Bottomline, a provider of financial technology that helps simplify payments, has supported the StepChange Debt Charity in the launch of the new Coronavirus Payment Plan (CVPP).
The CVPP is a debt management programme offered by StepChange Debt Charity, and created in consultation with the UK Government to help those in need amid COVID-19 challenges.
Lorna Allan, chief information officer of StepChange Debt Charity, highlighted that COVID-19 has created a period of widespread financial instability for households, with many people receiving unforeseen knocks to their finances.
Bottomline’s PTX payment platform is helping the StepChange programme to collect available funds from individuals, manage debt payment plans and associated official correspondence, and disburse the agreed payments as negotiated with creditors across the country.
“In a similar way to longer-term payment plans, StepChange will work with CVPP applicants to determine the number of creditors they have, what they owe, and what they are able to pay,” explained Allan.
StepChange will liaise with all creditors on behalf of the client, who will be required to make one single payment per month to StepChange as per their agreed plan for the next 12 months.
This will be with the option to leave or to switch to a different debt solution if their circumstances change during that period.
Nigel Savory, managing director of Europe, Bottomline, commented: “Setting up mandates, managing payment plans, and collecting or paying variable amounts on a recurring basis can be a complicated and time-consuming process, aggravated by potential fraud and manual error if not managed properly.”
According to Savory, Bottomline’s PTX payment platform provides a simple, smart and secure way to automate and ease that process.
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