Insurers should be tailoring their claims payment options to the type of claim a policyholder has, a U.S. payment provider said during a recent webinar.

“If it’s a disaster, [a policyholder] may need money immediately to go get a hotel room or to buy necessities,” said Jeff Brown, president of Plano, Tex.-based claims payment provider VPay. “If it’s a total loss on their car, it may be a different type of payment that they want.”

Some insurers may have customers who choose to pay their premiums with a debit or credit card.

“You can capture that information and reuse that same information to [pay] the policyholder money back in the event of the claim,” Brown said during Shaping Claims Experience in the Next Normal: Find Your Competitive Edge, a webinar hosted Sept. 9 by Reuters Events.

The webinar explored how the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing carriers to move forward more quickly with their digital transformation and innovation plans.