Mobile bill payments platform Sniip is allowing customers to pay their bills using American Express or Apple Pay after building a unique connection with BPAY.
The innovative service was made possible using BPAY Group’s open access and collaborative approach to new partnerships. This will cut the time and cost of connecting with the popular payment service.
“BPAY has opened up their tech capability to allow partners like us to create a superior user experience for customers wanting to access the BPAY biller network and its payment rails,” says Sniip CEO Damien Vasta.
For Sniip, it means that customers can still accrue reward points when paying bills on any credit card. The bill payment is ultimately routed through the lower cost BPAY network, which includes more than 60,000 billers. They can also choose to pay with their bank account and pay no transaction fee.
“We give the customer a choice at the front-end of the transaction as to how they want to pay. The best part is that while we are giving customers that flexibility, it does not cost the biller. The payment is arriving to the biller through BPAY in the same way that it would normally be received via a bank,” said Vasta.
Control and flexibility
It gives customers even greater flexibility to choose the account or card they want to pay bills with, on top of the control they already enjoy with BPAY.
While around 20% of consumers use direct debit to pay bills[i], there are many frustrations felt by consumers. This includes needing to update card details when they expire and getting charged more than they expected[ii].
Sniip brings the control of BPAY into one app that is not tied to a single banking institution, which may limit bill payments to its own bank accounts or a linked credit card.
“We started out thinking we needed to be an alternative to BPAY. But we realised that BPAY is just so ubiquitous and trusted by customers that we need to embrace and collaborate with them,” says Vasta.
Sniip initially launched in Queensland in 2015. But its recent decision to partner with BPAY increased the number of billers it could accept to over 60,000 and potential access to an extra 1.5 million daily bill payments.
Sniip continues to build new features
BPAY Group launched a range of APIs in 2019 and to date more than 60 companies have already used the APIs to bring the BPAY service to their customers.
“BPAY APIs are critical. It won’t be where the Sniip product ends, but it’s certainly where the product starts and where we want to really make an impact,” said Vasta.
Sniip also offers customers enhanced features. These include the automatic importing of a bill from an email account, payment scheduling, reminders, and comprehensive receipt storage. Customers can scan their bill with the app rather than manually entering the BPAY biller code and reference number. Sniip allows customers to pay securely via face ID, fingerprint or PIN.
Sniip said it plans to include new bill payment options beyond popular credit and debit cards. This will potentially include loyalty points, bill smoothing finance (Buy-Now-Pay-Later), and cryptocurrencies. Several other innovations are also being developed to make life simpler for businesses. This will include being able to send invoices and customers being able to pay them via Sniip.
“One of the most exciting features that we’re going to be rolling out shortly is BPAY View, which will be the first time it will be made available within a ‘bank agnostic’ bill payment app,” said Vasta.
“This means that all BPAY View-enabled billers will be available to Sniip customers. They will be able to receive household bills digitally and make payment with one click,” he added.
Published by BPAY Pty Ltd (ABN 69 079 137 518) email: marketing@bpay.com.au. The BPAY Scheme is managed by BPAY Pty Limited. When you use BPAY payment products, the BPAY Scheme is paid fees relating to processing costs and BPAY Scheme membership. Contact your financial institution to see if it offers BPAY payment products and to get the Product Disclosure Statement. Any financial product advice provided by BPAY Pty Limited in relation to BPAY payment products is general advice only and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on such advice, you should review the Product Disclosure.
[i] RFI Payments Diary 2020 [ii] RFI Digital Banking March 2021
Hate paying bills, either because you forget them, prefer to avoid direct debits, or don’t like to manually enter the details each time?
If so, you could consider downloading the mobile payments platform Sniip, a rather unique app that’s aiming to make paying bills quicker and easier for Australians.
What is Sniip?
Sniip is a mobile app which allows bills to be digitally-scanned, stored and paid for via the app. Essentially, Sniip can scan the bill’s BPAY biller code, generating a digital bill that can be paid for through the app with the user’s stored payment method such as a credit or debit card. This saves the user from the tediousness of having to enter the biller code and account number manually, with Sniip boasting that the app lets you pay a bill in under 20 seconds.
Initially launched in Toowoomba back in 2014 by Founder and CEO Damien Vasta, Sniip has since established partnerships with Australia Post, BPAY, and also American Express. The app is unique as it is the first mobile payment solution to sit outside of the banking sector.
Customers can register to have all future bills sent straight to the app, such as:
Energy bills
Phone and internet bills
ATO tax bills
Rent and body corporate payments
Insurance – car, health, home and contents etc.
School fees
Rates and water
Car registration and more.
Sniip can connect with every financial institution and biller in Australia, and according to Mr Vasta, it represents the first real change to the payments landscape since BPAY decades earlier.
“When BPAY was introduced in 1997, its centralised online bill payment capabilities revolutionised bill payment for Australian consumers practically overnight,” he said.
