Bills are as old as the hills (raise your hand if you grew up listening to Grandma say that one đđźââď¸)
In all seriousness, bills are not new. But doesnât something about them just feelâŚdifferent than it did 20 years ago?
The History of Bills
In the 2000s, you managed a handful of bills. Think rent, a car lease, credit card, phone bill, things like that. In the 2010s, subscriptions exploded in popularity. Suddenly, your monthly budget grew to include Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Doordash, and Tinder. Hey, weâre not here to judge if you did pay for a Tinder subscription. We just hope you found what you were looking for.
Today, that list of monthly expenses has expanded even further to include Buy Now Pay Later loans â or, as we like to call them, âthe new bill on the block.â
BNPL is a rapidly growing industry. Loans have increased by more than $22 billion from 2019â2021, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
What started as a simple solution for breaking up payments has become buy now, fly now, care now, marry now, get fit now, be a dog mom now and pay everything at a later date.
Not only can you buy more things with BNPL, you can also pay for them in different ways. Pay this in 4, but pay that in 12. Weekly payments here, but monthly payments there. Pay interest on this, but not on that. This has fees, but that doesnât. Mandatory autopay here, optional autopay there.
If youâre feeling the pain of BNPL and missing payments, or if youâre feeling like youâve taken on more debt than you can afford, you are not alone.
The world of bills, which now includes Buy Now Pay Later, has evolved and become even more chaotic. However, the tools to manage and pay those bills have not kept up.
Until now.
Introducing Cushion Bill Pay
Cushion Bill Pay has one goal: to give you more visibility and control over your bills than ever before.
Youâre probably saying, âOne goal!? Sure sounds like a big one.â
And youâd be completely right! Thereâs just a whole lot wrapped up into it. Consider it our gift to you. đ
With Cushion Bill Pay, you can now:
- âď¸ Consolidate all of your bills and BNPL loans, due dates, and purchase details in one place
- đ Track the status of your bills and BNPL loans, and get notified when payments have successfully processed or are at risk of being overdue
- đŽ Plan for future months and budget accordingly by reviewing which bills are coming down the pike
- ⯠Avoid overdraft fees by temporarily pausing bill payments that might overdraft your account and resuming payments when you are in a better cash position
Okay, weâll admit: Itâs a different type of gift. Think of it like that vacuum that your mom got you for your birthday last year. No one said it was the most exhilarating gift known to humankind, but it sure does come in handy as an adult whoâs just trying to adult a little better.
Here are four things that you need to know about Cushion Bill Pay.
1. It finds and organizes your bills
Cushion Bill Pay is the easiest (and only) way to manage and pay your bills, including BNPL, in one app.
There are personal finance apps out there that allow you to track or pay your bills, but they often have limitations. You can only manage certain bills, like medical bills or subscriptions, or you have to input all of your bill pay information manually.
With our sophisticated machine learning models, Cushion Bill Pay automatically detects the bills that you pay on a recurring basis and builds you a personalized dashboard. We organize them by bill type and due date so you always know what youâre paying and when your payment is due.
2. It tracks your due dates and payments
Speaking of due dates and payments, our system automatically knows when youâve made a payment. It then updates your dashboard accordingly so you can stay on top of your most urgent expenses.
Just as importantly, we notify you if a bill is at risk of being overdue. That way you can take the necessary steps to avoid an overdraft fee.Â
We also enable you to see into the future with a calendar view that projects just how much you will be paying on bills in the coming months. This will allow you to budget more efficiently. New Yearâs resolution? Yeah, you might actually have a chance of sticking to it this time. đ
3. It consolidates your Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)
Cushion Bill Pay brings all of your BNPL payments â including Afterpay, Klarna, Affirm, Sezzle, Zip, PayPal, and more â under one umbrella. That umbrella is called BNPL Connect.
Everything that you can do with your boring, old bills, you can do with your Buy Now Pay Later payments from the BNPL Connect tab in your app.
That includes viewing all of your loans in a single location, along with the due dates and amounts. No more going full-on Nicolas Cage in National Treasure in your email when you need to find some information about a payment.
4. It enables you to pay and pause bills
When you sign up for Cushion Bill Pay, we issue you a virtual card to put on file with your billers and BNPL providers. This is how you pay your bills through Cushion.
It is also how you pause them.
Say a bill is scheduled to come out this week but you donât get paid until next week. You need a little time to move money around or find the extra cash. Maybe youâve subscribed to a streaming service but youâre booked out for the next month and donât anticipate that youâll make use of the service.
You can pause all future payments through individual billers right from your Bill Center. When you are ready to resume payments, you can also do so from within the app. You must have your Cushion card on file with the biller in order to pause a payment.
Remember: If you pause a payment through Cushion, you may need to make arrangements to settle up in the future.
In Conclusion
Bills have evolved over the years, making them nearly impossible to manage. Cushion Bill Pay is a first-of-its-kind product that offers more visibility and control over your bills than ever before.
With Cushion Bill Pay, you can:
- Consolidate all of your bills and BNPL loans
- Track your bill payments
- Pause payments and resume them when youâre financially ready
- Plan for your financial future
