People who have online bank accounts and who pay their bills online are twice as likely to have conducted an online account query at least once during the previous quarter than people who don't pay bills electronically. In other words, they're more likely to maintain an active online relationship with their banks.

That's according to a report from Internet-behavior-tracking firm comScore Networks, which randomly follows the movements of 1.5 million registered Internet users. The tracking study was conducted in the first quarter of 2002 and again in the fourth quarter.

Online-banking customers who didn't use their bank's bill-payment services showed a 34% online attrition rate, meaning they abandoned the online relationship. This compares to an attrition rate of 16% for those who were online bill payers.

In doing the study, comScore found that during the fourth quarter of 2002, 20% of Internet users were active online bankers. Of those consumers, 12% paid at least one bill through their bank's online payment service. Online payers also held an average account balance of $4,800, according to comScore, while the average online-banking customer holds a balance of $2,400.