“This new partnership and its bank and card-agnostic solution is designed to enhance this capability by providing Australians with a fast, simple, and seamless means to pay any bill through any bank and using any type of mobile.”
Essentially, Sniip was designed to minimise the number of steps required for a customer to pay and manage bills.
“The process is cumbersome and time-consuming and often very restrictive. We thought ‘if you can walk into a store and tap your phone or card against the terminal and make a quick payment, then why can’t you do something of an equivalent nature against a piece of paper that is your bill?’” Mr Vasta told Savings.com.au.
“We want to be the default bill payment app for every single Australian bill.”
While it’s still some way off that ambitious goal, Sniip has so far acquired about 43,000 users and is growing by about 100 customers per day. In March 2021, $12 million worth of bills were processed through the app.
“We don’t profess to make bill payments fun. What we say is we make them less unpleasant,” Mr Vasta said.
While it might sound complicated, the easiest way to describe Sniip is to say it aggregates all payment and bank networks into one central place and lets you pay your bills from there. This means that with Sniip, you can also pay with whatever card or bank you like for whatever bill you like, regardless of any restrictions that normally exist.
“We consider ourselves to be the first customer-centric bill payments platform in the market, certainly from a mobile point of view,” Mr Vasta said.
“What if a customer has multiple accounts across different institutions and they want to switch between them in order to make a payment from one month to the next for the same biller? That’s not customer-centric, that’s bank-centric.
“We’ve aggregated the billers through BPAY and we’ve aggregated the payment sources because you can use a debit card from any institution, you can use a credit card of any kind.”
How can you use Sniip?
Sniip is available to download on either Android or Apple phones from their respective app stores and is also compatible with Apple Pay (Google Pay is planned). It’s available on iOS devices 10 or later and Android versions 6.0 or later, and can be accessed via PIN, Touch ID and Face ID logins.
Is Sniip secure?
Sniip is secure to use, encrypting and safely storing all personal data. Credit/debit card information is only sent to verified third parties at the time of purchase. Once you make a payment, the app requires you to verify your identity with your PIN or ID login.
Can you earn rewards points with Sniip?
According to Sniip’s website, credit card users can still earn exactly the same number of rewards points they would earn through regular purchases and payments. Sniip also has a direct partnership with American Express, enabling Amex customers to access the American Express Offers Program for special discounts and cashback offers.
“Amex is the best at rewarding customers for making payments with their card, and an Amex customer typically has the money to pay that bill, but they want something more for that payment than just being able to actually give someone their money,” Mr Vasta said.
“We’ve opened up that whole Amex market to customers who want to not just buy things but pay for things with an Amex, and most billers or their bank don’t allow that.
“We’ve aggregated the whole BPAY biller network for those customers so that, irrespective of whether the bill allows an Amex payment or not or whether you can pay BPAY with an Amex in your banking app Sniip makes that all possible.”
American Express cards are typically charged a higher credit card surcharge, but because of Sniip’s partnership with Amex, it claims it can offer a surcharge of 1.5% (now 1.29% as at 1 March, 2023).
“We consider it to be the most attractive fee for an Amex card payment in the market when it comes to paying a bill.”
What features does Sniip have?
Aside from those already mentioned (bill consolidation, secure payments, and a central location for credit card reward points), Sniip also offers a variety of features like:
Automatic bill scanning (it can even read your emails and pull bills from there)
A transactions history showing all past bills and payments
PDF and document storage
Schedules, reminders, and push notifications, to help you never forget a bill
Sniip lets you upload bills straight from your email or PDF file. Source: Sniip
“Why would someone use Sniip over their bank? Because they have choice,” Mr Vasta said.
“They can go from one bank to the next, from one card to the next; they can schedule a bill to be paid on the due date and not a day before, they can schedule the bill to make sure that they never miss an early payment discount or pay a late fee, they can pay it on the spot if they want to.”
Sniip does not charge any personal fees for customers to use it; the only costs incurred are those charged by the bank or credit card company for making payments, such as a surcharge. It’s also free to download.
“We want to be everything that you can do through a bank but more. If you’re not interested in a credit card and you want to use a debit card, it will cost you nothing to use Sniip,” Mr Vasta said.
In fact, Sniip could actually save you money, whether that’s through no longer paying late fees, or by eliminating paper bill fees. These fees are commonly charged by phone, internet and energy providers, such as:
AGL: $1.75 per bill
Origin: $1.75 per bill
Energy Australia: $1.69 per bill
Elysian Energy: $3 per bill
Optus: $2.20 per bill
Telstra: $2 per bill
Automating your payments through Sniip can help you avoid these.
Who can benefit the most from using Sniip?
Mr Vasta says Sniip has identified three key profiles of people who can benefit the most from Sniip:
The ‘Points Hunter’
The ‘Life Juggler’
The ‘Figure Out-er’
But According to Mr Vasta, Sniip has got something to offer every bill payer in Australia.
“We’ve built a platform that now is what I consider to be state of the art. You can use a debit card from any institution, you can use a credit card of any kind,” he said.
