ACH And Credit Card Payment Solutions: Why Offering A Combo Of Both Could Mean Big Business For Your Platform

Diversity of payment options is the first step for businesses to make sure they?re opening themselves up to as many potential clients as possible. Despite this, plenty of organizations still only offer credit card payment options ? and if they do offer ACH and credit card payment solutions, they can be separate. 

Streamlining your offer, however, by offering ACH and credit card payment solutions from a single source, can make both your life and the lives of your clients easier. Additionally, finding a processing provider that meets your needs adequately, with clear and easy payment utilities or records, online interfaces or terminals, or API integration, is vital. 

Why Is ACH Payment Incorporation Important For Your Business?

While credit card payments remain the most common form of transaction that most businesses handle, ACH payments are on the up. For recurring or subscription-based payments, it?s hard to beat the convenience that ACH transactions offer; and given that the ACH network is a batch environment, businesses that usually are equipped to offer ACH payments are well aware of their customers? needs.?

Offering ACH and credit card payment solutions in combination, then, can be a great way to cover all the bases with your customers. While credit cards remain the vehicle of choice for people?s money, offering ACH payments will help your business save on processing costs as more and more people realize their ease (processing costs are cheaper with ACH payments than credit cards). Additionally, by offering a multiplicity of payment options and therefore seeing more people switch to ACH payments, you increasingly avoid the issue of credit cards being declined or credit cards being compromised, both huge headaches for businesses.?

What Will A Robust Payment Partner Provide With Their ACH And Credit Card Solutions? 

When you come to pick your payment partner, making sure you go for the right choice is crucial. There are a few key things to look out for. The first, and arguably most important, is API integration, either through SOAP or Rest FUL. It?s also vital that a payment partner offers high-end reconciliation tools for ACH payments, which lets you connect the dots between bank accounts. It?s also advantageous to incorporate Canadian payment processing ? after all, you want your market to be international, right??

From a safety perspective, payment partners should incorporate data tokenization as a standard, as well as functionalities for risk mitigation, such as the ability to authenticate bank accounts, verify ownership and availability of funds. As credit card declines can be a huge issue, functionalities that manage declines are also useful for any organization to be offered through a payment partner. 

To make your payment process as easy as possible, website payment utilities (either through hosted channels, or javascript modal utilities) should be offered by payment partners. Capacity for revenue share, a robust underwriting/application process, the ability to offer a PCI Level one platform, and ACH adoption assistance are all useful. 

Crucially, if you decide to switch processors down the line, it?s paramount to check out your payment partner?s rules and potential fees around data migration. There are some processors out there who require a minimum customer amount to be eligible for a transfer, and who charge absurdly high fees to migrate their client?s data for them. If you see this is the case, run for the hills ? no payment partner worth their salt will charge more than a reasonable fee for the work involved in moving your data over. 

Above all, you should be seeking out a payments partner that has a wealth of experience and knowledge in the payments world, and who understands your individual needs specifically. Working with a payments partner you can trust, and one who you?re not sure about is the difference between sinking or swimming with ACH and credit card payment solutions. 

The Bottom Line

If your business has a recurring payment model, neglecting to offer ACH transactions could be a huge misstep for your business ? but if you do, there?s no need to offer separate processing channels for ACH and credit card payment solutions. Finding a payment partner that offers both will streamline your service, and working with a processor you can trust will make it as easy as possible. 

For more information about ACH and credit card payment solutions, contact ACH Payments today. With almost two decades of experience, Agile Payments, and their team, know exactly how to make your payment solutions the best they can be for your platform. Get in touch now.?