At&T; System Turns TV Into Home Bank

In a different twist on home banking, AT&T Corp. will offer consumers a bank-at-home system that operates on television screens, the long-distance phone company said Tuesday.

But to use the system, consumers must purchase a $350 device that plugs into TV sets. The box also can be leased for $13.95 a month, AT&T said.

The service, called AT&T Checkfree, allows consumers to pay bills electronically by entering commands onto a video program that appears on the TV when they establish a link with Checkfree Corp., a Columbus, Ohio-base software and electronics company, an AT&T partner in the venture.

The box hooks into the television and into a phone line. To do payments, consumers must first give bank account information to Checkfree and tell the company what merchants they want to pay.

Then consumers can dial up Checkfree and initiate payments after moving through a series of menus on the TV screen. Checkfree traffics payments between a consumer’s bank account and merchants. Consumers can pay their credit card, phone or other bills.