Western Union Sees Demand for Multiple Payment Options.(Western Union Commercial Services)

For many consumers, the days of paying bills by sitting at a dining room table one night a month and writing checks are all but over.

These days, many prefer to make payments electronically or via telephone services, and that is opening up new opportunities for companies like Western Union Commercial Services, which offers alternative payment options to mortgage lenders as well as creditors in other industries.

Western Union's alternative payment business focuses on helping creditors manage electronic bill payment and check drafting efficiently while managing risk associated with alternative payment delivery and collections.

"We have a big client base within the mortgage industry," said Brett Noser, vice president for alternative payments at Western Union Commercial Services. In fact, he says Western Union is the largest payment processor serving the mortgage industry.

Unlike some Western Union services, such as Swiftpay which has a large customer base within the telecom sector, the alternative payment division largely functions as a non-branded unit. In fact, consumers who are using an alternative channel for paying their mortgage loan may not even realize that Western Union is involved in the process.

Easy Pay, Phone Pay and Consumer Web Pay are Western Union's three offerings most applicable to the mortgage industry.

Easy Pay, usually used in the collection of delinquent accounts, allows customer service representatives to take payments from borrowers over the phone. Most often the call is initiated by a mortgage servicer's customer service staff.