($46.8 billion USD). BPAY also noted that two out of every five payments are made between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., a sign that Australian residents are conducting more business outside traditional banking hours.

U.S. consumers appear to be growing more comfortable with real-time disbursements as well. A recent study of 2,538 adults found approximately 144 million U.S. consumers made at least one peer-to-peer (P2P) payment in 2017, and 67.7 million made at least one mobile P2P payment. However, while consumers appear to be more interested in using P2P payments, there is room for improvement. A separate report found more than half of consumers who received P2P payments could not access their funds within 30 minutes of receiving them.

Other new solutions are helping businesses pay their partners more easily. American Express (Amex) and Bill.com recently collaborated on a new disbursement platform known as American Express Vendor Pay by Bill.com. The new service provides Amex’s Express Business and Corporate Card members with a central platform to manage digital B2B payments using Bill.com.

Deep Dive: Digitally Disbursing Funds When Disasters Strike

Natural disasters — including hurricanes, wildfires and winter storms — caused approximately $91 billion in damages last year. Such disasters require quick assistance, and local communities cannot afford payment delays. This Tracker’s Deep Dive outlines how government agencies like FEMA use disbursement tools to digitally deliver funds to residents impacted by a major disaster.

How Disbursements are Moving Movers Toward Professionalism

Workers in the gig economy also want to receive faster access to their money. This includes movers who help millions of Americans move properties each year. Yet, even in an $18 billion moving market, it’s still common for workers to get paid in cash for their services — or even in pizza and beer. In this month’s feature story, Alani Kuye, CEO of on-demand moving platform Phlatbed, explained how disbursements are taking cash out of moving transactions and elevating the professionalism of movers in the market.

About the Tracker

The PYMNTS Disbursements Tracker, powered by Ingo Money, is the go-to resource for staying up to date on a month-by-month basis on the trends and changes in the digital disbursement space.