Red reminders to be shown the red card

Two thirds (66 per cent) of Britons have received a ‘red reminder’ for payment of their bills with 63 per cent blaming forgetfulness new research from Lloyds TSB Internet banking reveals.

But, the red reminder could soon be a thing of the past thanks to Lloyds TSB’s revolutionary online ‘bill manager’ service.

The bill manager service gives Lloyds TSB Internet banking customers the ability to view all of their household bills in one place allowing them to pay, view and store ‘paperless’ bills online. Customers also receive email alerts when bills are due, removing the need for the dreaded red reminder.

Of those surveyed, nearly half (45 per cent) say they receive red reminders occasionally, 15 per cent have received one just once, but 6 per cent receive them frequently. A quarter of people who have had a red reminder drop on their doormat say that it makes them feel anxious while nearly a quarter (21 per cent) say that it stresses them out.

The main reason most people end up with red reminders is simply because they forget about the bill (63 per cent), nearly a quarter (22 per cent) say that their late payment is due to the bill arriving while they were on holiday while 13 per cent claim that they never received the bill in the first place.

While more than half (55 per cent) say they pay their bill as soon as the red reminder comes through their letterbox, over a quarter (27 per cent) wait for up to a week while 13 per cent drag out payment for up to a month.

Half of those surveyed said that they thought email reminders about their bills would help them to avoid late payment while 40 per cent said they’d like to be able to view and pay all of their bills via their Internet banking service.

Anita Hockin, head of Internet, Lloyds TSB said: “Nobody likes receiving a red reminder, it gives you the feeling you’re being told off! In the Internet age, there’s really no need for them and with our online bill manager service, their days will soon be numbered.

“The huge number of people who admit to having received red reminders proves that sometimes it’s a struggle to keep on top of paper bills. But with email alerts when bills are due and payments at the touch of a button soon customers will run out of excuses.”

The organisations which have so far agreed to allow bills to be viewed and paid through lloydstsb.com are:

Anglian Water
Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water
Bristol Water
Colchester Borough Council
EDF Energy Gas
EDF Energy Electricity
Essex and Suffolk Water
Lloyds TSB Cards
Nectar
Northumbrian Water
Sainsbury’s Energy Gas
Sainsbury’s Energy Electricity
South East Water
Southern Water
Sutton and East Surrey Water
Thames Water
TV Licensing
Wessex Water
Virgin Media

To find out more, or register for the bill manager service, which is available to all Lloyds TSB Internet banking customers, visit lloydstsb.com/billmanager

The technology behind Lloyds TSB’s Bill Manager service is provided in partnership with electronic bill management company, OneVu.