Divdat secures contract to provide bill payment kiosks in Detroit

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DivDat, a company that provides digital kiosks to allow consumers to pay bills for city services, will move its headquarters from Royal Oak, Michigan to Detroit, having recently won a five-year, $5 million contract with the city of Detroit and now serves more than 100,000 customers per month, according to a Crain’s Detroit Business report.

The company, which began half a century ago as a billing services provider, has reinvented itself as a digital bill payment services provider.

DivDat, unlike other bill payment kiosk providers, does not charge users fees. Instead, the transaction costs, around $1.85 per transaction, are covered by the client the users are paying.

The multilingual kiosks allow customers to pay Detroit property taxes and water bills, electric bills, court fines and escrow rent payments with cash, checks or credit cards. Payment of parking tickets is being discussed.

Customers can scan their bills or type in their addresses to see property taxes owed. The kiosk does not require a separate customer account, and it does not store personal information.

Detroit officials said the service saves the city money and improves business practices. The city water and sewer department saves $320,000 annually, said Bryan Peckinpaugh, deputy director of public affairs for the Detroit water department.

Around 20% of Detroit residents do not have a checking or savings account, and close to 30% use services like check-cashing, payday loans and pawn shops, according to a Prosperity Now study, making Detroit a good pilot market, said Jason Bierkle, DivDat president.

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