Bill payment vertical in Fintech ecosystem is dumb!

So, I started using Cred a while ago for paying my credit card bills. But I’ve been using Paytm for ever (like most people) and IndMoney for tracking overall financial health.

Just this month I paid my electricity bill using Cred. Few days ago, suddenly Paytm sent me a notification claiming I’ve just 2 days left to pay my bill. Fat Li.

I honestly had forgotten the cycle and assumed it was a new bill. Before paying though it struck me to cross check.

False alarm. On checking I found that I had paid my bill on 10th of the month whereas it’s okay to pay till 24th or whatever.

What’s happened?

Some smart folks got together and said we need to increase retention. In the pursuit of this goal, they thought monthly bills (CC, Electricity, Mobile, Rent etc) would be a great way to get the customer back on the app consistently (not incorrect).

While they do a great job at telling us what we haven’t paid they are not remotely smart enough to figure out if we have already paid our bills. Wow.

1. If I pay a bill using CRED, both Paytm and IM will keep sending reminders on how my bill is still pending.

2. If I pay through my bank directly then all 3 will cry and send reminders.

Reminder message mein innovate kar rahe hain app mein nahi. They expect we go on to every app and manually mark the bill as paid. Waah! Nai kiya toh? REMINDER bhejunga!

Bhai meri life. Meri Marzi. I’ll use different apps to pay my bill every month. You fucking build something smart so that I decide to ditch everyone and pick you.

Everyone is just a ‘me too’ service giving headless 2 rupee, 5 rupee cash back. Nai chahiye bhai woh bhi. Khud Rakho and FD karwa lo.

Anyone else feel me?