“We’re talking about minimising the number of steps required for a customer to pay a bill and giving them the ultimate choice as to how they pay.
“Order where there’s otherwise chaos: one central repository for receiving and paying.”
The ‘Points Hunter’ The points hunter isn’t an exclusive demographic to Sniip, but Mr Vasta says they’re someone who can get a lot of value out of it. Points hunters are those who use their credit cards for as many payments and bills as possible in order to maximise their rewards and frequent flyer points.
“They want to be able to get some type of reward for their spending, and that’s what the whole loyalty scheme mentality is about: because they feel as though they’re going to spend that much money, they would like something in return,” Mr Vasta said.
“If credit cards are used responsibly, they can still be an effective tool for managing finances.”
A common roadblock points hunters run into is not being able to use their card for certain things or not earning as many rewards points on some purchases – particularly Amex users. By consolidating every payment into Sniip and bypassing these restrictions, rewards card fans can potentially get better value from their plastic.
The ‘Life Juggler’ The life juggler is another type of user that is simply too busy to manage all their finances manually, and who uses Sniip simply because “it gives them order in their life”.
“They’ve got a busy home life, they’re juggling family, they’re juggling kids, they’re juggling their own work, they’re juggling all of the issues associated with managing that work-life balance,” Mr Vasta said.
“But yet when you receive an email bill with a static PDF attachment that doesn’t actually connect you to a payment, it’s something you put to one side because it requires time, and time is something that life juggler has very little of.
“So Sniip is designed to minimise the amount of time required to pay and to manage a bill. Once the bill comes in with Sniip you can schedule it to be paid on the due date and never have to worry about it again.”
Some of the other features Sniip has, like record-keeping and reminders, can also help bill jugglers get by more easily.
The ‘Figure Out-er’ The figure out-er is the final key user, and they’re more of the new breed of bill payer: someone who expects paying to be easy and flexible.
“To them, the whole ability for people to actually pay is generally mobile intuitive, so they say: why is it that we’re asked to be doing so much manual entry of digits in order to affect banking payments?” Mr Vasta said.
“They need to know it’s secure but they need to make it quick, and Sniip makes bill payments quick.”
Outside of these three groups, Mr Vasta said Sniip had seen unexpected success with elderly Australians and even some customers with disabilities. March 2021 data from Sniip shows 13% of its customers were over 65.
“That tells me that we are easy to use, and I believe that generation is actually more comfortable with a smartphone than they are with a PC,” he said.
“This whole user friendly, intuitive smartphone era has allowed them to actually start using technology in a very easy to use, understandable manner.
“We’ve even got some people who suffer from dyslexia that actually like using our app because they don’t have to worry about getting the numbers in the wrong order, whereas they’d have to manually enter them otherwise.”
Are there any negatives to using Sniip?
Perhaps predictably, Mr Vasta said he “doesn’t see any downside to using Sniip”.
“It’s an alternative payment option: it’s mobile, it’s cheaper than the others, it’s easy for us to implement and it shows that we’re being innovative and we’re responding to the shift from a desktop environment to a mobile environment.”
While it’s not surprising the founder would say such a thing, it’s hard to argue with his assessment.
Although still small, Sniip can already be used by pretty much anyone from any bank or credit network, is free to use (and in the case of American Express can actually be cheaper to use), and aims to make paying bills easier. For some users, it could actually let them pay their bills where they couldn’t before.
To nitpick, one potential issue that could arise from using Sniip is potentially spending too much with a credit card for the sake of points, particularly if it’s a high-interest card. Another is you could end up relying on it too much, so if anything were to ever go wrong, having to pay a manual bill again could prove difficult.
But those are stretching it. Sniip seems to go out of its way to responsibly consolidate people’s bills and make payments easier for them in a secure way.
Savings.com.au’s two cents
Savings.com.au regularly highlights apps that help people with their money, and Sniip so far appears to be one of the best of them. In an increasingly digital world, staying on top of bills and money can be difficult and frustrating, so an app that manages these for you sounds like a great idea.
FinTech Australia has announced the 2021 finalists for its annual “Finnies” award. According to an email, the group received 290 award entries across 20 categories. The category winners will be announced in person this year on June 9, 2021, at The Forum in Melbourne.
FinTech Australia CEO, Rebecca Schot-Guppy, stated:
“We are thrilled with the quality of applications and the finalists, a testament of the growth, and strength of the Fintech ecosystem. We are excited to celebrate the hard fought achievements of the ecosystem at this year’s Finnies.”
For 2021 the group will announced its inaugural Hall of Fame inductees to commemorate two companies that have made a lasting impression on the Australian Fintech industry’s overall development.
