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B2B Payments in 3 Years. Check or ACH?

In recent years, the payments industry has witnessed some dramatic developments. New technologies aimed at facilitating payments appear in the market and going mobile accounts for a lot of innovation.

According to 2016 AFP Electronic Payments Survey, 51% of companies’ B2B payments were still being made by check. Smaller companies generating less than $1 billion revenue annually and companies with up to 1.000 B2B payments per month were more likely to use checks to disburse payments as compared to other companies.

Results by the Credit Research Foundation

The Credit Research Foundation has recently reported the results from a first-quarter survey. This is a non-profit association of credit and accounts-receivable executives, with support from ACH governing body NACHA ─ The Electronic Payments Association. The CRF survey included 130 US member at companies generating $100 million to over $1 billion in annual revenues and operating in various industries.

According to the CRF survey, checks now represent nearly half of B2B payments. However, their share is expected to go down to 34% by 2020 since ACH (automated clearing house) payments will reach 45% from 32% of today’s B2B payments in the upcoming 3 years.

Rob Unger, senior director of corporate relations and product management at Herndon, Va.-based NACHA, says the major growth associated with ACH payments expected by credit and receivables professionals in 3 years is really notable. This means the importance of ACH payments to support growing needs and goals of businesses is increasing. The thing that they’re electronic makes them more cost-effective as compared to other payment options. Moreover, they are received quickly. Both accounts-payable and accounts-receivable professionals are becoming more and more interested in ACH payments.

If you’re looking for a reputable payment processor that offers ACH check processing, emerchantbroker.com can be the best option. EMB is voted the nation’s #1 high risk processor and is also a respectable business loan provider. EMB has an A+ rating with the BBB and is rated A by Card Payment Options. Moreover, EMB is named one of Inc. 500’s Fastest Growing Companies of 2016.

The CRF survey results also show:

  • Cards will capture 12.5% of B2B payments by 2020. This is up from the existing 11% and 8% in 2014.
  • Cash and wire transactions will take 8.5% of payments in 3 years as compared to 8% in 2017 and 7% in 2014.
  • The ACH was the preferred method of receiving payments for almost 80% of the survey participants.
  • 45% of them reported some of their customers weren’t able to send ACH payments.
  • 34% said even though their customers were capable of sending ACH payments, they didn’t send remittance with them in a proper way.
  • 21% didn’t have the necessary systems or resources to use the ACH effectively.

Taking all this into account, you should find a reputable payment processor like EMB to apply for ACH payment processing so to be able to take your business to the next level.