In its fifth annual study of bill payment habits of U.S. households, FiservInc. found that this is the era of the “omnivore” bill payer –multiple methods are proliferating – but in the fast track is“mobile bill pay. It is growing very fast,” said Eric Leiserson, an analyst.

In 2012, 8% of online households paid at least one bill with amobile device, up from 6% in 2011, per the Fiserv research.

An unexpected statistic, said Leiserson, is that 3% ofinfrequent Internet users and those who never use it also had paidat least one bill with a mobile device.

“People may be realizing that with a smartphone they have acomputer in their pocket even if they don't have a home computerwith broadband,” said Leiserson.

The broadest trend in the 2012 Fiserv survey is that multiplebill pay methods are still winning fans. Leiserson pointed toin person payments, phone payments, online payments, paper checks,mobile payments, and phone payments as all claimingusage.

Indeed, he pointed out, three consumers in four use at least twoof those methods every month and at least 20% of consumers changethe ways they pay their bills from month to month, depending onfunds availability, payment due date and the amount owed.

“Payments are increasingly fragmented,” said Leiserson, whoindicated that still more fragmentation, not less, is probably thefuture.

As for why mobile is rising, the survey from Wisconsin-basedFiserv pointed out that consumers who are using mobile payments saythat “mobile as a payment option saves time (50%); offers anytimeaccess (44%); and is most convenient when on the go (43%).

When asked what mobile billing and payment capability they aremost interested in, nearly one in three respondents indicated theyare very interested in viewing and paying bills from theirsmartphone.”

Of those who access the Internet at least once weekly, 73% saythey pay at least one bill online monthly, according to Fiserv.