This year’s finalists are as follows:
BEST WORKPLACE DIVERSITY Adatree Bizcap Brighte CampaignAgent Fupay loans.com.au TRAction
EMERGING FINTECH LEADER OF THE YEAR Alex Harper, Swyftx Belinda Hogan – 86 400 Ivan Tchourilov, OpenMarkets Group Jessica Joyce, Fupay Jill Berry, Adatree Patrick Coghlan, CreditorWatch Rhys Davis, Fresh Equities Stephanie Gillon, Flare
FEMALE FINTECH LEADER OF THE YEAR Carolyn Breeze, GoCardless Jessica Joyce, Fupay Jill Berry, Adatree Joanne Edwards, WISR Jodi Stanton, Rush Gold Naby Mariyam, Coverhero Natalie Dinsdale, Athena Home Loans Simone Joyce, Paypa Plane
OUTSTANDING FINTECH LEADER OF THE YEAR Alex Harper, Swyftx Ben Williamson, Fresh Equities Carolyn Breeze, GoCardless Christian Westerlind Wigstrom, Moonova Clayton Howes, MoneyMe Group John Winters, Superhero Katherine McConnell, Brighte Simone Joyce, Paypa Plane
EXCELLENCE IN ESTABLISHING MARKET PRESENCE: GLOBAL Openpay Group Limited Rush Gold Verrency Wallet of Satoshi
EXCELLENCE IN INDUSTRY COLLABORATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS Fillr Flare Fupay Look Who’s Charging MoneyMe Perks – Freestyle virtual Mastercard & Cashrewards CampaignAgent Rush Gold Bullion Mastercard by Rush Gold and EML Payments Sniip partners with American Express and Apple Pay
EXCELLENCE IN BUSINESS LENDING Banjo Loans Business Fuel Butn GetCapital Prospa OnDeck Australia Radium Capital Valiant Finance
EXCELLENCE IN CONSUMER LENDING Athena Home Loans Brighte Fupay loans.com.au MoneyMe Ltd Tic:Toc Wisr 86 400 smartbank
EXCELLENCE IN PAYMENTS (including Remittance/FX) DiviPay GoCardless Medipass Monoova Split Payments Verrency Wise Zip
EXCELLENCE IN BLOCKCHAIN/DISTRIBUTED LEDGER AgUnity Pty Ltd BOULEVARD Global Ltd. CommChain Pty Ltd Hutly Meeco Oxen Pellar Technology RelayPay
EXCELLENCE IN CRYPTO AND DIGITAL CURRENCIES/WALLETS/EXCHANGES Binance Australia Cointree Dacxi Australia e-Pocket Pty Ltd Elbaite Independent Reserve Swyftx Wallet of Satoshi
EXCELLENCE IN INSURTECH Coverhero Digital Agriculture Services (DAS) FreightSafe Open Insurance uBind UpSure – Innovators Insured
EXCELLENCE IN REGTECH Adatree Arctic Intelligence ComplyAdvantage Fenergo FrankieOne LAB Group TRAction
EXCELLENCE IN SUPPORT SERVICES CreditorWatch Online Credit Risk Services eftpos Payments Australia Limited King & Wood Mallesons K&L Gates Startupbootcamp Australia 2020 Program Stone & Chalk The Fold Legal UK Department for International Trade
EXCELLENCE IN OPEN DATA Adatree Basiq Biza.io Platform: Envestnet | Yodlee Frollo
DEAL OF THE YEAR NextGen.Net & Frollo Quadpay & Zip Rakuten Inc. & Fillr Wirecard Australia and New Zealand & Change Financial 86 400 & National Australia Bank Limited (NAB)
BEST PARTNERSHIP OF THE YEAR Adatree and Verifier Athena Home Loans and PwC Australia BOQ and Frollo CreditorWatch and Open Analytics Partnership Rush Gold and EML Payments SISS Data Services and Intuit QuickBooks Superhero and Split Valiant Finance and Australia Post
EMERGING FINTECH ORGANISATION OF THE YEAR Adatree Beforepay Brickfloor FrankieOne OpenMarkets Group Superhero WeMoney 86 400 smartbank
FINTECH ORGANISATION OF THE YEAR Athena Home Loans Fresh Equities Monoova Prospa Tic:Toc Up Verrency Wisr
BREAKING: Mobile bill payments platform, Sniip today brings its customers Apple Pay, a safer, more secure and private way to pay their bills using the power of iPhone to protect every transaction.
Customers simply select Apple Pay in the Sniip app to make a secure payment to over 60,000 billers in the BPAY network. Every Apple Pay payment is secure because it is authenticated with Face ID, Touch ID, or device passcode, as well as a one-time unique dynamic security code. As a result of the partnership with Sniip, customers can use Apple Pay on an iPhone to make bill payments that are faster and more convenient as they no longer need to repeatedly type in personal and payment card information.
“We’re excited to offer Apple Pay as a new payment option in the Sniip app, reinforcing our commitment to providing the ultimate convenience in bill payments for our 40,000-strong customer base. Sniip remains focused on delivering a fast, seamless, and consumer-centric approach to bill payments and adding such a widely-used mobile wallet such as Apple Pay is a big step forward,” said Damien Vasta, CEO of Sniip.
