Auto Pay Makes Missed Payments Magically Disappear: Automatic Bill Payment with Biller Genie

Biller Genie Helps Customers Use Auto Pay to Make Billing Woes Disappear

The Customer Portal is where your customers can view and pay their invoices. Auto pay (i.e., automatic payments) is ideal for customers and service providers. This feature enables business customers to store their preferred payment methods and turn on auto pay so that they don’t have to worry about missed payments. With Biller Genie, we automatically charge them on the invoice due date, ensuring your receivables are always paid on time. Learn how easy it is for merchants to set up recurring monthly auto payments in Biller Genie.

Is Auto Pay a Good Idea?

In short, yes. Automatic payments — regular, recurring transfers from your service provider or bank account to pay monthly bills have some fantastic advantages, namely, never missing a payment or having a late fee added to your account. For accounts where your balance changes each month, such as a credit card, it’s better to sign up for automatic payments directly through the merchant service provider, so customers can take the full amount owed. 

Plus, automatic payments will align with a customer’s recurring bill cycle, which should eliminate the stress of potentially missing a bill payment due date, as it will occur automatically.

The Benefits of Auto Pay

• Convenience. Convenience comes at both ends of the experience. Who wants to visit several different websites at various times during the month when you can automated accounts and the bill-paying process.  If you do this through your bank, bills can be organized and viewed in one place. By default, auto pay in Biller Genie is set to the “created date” of the invoice, but a merchant can easily toggle to the due date from within Biller Genie’s Merchant Portal based on the preferences of the customer.

   

• Peace of Mind + No Stress. There’s something to be said about automatic, online bill payments that just set customers’ minds to ease. Customers tend to worry less about money when the thought of paying bills is not on their minds. Paying bills shouldn’t be something that keeps customers up at night. Don’t stress your customers or yourself. Help and encourage auto pay can set up automatic payments to help reduce stress over paying bills every month. According to a survey from a mobile-banking company, one-third of all Americans are “constantly” stressed out about money and worried about how to avoid late fees.

• Improved credit scores. Payment history is probably the single most influential and important component of your credit score, and FICO reports that negative marks on your credit history can fade over time when you are consistent with payments. Making payments on time to your lenders and creditors is one of the biggest contributing factors to your credit scores—making up 35% of a FICO score calculation. Past problems like missed or late payments are not easily fixed. With autopay, you can avoid late fees, keep up with automatic payments, stay on track with online bill pay, and avoid delinquency.
• Reduce identity theft. As you’re likely well aware, most paper mail—such as bank statements, bills, and other snail mail regulars contain very sensitive data. Paying with a credit card, Apple Pay, or ACH/checking account numbers reduces consumers’ risk of identity theft, and merchants give their customers a value-added feature.  Theft of paper mail is one of the most conventional and common ways thieves gain access to information. There are risks when paying online as well, but the security surrounding these payments is typically far greater than the security offered by an unlocked mailbox.

• It helps with net 30 terms for payments. Net 30 billing is widely used for invoicing. Many of your clients will readily agree to net 30 terms to pay a bill, as their accounts payable departments are likely already familiar with the practice. Having autopay set up is one way to ensure that net 30 terms are kept.
• It’s secure. Data breaches make headlines, but online banking is no less secure than leaving a check in an envelope in an unguarded mailbox. In fact, your accounts and payments may be better protected through the encryption techniques used online to secure customers’ automatic payment information.
• Late Fees Magically Disappear. Late payment is a common problem for small businesses. With scheduled, automatic bill payment, late fees are a problem of the past and this really helps your relationship with your customers.  Likewise, if your customer is not using auto pay on their account, to keep their bill payments on time and on schedule, it’s probably a good idea to add late fees to encourage positive payment behavior.
• Processing fees still work. Having a customer set up auto pay doesn’t mean you can’t continue to charge processing fees if you opt to turn that option on. You can continue to charge processing fees and ACH is one great way to do that.
• Be kind to the environment. By eliminating paper bills and check writing, you reduce your impact on the environment. Save paper and trees and eliminate the carbon footprint left by snail mail. Plus, who wants to keep a constant supply of stamps on hand?

Who Benefits Most From Auto Pay?

These auto payments are ideal for the merchant and for customers also, because enabling them to use their credit card, ACH, or checking account to pay their bills is what’s needed in a COVID-19 economy. Auto pay is simple and worth it — a mutual benefit for customers and service providers alike.

Can You Stop an Automatic Payment?

The invoice will automatically be paid on the due date if auto pay is set up, but changes can be made if the customer wants to temporarily suspend auto pay or stop it altogether. Both the merchant and the customer have the ability to do this. The merchant can stop automatic payments easily at the customer’s request from within the Merchant Portal in Biller Genie. The customer can stop auto pay from within the Customer Portal. The customer is kept aware of when automatic payments are made (i.e., when an invoice is paid) and receipts are sent to the merchant and the customer. Sending paid receipts is an option the merchant can choose to turn on or off from within Biller Genie’s Merchant Portal.

Auto Bill Pay Is In High Demand From Customers

According to countless expert payment professionals, automated billing is essential for business growth. Auto pay is a huge piece of the bill pay puzzle! Automatic bill payments are a great value-added feature that service providers should offer their customers. It gives consumers what they want, and what’s better than that? Good relationships are born out of trust and value, which is why helping customers pay on time can and should be a top priority for merchant service providers.

Good financial habits are rooted in an awareness of what you’re paying and when. It’s important to remember to keep track of when your bills are being taken out of your account or paid by credit card so that you have enough funds available to cover the cost, but the benefits far outweigh the risks. With customer portals, it’s easier than ever to set up auto pay for all of your invoices with a particular service provider!

Auto Bill Pay Is Talked About By Experts

According to countless expert payment professionals, automated billing is essential for business growth. Auto pay is a huge piece of the bill pay puzzle! Automatic bill payments are a great value-added feature that service providers can now offer their customers and clients. Automatic bill payments give consumers what they want and when they need it the most. Good relationships are born out of trust and value, which is why helping customers pay on time must be a top priority for merchant service providers.

Auto Pay Helps Create Good Financial Habits

Good financial habits are rooted in an awareness of what you’re paying and when. It’s important to remember to keep track of when your bills are being taken out of your account or paid by credit card so that you have enough funds available to cover the cost, but the benefits far outweigh the risks. And, with customer portals, it’s easier than ever to set up auto pay for all of your invoices with a particular service provider!