WePay is a new company that helps pay shared expenses like monthly rent, groceries, fraternity or sorority dues or sports club fees.
The company does this by collecting the group funds online and paying the bills automatically. For example, if two roommates set aside an amount they wanted taken from their bank account every month to go towards bills or any other expenses, WePay would take that exact amount and pay the bills automatically.
WePay charges $.50 for each payment they process if it’s paid through the client’s bank account. They also notify their clients when payments are made in order for them to keep track.
Students on campus agree that the company is a new concept that many would find helpful.
“I think the WePay is a terrific idea. I live near campus and my roommate and I have bills that we split,” business freshman Thomas Walker said. “Most of the times he will give me the money and I deposit it into my account, then I write a check for the bills.”
Walker said that now with this new program he won’t have to deal with all the extra hassle.
“My roommate and I can just both put money aside into the one account through WePay, and have them take care of the rest,” he said.
Not all students think that hiring a company to pay your bills is a good idea, though.
“I personally would not trust a program like that, because I feel like why I am being charged to pay my own bills,” art sophomore Stephanie Hunter said. “I do not have a roommate, but if I did I could not see myself joining WePay, because I feel that they are scamming me by charging for each bill that I pay — which makes no sense.”
Hunter said she would rather pay her own bills.
Other students — like sociology freshman Jacob Hall — said he feels that this program would be a great way to ease communication between two estranged roommates.
“I would have to find out a little more information on this program before I use it, but from what I do know I believe that it would be great for so many people,” Hall said. “If you have a roommate who you really do not know that well and you guys don’t really talk, this program seems like it would be perfect … There is no disagreement on who did not pay what.”
WePay has teamed up with CampusLive, the homepage for college students which offers all of its resources on one page, to create a sweepstakes to pay a full month’s rent this fall for any group of students living at the same residence.
To enter the competition and win one month of free rent, students can simply start collecting money from roommates right from the UH CampusLive homepage at http://www.campuslive.com/uh/challenges.