Security and privacy are at the core of Apple Pay. When customers use a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted, and securely stored in the Secure Element, an industry-standard, certified chip designed to store the payment information safely on the device.
Apple Pay is easy to set up. On iPhone, simply open the Wallet app, tap +, and follow the steps to add your credit or debit cards. Once a customer adds a card to iPhone, they can start using Apple Pay on that device right away.
Sniip is a mobile bill payments platform allowing consumers to easily pay their bills via the Sniip app, using any debit or credit card. Users can scan a BPAY Biller Code or import a bill from their email using the Sniip app and pay their bills in less than 10 seconds. Learn more or download our app at sniip.com. Through its existing partnerships with BPAY and AMEX, Sniip has continued to scale its business and build its network of users by almost 40% from 30,000 in January 2021 to more than 42,000 at the end of February 2021. During the same period, Sniip saw a 400% increase in BPAY payment transaction value and has now processed more than $100 million worth of bill payment transactions to date.
Add to that the credit card surcharges that many institutions charge, and you’ll quickly see why it’s just often not worth pursuing the points when paying off those type of bills.
But one new solution to this problem is going through a third-party payment provider. These platforms usually settle your bills via BPAY, offering full reward points when you pay them for the service via credit card in exchange for a small fee.
That’s where Sniip comes in! Sniip is a Brisbane-based fintech company that offers stellar rates when paying bills with an American Express card, which are often the highest points-earning cards on the market.
What is Sniip?
Sniip is a payment platform that allows you to pay personal and business expenses with any type of credit card, all through one easy app. In 2021, the fintech partnered with Amex to offer a flat 1.5% fee for its services, (now 1.29% as of 1 March, 2023).
You’ll always earn full American Express Points when using Sniip to pay bills!
There are other similar payment processors on the market such as pay.com.au, B2BPay and RewardPay. However, those are tailored to small businesses – Sniip the best and most competitive option for both individuals and businesses.
Being transparent, and ensuring individuals and businesses understand how Sniip would benefit them is a top priority. If you’d like to learn more about how Sniip could benefit you or your business, email customercare@sniippay.com.au to chat with us!
How does Sniip work?
Sniip processes your transaction as a two-legged transaction:
You pay money in the Sniip Trust Account
Sniip pays your bill on your behalf
When you use a rewards credit card you’ll earn points on the first leg of the transaction – even if your payment method isn’t accepted by your biller directly, and even if you’d earn reduced points / no points if you pay the biller directly (for example, government billers).
Sniip will make payments via BPAY on the second leg of the transaction and this utilises the BPAY Scheme.
This process allows you to earn full points on all of your bills which is a big reason why people love Sniip so much!
In summary: You pay Sniip with your credit card to earn full points, and Sniip then pays your biller via BPay to settle your amount owing.
Under ‘Wallet’, ensure you have a valid payment method set up
Tap on the blue ‘+’ icon to add a new bill. You can scan it, add the details manually or sync your email account
Enter the payment amount and the due date, then tap ‘Add Bill’
Confirm all details are correct. If needed, you can set up a payment reminder through the app and add attachments.
Tap ‘Pay’ to pay now or ‘Schedule’ to schedule the payment for later, either as a one-off sum or broken into instalments.
Once the funds are cleared from your credit card, Sniip will make the BPay payment to your biller, which takes 1-2 business days for credit cards.
Sniip is a mobile app you can use to import from email or scan your paper bills to make payments in under one minute.
Scan and pay any bill with a BPAY Code, and earn FULL POINTS.
Pay bills and other expenses with any payment method (even when credit cards aren’t usually accepted by the biller).
Why would Sniip benefit me?
Sniip is the best way to earn even more reward points on transactions where you wouldn’t normally earn anything!
Typically, American Express reduces its points earn on ATO and other government-related transactions down to a low 0.5 or 1 point per A$1 — that’s a big drop when some cards usually earn up to 2.25 points per dollar!
Rather than pay the ATO’s 1.45% Amex fee and earn a reduced number of points, Sniip’s proposition is to pay them at a rate starting at 1.93% instead and earn the full potential of your American Express card.
Comparison of Sniip’s fees to other payment providers
With the Qantas Premier Platinum, you’d earn 0 points directly at the ATO (since the card doesn’t award points on those transactions), and 5,109 Qantas Points through Sniip in exchange for a 1.75% (+GST) fee.
That’s just okay, it’s certainly nothing to write home about since the points earn rate on that card is not exceptionally high.
American Express Platinum Card
With the American Express Platinum Card, you could earn a reduced 5,000 points if paying the ATO directly, for a 1.45% fee. But pay just a bit more at Sniip, and you’ll unlock your card’s full earning potential.
That’s 2.25 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent, which more than doubles your haul to 11,496 points for a A$5,000 transaction.
Summing up
The true value of Sniip lies in its new 2021 partnership with American Express that sees it offer a reduced 1.5%* fee for Amex transactions. While equal to the Visa/Mastercard fee, using the right American Express card could really open up your points-earning options.
