Direct Billing Vs. In direct billing, the biller hosts the information on its own Web site. Customers must log on to the Web site to access their statements and initiate the payment. The biller must also build the application and infrastructure to let customers access and pay bills online-or contract with a service bureau to do it. With the consolidator model, a third party handles the billing process for multiple billers.
Customers log on to the consolidator's Web site to access their statements and initiate payments.
There are different types of consolidators. In some cases, the consolidator presents the customer with just the bottom-line information, requiring the customer to link back to the biller's site for the detailed information. This is known as a thin-consolidator model. In the thick-consolidator model, the consolidator hosts all information about a bill, and the biller and the customer never come in contact. It's advantageous for the biller because the entire process is outsourced.