Businesses Must Ditch Paper Checks to Save BIG on Transaction Costs.
The high costs of check transactions are prompting finance professionals to steer away from paper checks for a majority of their business transactions. Recent research from the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) revealed this trend.
AFP conducted it’s 2015 Payments Cost Benchmarking Survey to gather information regarding the transactions costs involved in receiving payments via Paper Checks, Wire Transfers, ACH Transactions, and Cards.
Brief points from their survey:
- Almost 80% of businesses are transitioning their Business to Business (B2B) payments from paper checks to electronic payments.
- More than two out of three businesses would replace paper checks with electronic payments if there were lower costs.
- 88% say that increased efficiency is the primary reason for adopting electronic payments.
Using a median cost of $1.50 to process a check payment, the research points out that it would cost about $1500 a month if a business were accepting 1000 checks a month. Many small businesses accept more than 1000 checks a month.
On the other hand, if that same business were accepting payments via eCheck (ACH), it would only cost $35 for those 1000 payments. That’s a HUGE reduction in processing costs!
Related: Merchants Can Reduce Payment Processing Costs by Using eChecks (ACH)
This data helps make the case for payment automation and moving away from paper checks as that is the only way to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Many of my clients often mention that paper checks cost time and money to process and some even need a dedicated employee just to handle large amounts of paper checks. By moving to ACH and eCheck transactions, businesses can significantly reduce their transactions costs as well as increase payment efficiency and save time.
The Automated Clearing House (ACH) network is used for eCheck transactions to transfer funds from the customer’s bank account into the business’ account. A flat fee, as low as 35 cents per transaction, is applicable on each eCheck transaction, and it does not depend on the transaction amount. There are significant savings for merchants when using eCheck / ACH payments. The higher the amount, the more the savings for the merchant.
Same Day ACH Will be a Reality Soon
Currently, most ACH payments are settled on the next business day. Â A new rule from NACHA (The Electronic Payments Association) has enabled ACH Originators to send same day ACH transactions to accounts at any Receiving Depository Financial Institution (RDFI). It is building upon the current next day ACH Network platform and establishing a new option for same-day clearing and settlement via ACH.
By rolling out two new settlement windows, instead of the current one settlement daily, there will be movement of funds three times a day. It will speed up transactions to mostly same day, if not the next day.
- Morning submission deadline: 10:30 AM ET, with settlement occurring at 1:00 PM the same day.
- Afternoon submission deadline: 3:00 PM ET, with settlement occurring at 5:00 PM the same day.
Related: Same Day ACH Rolling Out in Phases Starting 2016
Bottom Line
It is clearly time for businesses to move away from paper checks and towards eChecks (ACH). The cost savings is huge. Also, with same day ACH ready to roll out very soon, all businesses stand to gain from moving to eChecks.
Contact Us for more information on eChecks and ACH Transactions. Or take us up on our FREE Merchant Account Analysis offer. We’ll analyze your merchant account rates and let you know how to Save! If you are ready, you may be able to Switch and Save!
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