Add to that most credit cards offer up to 55 days interest-free on regular payments, it makes sense to funnel some of your bigger bills through a service like Sniip to maximise rewards and boost your cashflow.
To get started, visit the Sniip website and be prepared to download the app to Android or iPhone. If you’d like to learn more about how Sniip is the best option for your business and personal payments, email customercare@sniippay.com.au and we’d be happy to chat!
*As of March 1, 2023, the rate for personal Amex cards is 1.29%, and all ATO payments with an Amex are charged at the business tiered rates.
Join the Sniip Community!
Discover convenience, connection and community as you navigate bill payments effortlessly with Sniip – join us today and be a part of something that’ll make you wonder why you ever paid bills differently!
Check out some of our reviews here.
sniippay.com.au
Opulento5 star review
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There are so many things I liked about paying via Sniip. Gone of the days of having to enter in your card number followed by a hash key! Then wait while the computerised operator reads you back your number to confirm. I was able to pay my BCC rates notice within 5 seconds without the worry of making sure I entered the write amount/ reference number and card number! It was all done for me. I also like to set and forget when it comes to organising my life. The app enables you to set a date for it to pay the bill so that you never miss a payment which results in late payment fees. Hopefully in time more suppliers will pick up this payment method.
Chris5 star review
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Sniip is great. I use the app to pay for all my rates and BPAY bills like tax payments. It takes me no time at all to pay ATO tax bills and stores all the information for me. It sends me a receipt for the payment and processing fee which I also get to claim on my tax. I’ve never had an issue and just positive experiences. Best fintech I have come across.
Mikb_oz5 star
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I’ve been annoyed that I’d pay all these bills with my card but couldn’t get any AMEX points, you solved it! Love it! Would recommend to anyone looking to maximise their points earning.
Bbbindi5 star review
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Simple, quick, and easy. Bill paid in under 2 minutes
Mr Oman5 star review
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Love this app. Makes earning air miles with Amex so much easier.
Olivia5 star review
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Very responsive to some performance issues I was experiencing with the app - the team escalated the issue to their tech guys as a priority and resolved it promptly, enabling me to add and successfully pay an upcoming bill. Will look forward to using this app more in future.
Sparms5 star review
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I use Sniip to pay my rates and water bills. My account details are stored there so it’s just a matter of opening the app & scanning the barcode and everything is loaded so I just have to click on pay. I don’t use all the extra features because I generally pay the bills as I get them but you can set up reminders etc. Copies are automatically placed in your history.
Asifidtelya5 star review
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It’s fast and easy which is great when you’re busy running a business.
Wordlegod5 star review
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Called and spoke with Jennifer and she was the most helpful of any customer support person I have gotten to talk with. Makes me happy to use the app again and again!!
Mobile bill payments platform, Sniip has today partnered with American Express to enable Australian American Express card members to easily pay bills.
The move unlocks BPAY’s 60,000-strong network of billers that can now be paid via American Express through Sniip.
“Until now, customers have often not been given the option to pay their household bills using an American Express card, as many businesses have not made it available for their customers. Through our new partnership with American Express, card members now have the ease and convenience of using their American Express card through the Sniip app, at the same cost as other card providers,” said Damien Vasta, CEO of Sniip.
Robert Tedesco, Vice President of American Express Global Merchant Services said, “Sniip has a customer-centric approach to the bill payment experience. Our partnership with Sniip allows American Express card members to use their card to pay any biller that accepts payments through BPAY and still have the benefit of accruing all the same great rewards points.”
Sniip’s customer first approach allows time-poor consumers to pay and manage any bill on their mobile. The app revolutionises bill management, a task that is still performed manually 74% of the time.
Users can scan the BPAY Biller Code or import a bill from their email using the Sniip app and pay in less than 10 seconds, using any debit or credit card.
The partnership is expected to help Sniip rapidly scale its business, building on its strong foundation of more than 30,000 customers already using its platform which has processed more than $80 million worth of bill payments.
“As part of the agreement, Sniip will be promoted via the Amex Offers Program to all Australian American Express card members. This is a great way to offer the benefits of the Sniip app to a large network of people, all of whom pay bills, with an added incentive for first-time users” said Sniip Chief Executive Damien Vasta.
The partnership follows Sniip’s recent enablement as a BPAY Payer Institution Member (PIM) earlier this year, having been sponsored into the BPAY scheme by e-payments giant, Indue Ltd.
About Sniip
Sniip is a mobile bill payments platform allowing consumers to easily pay their bills via the Sniip app, using any debit or credit card. Users can scan a BPAY Biller Code or import a bill from their email using the Sniip app and pay their bills in less than 10 seconds. Learn more or download our app at sniip.com.
About American Express
American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com.au and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
Sniip on Sunrise: Empowering Generosity on 'Giving Day'
A Collaborative Success Story at the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital, as seen on Sunrise
A heartwarming collaboration unfolded during the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital on ‘Giving Day,’ where the spirit of giving was beautifully entwined with cutting-edge technology.
