Tuesday, March 19, 2024

PPS Bill Payment: Advantages and Why You Should Use It

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When you’re in Hong Kong, time seems to pass so quickly. There’s just a lot of things to do within oh-so-limited time. Even if we’re backed with modern technology — faster and more frequent train intervals, faster broadband connections and services available online or at mobile apps, there’s just so much to accomplish.

Time moves fast because, for every efficient transport system, we are caught up waiting in line at the supermarket cashier, restaurant seats, or arrival of the next bus. This boils down to priorities. This means picking the things you want to do and doing it efficiently — avoid peak hours at the supermarket and restaurants or take the train instead of the bus. It also means finding the most convenient way of doing things. If paying the mobile phone bill on a telecom shop takes 30 longer than doing so in a mobile app, don’t do it again and find a better method.

To cut to the chase, it pays to take advantage of the benefits of adopting technology and using it to your advantage. For example, you don’t have to go through the troubles of spending time, money and effort to pay bills in person when you can do it over the phone 24/7 at no extra cost.

Payment by Phone System

PPS is jointly provided by EPS Company (Hong Kong) Ltd and Hong Kong Telecommunications, a subsidiary of PCCW. It enables customers of various businesses to settle their bills using a mobile phone or the Internet.

You can use your mobile phone (apps, call) or the Internet to use PPS.
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Why use PPS, and what are the advantages over the traditional payment system?

  • PPS allows you to settle bills in a convenient and secure platform using your mobile phone or the Internet anytime and anywhere.
  • There’s no charge in using this system — just your mobile airtime or broadband fee when using the Internet.
  • It covers more than 900 participating merchants so if you’re transacting with a fairly known business, under the following list of industries, it’s likely a PPS merchant.
    • Alumni or Parents & Teacher Association
    • Banking & Credit Card Services
    • Catering Services
    • Charity Organisation
    • Credit Services
    • Driving School
    • Elderly Care Services
    • Financial Information Services
    • Financial or Legal Consultancy
    • Fitness Center
    • Government or Statutory Organisation
    • Insurance or Pension Services
    • IT or Business Services
    • Learning or Training
    • Medical Services
    • Pay Television
    • Petroleum Product
    • Post-secondary or Specialised Education
    • Primary or Secondary Education
    • Printing Services
    • Professional Institution
    • Property Agency
    • Property Management
    • Public Utility
    • Retail – Computers
    • Retail – Electrical Appliances
    • Retail – Healthcare or Medical Supplies
    • Securities Broker
    • Storage
    • Telecommunication Services
    • Transportation Services
    • Travel Agency
    • Others

Requirements

You need to have a bank ATM debit card or credit card with ATM function.

Registration procedure

Bring your ATM/credit card to registration terminals located inside Circle K shops, HKT shops and selected banks (check your nearby locations here). Shopkeepers at convenience stores will point you where a terminal is located if you can’t find it.

A PPS terminal found inside Circle K shops and other locations.

While you cannot make payments on these terminals, PPS registration terminals allow you to open an account, setup or change mobile number and password, and a few others.

  1. Select “Open/ Update Account” from the PPS Registration Terminal
  2. Swipe your ATM card
  3. Select your debit bank account
  4. Enter your ATM PIN
  5. Enter your chosen five-digit PPS Phone Password. Re-enter to confirm.
  6. Enter a mobile phone number and your chosen eight-digit PPS Internet Password. Re-enter to confirm.
  7. Take the receipt printed with your PPS Account Number. Keep this receipt as you need to enter the account number when you register a new merchant.
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Please note that if you have not used your PPS account for 18 months straight, your account will be disabled.

Adding a new merchant

A merchant is a business that issues you a bill. It can be an electricity bill from CLP Power or a credit card bill from American Express, from which CLP Power and Amex are both merchants that you need to register into your account first.

Before you dial for PPS registration, have the merchant code ready. In the example above, American Express has merchant code of 14 and CLP Power’s merchant code is 02. For a complete list of merchants and their corresponding codes, refer to this list.

PPS by Internet

  1. Login to PPS web site www.ppshk.com
  2. Click “Add Bill”
  3. Select Merchant by Category/Code/Name
  4. Key in Bill Number
  5. Input Bill Nickname (optional)
  6. Enter One-time Password for selected merchants# that require Two-factor Authentication
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PPS by Phone

  1. Dial 18011 (English) or 18013 (Cantonese)
  2. Press “1” for bill registration
  3. Key in PPS Account Number
  4. Key in Merchant Code
  5. Key in Bill Number
  6. Enter One-time Password for specified merchants* that require Two-factor Authentication

Even if you are outside of Hong Kong, you can still register a PPS merchant or pay bills using this method. Dial-in +852 and 18011 or 18013 to do so.

PPS on Mobile Service

  1. Select PPS App
  2. Login to PPS on Mobile
  3. Select “Add Bill”
  4. Select Merchant by Category/Code/Name
  5. Key in Bill Number and Bill Nickname (if any)
  6. Select “Confirm”
  7. Enter One-time Password for selected merchants# that require Two-factor Authentication

Paying the bill


PPS by Internet

  1. Login to PPS web site
  2. Select the bill from “Pay Bill”
  3. Click the ‘Pay’ button
  4. Key in Payment Amount and Bill Type (if any)
  5. Pay Now, click ‘Proceed’ button OR
  6. Schedule Payment (preset a forward bill payment for next 30 days ahead), select Payment Date, click ‘Proceed’ button # OR
  7. Monthly Payment (place a “Monthly Payment” Instruction), select Payment Date, Payment Type, and Final Payment Date. Click the ‘Proceed’ button.
  8. Verify the payment instruction and click ‘Pay’ button, note the Payment Reference Number / Schedule Instruction Number / Monthly Instruction Number.

If you wish to schedule for regular payment such as monthly basis, input your name and email address for the first time set up.

Note: For selected merchants, you are required to enter a One-time Password for first-time payment on the Internet for bills registered via PPS by phone.

PPS by Phone

  1. Dial 18031 (English) or 18033 (Cantonese)
  2. Key in PPS Phone Password
  3. Key in PPS Merchant Code
  4. Key in Bill Number and Bill Type (if any)
  5. Key in Payment Amount and press #
  6. Select ‘1’ to confirm payment now, or press ‘8’ and key in payment date to schedule a payment up to 30 days in advance
  7. Listen to the Payment Reference Number or Schedule Instruction Number

PPS on Mobile Service

  1. Select PPS App
  2. Login to PPS
  3. Select the bill from “Pay Bill”
  4. Select Bill Type (if any) and Key in Payment Amount
  5. Select Payment Date (if any)
  6. If Pay Now, verify the payment instruction and press ‘Pay,’ note the Payment Reference Number.
  7. If Schedule to pay in 30 days, select Payment Date, press ‘Proceed’ and note the Scheduled Instruction Number. To receive the payment notification and result, please input your name and email address for the first time set up.

Conclusion

PPS is just one of the many ways to settle bills in Hong Kong. You may be in a hunt for time-saving methods or prefer to go the traditional way, and it’s up to you. Thankfully you are in Hong Kong, where you have plenty of options to suit your preferences. After all, it’s money we’re talking about here, so having that peace of mind (vs. speed and convenience) when paying bills is still essential.

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