Poor Payment Experiences Drive More Than $100 Billion in Costs Beyond Transaction Fees Each Year

PayNearMe's Payment Experience Gap report finds bill pay organizations underestimate the total cost of payment acceptance by approximately 6×

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. bill pay market incurs more than $100 billion annually in payment acceptance costs beyond transaction fees, according to new research from PayNearMe. The company's new Payment Experience Gap report found that the total cost of payment acceptance is approximately 6× higher than what bill pay organizations typically measure through transaction fees alone. These costs rarely appear on a processor invoice, yet they represent more than 80% of the total cost of payment acceptance.

As lenders and other bill pay organizations increasingly focus on improving efficiency, reducing operational costs and protecting margins, the report introduces the Payment Experience Gap. The new framework helps organizations understand the difference between what they believe payments cost and the actual costs incurred across the payment journey once the impacts of payment friction, support and operational costs are included.

Based on a representative lending environment, the analysis found that businesses incur approximately $7.22 in total cost per payment, including $1.20 in transaction fees and an additional $6.02 in costs beyond transaction fees. For a mid-market to enterprise lender processing 500,000 payments annually, this equates to approximately $3 million in additional payment-related costs.

"Our research exposes a significant financial blind spot for many billing organizations," said Mike Kaplan, Chief Revenue Officer at PayNearMe. "When the total cost of payment acceptance is six times higher than what's on your processor invoice, it becomes very clear that improving the payment experience is one of the most overlooked opportunities to improve cash flow and profitability."

The findings suggest that organizations may be significantly undercounting the total cost of payment acceptance because many payment-related costs are managed and measured outside of the payments function. Delayed or incomplete payments, increased support needs and higher operational burden all contribute to the total cost of getting paid, yet are rarely viewed holistically.

Key findings from the report:

• U.S. bill pay organizations incur more than $100 billion annually in payment acceptance costs beyond transaction fees.
• The total cost of payment acceptance is approximately 6× higher than what organizations typically measure through transaction fees alone.
• More than 80% of the total cost of payment acceptance exists outside of transaction fees.
• Businesses incur approximately $7.22 in total cost per payment, including $1.20 in transaction fees and an additional $6.02 in costs associated with customer experience, support and operations.
• A representative mid-market to enterprise lender processing 500,000 payments annually incurs approximately $3 million in costs beyond transaction fees.
• Support represents the single largest cost category at approximately $2.70 per payment.
• Operational costs average approximately $2.01 per payment, including ACH returns and recovery, chargebacks, check and money order processing, in-person payment handling, and reconciliation and back-office labor.
• The customer experience category represents the financial impact of payment friction and averages approximately $1.31 per payment, driven by delayed payment completion, payment abandonment and increased servicing burden.

Additional findings, methodology details and full analysis are available in the complete Payment Experience Gap report here.

Payment Experience Management (PEM)

What appear as separate customer, support and operational issues are, in reality, outcomes of how the payment experience performs as a whole. As a result, what appear to be distinct business challenges are rarely connected back to payment performance, creating an incomplete view of the total cost of payment acceptance.

Reducing the Payment Experience Gap requires organizations to move beyond the transaction mindset and manage payments as an end-to-end journey. PayNearMe calls this Payment Experience Management (PEM), a discipline its PayXM™ platform supports by automating and continuously improving the entire payment journey, from request through reconciliation.

"For years, businesses have optimized for the transaction, not the journey," said Anne Hay, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at PayNearMe. "But transaction fees tell only part of the story. The next frontier of payments isn't about cheaper processing, it's about Payment Experience Management—a new approach that transforms payments from a back-office cost center into an operational advantage."

Methodology

The Payment Experience Gap report combines PayNearMe operational benchmarks, third-party industry research and conservatively modeled assumptions to quantify the costs created by payment friction, support and operations across the payment journey.

The methodology reflects a representative mid-market to enterprise lender processing approximately 500,000 payments annually, with an average payment size of $640. Those per-payment economics are then applied across the broader U.S. bill pay market, which includes 16.8 billion annual bill payments.

Importantly, the analysis focuses on payment intent, acceptance and early-stage recovery activity. It does not attempt to quantify downstream collections or other costs associated with severe delinquency, making the findings intentionally conservative.

About PayNearMe

PayNearMe is redefining the way businesses and their customers experience payments. With PayXM™, the industry's first platform purpose-built for Payment Experience Management, every touchpoint in the payment journey becomes easy—driving customer satisfaction, accelerating payments, and reducing the total cost of acceptance. The platform supports all major payment types and channels, from PayPal, Venmo, Cash App Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, cards and ACH to cash at more than 62,000 U.S. retail locations.

Thousands of businesses across industries, including consumer lending, iGaming and online sports betting, property management, and tolling, rely on PayNearMe to manage the end-to-end payment experience with a single platform and integration.

SOURCE PayNearMe