On-time payment is what keeps businesses alive, and electronic processing through ACH payment is the best way to do it.
Overseen by the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), The Automatic Clearing House Network (ACH) is considered the largest and safest payment system in the nation, processing over $43 trillion annually.
ACH payment allows merchants and businesses to transact payments and debits between different banks through direct deposit and direct payment. It handles B2B transactions, international payments, payroll, and credit/debit activities.
3 Reasons Why ACH Processing is Great for Business
Accepting ACH payment allows businesses of all sizes to provide their customers with payment flexibility at a lower cost. Here are some other incredible benefits of adopting ACH into your small business:
1. Speed
Without having to cut a paper check and mail it, ACH processing saves you and your customers time and hassle. Billing reconciliation can be done all in one place without the lag time associated with paper transactions. Vendors and customers are happy and business owners are ecstatic because they get money quicker.
2. Low Cost
Electronic transactions through ACH are typically over 25% cheaper than credit cards and far less than check transactions according to a cost benchmarking survey by the Association for Financial Professionals. For customers who don’t use credit cards, this is a huge incentive and creates a bigger customer base for businesses. Starting this year, all ACH transactions can be completed the same business day. This means less time waiting around for accounting departments to do cash-flow forecasting and account reconciliation. It’s a win-win for everyone.
3. Security
Because every transaction is fully encrypted and electronic, security is assured for banks as well as business customers, employees, and vendors. There are no manual checks to generate so no one has to worry about identity theft with lost or stolen checks. The entire ACH payment system is federally compliant and overseen by NACHA.
How Does ACH Payment Processing Work?
ACH payment processing is seamless. Scheduling, sending and receiving payments is all accomplished on one network.
ACH allows people to make electronic payments using bank routing numbers for bank-to-bank transfers and doesn’t require a major credit card to make payments—eliminating high credit card fees.
Banks gather ACH transactions and batch process them throughout the day. That lowers costs and the savings is passed onto the merchant.
Without getting too technical, here’s how it all works:
- ACH transactions involve an originator which is the individual, business or organization that initiates a transaction along the ACH Network. That payment or debit is entered and transmitted electronically to a designated originating financial institution (bank).
- This institution then groups payments in batches and sends them in regular intervals to federal clearing facilities like The Federal Reserve or The Clearing House.
- ACH transactions are sorted and sent to the bank that receives them. There, a credit or debit is made to the Receiver’s account based on the type of ACH entry transaction.
Great News! Biller Genie Now Offers the Convenience of ACH
Here at Biller Genie, our goal is to help hard-working business owners like yourself spend more time doing what they love: inventing, creating, collaborating, and growing their business. Not tied up in the invoicing/collections/reconciliation side of things.
Which is why we’re so excited to add ACH as a payment option for our users and their customers. Along with credit and debit cards, Biller Genie has fully integrated ACH throughout the application so businesses can get paid faster and spend more time growing.
All transactions comply with federal regulations and the benefits are amazing:
- Businesses skip the paper chase. All transactions are electronic and secure.
- Securely store customer account information on file making autopay and recurring transactions a snap.
- ACH authorization forms are sent electronically and securely by Biller Genie, which also collects e-signatures. There is no paper, email, or faxing needed. Authorization forms are pre-approved by NACHA.
- It’s transparent. All ACH authorizations are saved on file and are visible to the merchant and consumer at all times. In today’s world, instilling confidence is essential for businesses to succeed.
- Syncing up is easy. Payments are automatically reconciled directly to your favorite accounting software including, QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, Xero, and more. Eliminating duplicate entries and billing reconciliation issues.
- If a dispute resolution ever occurs, all business files and authorizations are available in your Biller Genie portal so you can easily validate the transaction.
- Everything is integrated. The Biller Genie application offers pre-approved forms, form storage, eSignatures, and authorizations.
Want to get rid invoicing hassles and streamline the payment processing side of business, all while saving time and money? Of course you do!
Try Biller Genie for free today.