We are extremely proud and humbled as a fintech company to have played a role in enabling a seamless and efficient way to donate and support life-saving research and patient care.
With the utmost respect for the tireless efforts of the medical staff at the hospital, we recognise the importance of empowering their life-changing work through a simple, yet powerful QR code. The QR code solution was designed with the sole purpose of amplifying the impact of ‘Giving Day,’ allowing donors to easily extend their support to those in need.
It is with much gratitude that we join hands with the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital, standing together to make a positive difference in the community.
You can view this story, as reported on Sunrise Australia below.
Sniip, a free mobile app that lets you scan bills and pay them quickly using its mobile wallet, has signed a partnership with BPAY.
Sniip’s move into BPAY is being sponsored by the Indue, the Australian-owned e-payments bank.
As a result of joining the payments platform, Sniip is increasing the number of billers accessible through its app to 45,000, and gaining access to 1.5 million more payments daily.
It’s also the first mobile payments solution outside the banking sector to join BPAY.
Sniip CEO Damien Vasta said that because BPAY aggregates every biller in Australia and Sniip aggregates every financial institution used to pay these bills, the partnership will also be “the first real change to the national bill payment landscape since the advent of BPAY itself”.
“When BPAY was introduced in 1997, its centralised online bill payment capabilities revolutionised bill payment for Australian consumers practically overnight,” he said.
“This new partnership and its bank and card-agnostic solution is designed to enhance this capability by providing Australians with a fast, simple, and seamless means to pay any bill through any bank and using any type of mobile.”
Sniip’s inclusion on BPAY puts an end to having to manually enter the biller code and reference number when paying a bill. with the app scanning it instead.
Indue CEO Derek Weatherley said several of Sniip’s enhanced features such as payment scheduling, reminders, and receipt storage for tax and record-keeping, attracted the bank to the fintech startup.
“Sniip’s customer-centric approach to innovation is a key reason we are proud to sponsor them into the BPAY scheme, and we look forward to working together to transform Australia’s payments landscape for the good of all Australian bill-payers,” he said.
Sniip launched in Queensland in 2016 with several major billers in the state. Last year it went national when Australia Post began to offer its customers the app as a payment option.
Use any payment method and earn full credit card reward points.
$0 fees for bank accounts 0.65% fees for debit cards 1.29% fees for American Express 1.50% fees for VISA, Mastercard and Diners
Sniip offers a flexible and rewarding way to pay your Australia Post bills. Choose any payment method, and earn uncapped membership points when you pay with rewards based credit cards.
How to pay Aus Post Bills
Paying your Australia Post bill has never been easier (or more rewarding).
Simply scan the BPAY Code and Reference Number on your paper-copy bill; share your bill PDF from your email to the Sniip app; manually enter your bill details; or have your bills automatically imported into the Sniip app from your inbox.
1. Scan the BPAY Code & Reference Number
Open the Sniip app and tap the ‘+’ button in the top right corner
Tap ‘Scan any bill’
Scan the BPAY Code and Reference Number on your bill
Tap the ‘Add bill’ button
Choose to pay your bill now, or schedule it to be paid at a future date
Select your payment method and confirm the payment
All done!
2. Upload your bill (PDF) from your email
Open your email and select the PDF bill attachment
Tap the upload icon (box with arrow) at the top of the screen
Select the ‘Sniip’ app If you cannot locate this in your apps option, scroll across left until you see the ‘More’ button. Select this, and scroll down until you can see the Sniip app.
Tap ‘Import bill’, and allow a few minutes for the bill to be read within the app
You’ll receive a notification when your bill has uploaded and is ready to be paid or scheduled.
3. Manually enter your bill details
Open the Sniip app and tap the ‘+’ button in the top right corner
Tap ‘Add bill manually’
Enter the BPAY Code on your bill, then select your bill
Enter your reference number, bill amount, and due date that’s written on the bill
Tap ‘Add bill’
Choose to pay your bill now, or schedule it to be paid at a future date
Select your payment method and confirm the payment
All done!
4. Set up ‘Auto Import from Email’
Open the Sniip app
Tap the menu in the top left corner.
Select ‘Import from email’.
From here, choose your email provider and enter the email address you’d like your bills imported from.
Tap ‘Continue’ and follow the prompts to connect your email address.
All done! The next time you receive a bill attachment in your emails, it’ll be automatically uploaded to the Sniip app, ready for you to pay or schedule. You’ll receive a notification when a new bill arrives 😊
Read about Sniip’s partnership with Australia Post below
Blog article published August, 2019
Australia Post pilots Sniip bill-paying app to save customers time
Australia Post is pleased to be offering its customers a new choice for paying bills by piloting state-of-the-art mobile payments app, Sniip.
General Manager Payments and Financial Services at Australia Post, Deanne Keetelaar, said Sniip’s mobile payment technology means customers can pay their bills from their smartphones within seconds.
