Method for facilitating payment of a billing statement

A method for receiving payment from an account holder that does not require the account holder to write a check. The method includes the following steps: (a) issuing a periodic statement to the account holder, the statement including an amount owed by the account holder, checking account information of the account holder, and means for the account holder to authorize a deduction of a payment amount from the account holder's checking account; (b) receiving the periodic statement from the account holder, the received periodic statement including the account holder's authorization to deduct the payment amount from the account holder's checking account; and (c) deducting the payment amount from the account holder's checking account.