Paying bills is a monthly burden that doesn't need any help whatsoever with being a pain in the rear. But living with roommates can amplify the difficulty. You have to track them down (if they're not particularly responsible) or deal with the unpleasant task of asking in the first place (even if they are). Unbill is a new Android app that seeks to erase both of these issues.
Unbill, which is invite-only and currently limited to Eugene, Oregon (hey, at least it's not San Francisco), splits bills and does the math, alerting each user how much they owe and when. Recipients can then pay using the app. After that, everyone closes it as quickly as possible and goes back to doing more pleasant things.
Comfy, Unbill's developer, has worked with apartment complexes, universities, and utility providers around the University of Oregon to get things rolling. It will have to work with the same institutions in other markets before it can expand to different parts of the country.
In the meantime, there's that one guy who's still ignoring his phone's alerts. It's $24, dude. Come on, pay up.
PRESS RELEASE
Comfy Launches Unbill to Simplify Living Expenses
Mobile App Solves Problems with Roommates’ Shared Expenses, Partners Directly with Companies to Process Bills
March 03, 2015 08:55 AM Eastern Standard Time
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Comfy, a rental marketplace that enables college students to discover and secure optimal living situations, today announced “Unbill,” a mobile app available for Android and iOS that empowers roommates with the ability to process and split bills evenly with a simple click of a button - and no drama.
With a credit or debit card, Unbill splits bills typically shared by roommates within a house or apartment, including utilities, cable, Internet, and more. Unbill then pays those providers automatically on behalf of all the roommates.
Comfy Co-Founder and CEO Jordan Wright said Unbill was originally targeted toward college students, but the app can be used by anyone who shares living expenses with others. Comfy is rolling out Unbill today in Eugene, Oregon, due to the penetration of their rental marketplace around the University of Oregon as well as the progressive utility providers in the area, and will continue to seek out similar opportunities around the country as they look to expand.
“Unbill has the potential to completely change how roommates pay their bills,” said Wright. “With the ability to collect roommates’ shared expenses and pay companies directly in a secure and easy way via the Unbill mobile app, this product is for roommates who find themselves in painful and awkward situations asking each other for money every month or for students whose parents foot the bill each month from a distance. Unbill solves these problems - permanently.”
Apartment complexes and universities are already jumping onboard to promote Unbill to their students because they believe Unbill will significantly decrease roommate conflict, provide additional security to the roommate that typically puts the bills in their name, and give transparency to the shared expenses that most roommates can’t get today.
“It’s 2015,” said Wright. “It’s now possible to solve these problems with technology, so we have.”
The Unbill app is available on the Android Play Store, and will be available on the iOS App Store in March 2015. To sign up for Unbill, go to http://www.unbill.us.