“Australia Post is very excited to be working with Sniip on this pilot project, which supports our commitment to continually improving the bill payment experience for customers,’’ Ms Keetelaar said.
“We will initially be offering our customers the ability to pay bills from selected billers using Sniip and seeing how they respond. Sniip has proven through its current billing partners that bill payers see the need for a simple user experience that is both secure and fast,” she said.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sniip, Damien Vasta, said the company was excited to be working in partnership with Australia Post, introducing the new payment option via a simple scan of ‘Post Billpay’ barcodes, which currently appear on many bills.
“We see it as a great vote of confidence that Australia Post is working with us to offer Sniip as a bill payment option to its vast customer base,’’ Mr Vasta said.
Sniip offers substantial benefits to billers including cost savings compared to other payment methods, quicker payments and conversion to paperless bills via in-app push notification of bills to users.
“With Sniip now available as a payment tool, users can scan the “Post Billpay” barcodes and pay their bills within seconds, eliminating the need to enter a long account number, reference number or bank account details.
“The Sniip integration makes payments easier and safer on a mobile, allowing customers to manage their bills more efficiently in-app and reducing instances of misplaced bills, forgotten emails and late payment fees,’’ Mr Vasta said.
“We’ve already helped customers including Brisbane City Council and Queensland Urban Utilities to improve the bill payment experience for their customers and we look forward to extending this to Australia Post.”
Mr Vasta said that with an estimated 80% of Australians owning a smartphone, and people using them for almost everything they once did on a desktop, offering customers the ability to both receive and pay a bill on a mobile is simply responding to a market need.
“There is a consumer expectation that everything can be accessed on a mobile, and everything should be easy to use. Paying a bill is never pleasant, but Sniip has tried to offer customers the ability to make it happen quickly and easily,’’ Mr Vasta said.
Mr Vasta said that 88% of current Sniip users paid their bills before the due date, which is considerably higher than the national average for billers. The Australian-developed mobile payment app has been well received by the market, growing transaction volumes by 15% quarter-on-quarter since 2016.
Toowoomba Regional Council is leading Australia in digital billing, by partnering with Australia’s first bank-agnostic payments and billing app, Sniip, to launch a patented “m-billing” function that will alert ratepayers of Council rates and water bills via push notifications directly on their smartphones.
Ratepayers can opt into the function by registering for m-billing in the Sniip app, from which point they will receive future bills directly into the app via push notifications and can pay in a few simple clicks, without inputting any extra data or leaving the app.
The end-to-end paperless solution is expected to drastically reduce the Council’s overheads and carbon footprint by helping them transition seamlessly to paperless billing, shorten bill payment times across the region, and simplify bill payments for ratepayers.
“Toowoomba Council is addressing the long-standing issue of late payments, which has been an ongoing and very expensive concern for billers across Australia,” said Damien Vasta, CEO of Sniip.
“The fact that there have been so many attempts to address Australia’s billing and payments problem is testament to how much of an issue it really is. Unfortunately, many of these attempts have been incomplete and can even compound the issue.
“The confusion for customers mistaking email bills for junk mail or spam has actually increased numbers of late payments, while payers typically still need to open a PDF, go to a different website to pay, and repeatedly input large amounts of information.
“M-billing, eliminates every one of these issues. Push notifications are seen instantly and can be actioned in seconds. There’s no need to input further information after the app is set up, data is stored with bank grade security that can’t be hacked, and all payment history is stored for future reference. The key is to seamlessly integrate the bill-receiving and bill-payment functions.
“We applaud Toowoomba Regional Council for being a pioneer of this technology on behalf of their constituents ahead of every other council in Australia,” concluded Damien Vasta.
The move towards completely digital payments by the Council comes shortly after calls by Treasury to stop banks, telcos, and energy providers from negatively coercing consumers away from paper billing through punitive fees. It also comes after decades of research that highlights cash flow as a key indicator of long-term business viability and success, including the Federal Government’s Prompt Payment Protocol Paper which highlighted that 90 per cent of SME failures result from poor cash flow.
Sniip’s “scan to pay” functionality – where payers scan a QR code and pay via the app, but continue to receive paper bills – has already been rolled out for Toowoomba, Gympie Regional Council, Brisbane City Council and Queensland Urban Utilities.
However, Toowoomba Regional Council was also first to pioneer Snip’s “scan to pay” functionality in 2015, and is proud of being consistently first in Australia to break new ground in the important area of payments innovation and progression, according to General Manager Finance and Business Strategy, Arun Pratap.
“Like any Australian council, we are dedicated to serving the needs of our residents, and are constantly seeking out new ways to improve their lives, including using innovation to create more options for making payments,” said Arun Pratap.
“We understand that keeping on top of bill payments can be stressful for many Australians, who want to pay on time, but who often have so much else going on in their lives that sometimes things slip through the cracks.”
“We fully believe we’re making their lives easier by offering m-billing, while also helping the environment and reducing ratepayer-funded council overheads” concluded Arun Pratap.
