Category: Tips

How to Prevent Fraud in Insurance Payment Portals

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Key Takeaways

  • Insurance payment portals face concentrated fraud risk across account takeover, card testing, ACH abuse, and refund schemes—and each requires tailored controls.
  • The most effective defenses are layered across login, payment, and back-office operations, combining strong authentication, ACH account validation, tuned velocity rules, and clear refund policies.
  • Coordinating fraud prevention with customer service, billing, and vendors turns controls into a better overall policyholder experience—not just more friction.

Insurance leaders have spent the last few years modernizing digital payments. Many have added portals, text-to-pay, IVR, and agent-assisted options that make it easier for policyholders to pay premiums and manage accounts online.

But as those experiences improve, fraudsters follow. And bad actors don’t just care about card numbers; they care about long-lived accounts they can take over, automated clearing house (ACH) rails they can exploit with weak validation, and refund flows they can twist into fast cash.

Ignoring portal fraud isn’t just a security problem. In insurance, it’s a retention, revenue, and coverage problem:

  • A compromised portal account can lead to unauthorized changes that confuse policyholders and drive complaints.
  • Fraudulent or disputed payments can trigger chargebacks, operational cleanup, and regulatory scrutiny.
  • Overaggressive rules can block good customers or make it harder to keep legitimate premiums flowing.

The path forward is not a single “magic” tool. It’s a layered, pragmatic defense—tuned for how card, ACH, and refund flows actually work in insurance.

 

The fraud threats targeting insurance payment portals

Fraud that’s infiltrating insurance portals tends to fall into a few patterns. Common attack types include:

Credential stuffing and account takeover (ATO): Attackers use lists of stolen usernames/passwords to force their way into payment portals where policyholders reuse credentials. Once in, they can:

  • Change contact details or payment methods
  • Add fraudulent cards or bank accounts
  • Make unauthorized onetime or recurring payments (sometimes to test stolen cards)

Card testing and bot abuse: Fraudsters run scripts that fire many small card authorizations through your portal to see which stolen numbers are still live. Insurance portals are particularly attractive because:

  • They often don’t look like “checkout” to issuers, so test transactions may slip through.
  • Premium amounts can be edited, making micro-tests easy.

First-party (“friendly”) fraud and dispute abuse: A real policyholder (or someone close to them) pays, then later disputes the charge with their bank—claiming it was unauthorized, or that coverage wasn’t what they expected. In insurance, this can show up around:

  • New policies or midterm endorsements
  • Large lumpsum payments or catchup premiums
  • Premiums paid just before a claim event

Refund and overpayment schemes: Fraudsters overpay with stolen cards or compromised bank accounts, then pressure staff to “fix” the mistake by refunding to a different destination (e.g., a different card, wire, or wallet).

Abuse of saved payment methods and stored credentials: Long tenured accounts often hold multiple cards or bank details. Without good controls, those stored methods can be:

  • Used by unauthorized users in the household
  • Exploited in ATO incidents
  • Left to quietly fail and trigger downstream churn

The risk isn’t just financial loss. It’s chargeback ratios, scheme reputational scores, ACH return rates, and rising operational load for your billing and CS teams.

 

How fraud shows up in card, ACH, and refund flows

Fraud doesn’t look the same on every rail. You need different signals and controls for each.

Card flows: CNP fraud, card testing, and chargebacks

Card rails are convenient and familiar—but they’re also the most targeted for card-not-present (CNP) fraud.

How it shows up:

  • Spikes in low-value, rapid-fire authorizations (classic card testing).
  • Unusual card use patterns for a single policyholder: multiple cards added in a short period, or cards from high-risk regions.
  • Chargebacks where the customer claims nonrecognition, nonreceipt, or duplicate billing (often friendly fraud).

Maintain dispute playbooks with clear descriptors, documentation, and evidence packs to contest fraudulent or abusive chargebacks.

ACH flows: returns, NSF loops, and validation gaps

ACH is critical for large and recurring premiums because bank accounts change far less often than cards and have lower decline rates. But ACH introduces its own fraud and risk profile.

How it shows up:

  • Repeated NSF returns, often re-debiting without a rational strategy.
  • Unauthorized debits when a fraudster used someone else’s account or the policyholder disputes after the fact.
  • Fake or mistyped account/routing data used to “float” coverage or delay true payment.

Refund and credit flows: policy, people, and process risk

Refund flows are an overlooked fraud vector. In insurance, you’re refunding:

  • Overpayments and duplicate premiums
  • Canceled policies and endorsements
  • Claims overpayments or corrections

Abuse patterns include:

  • Overpayment with a stolen instrument, then a demand for an urgent refund via a different, irreversible rail (wire, wallet, gift card).
  • Engineered customer service or billing reports to bypass normal refund routes (“my card is closed; just send it to this account instead”).

 

Building a layered defense for portals and accounts

Most insurance teams already have some controls in place. The goal of a layered defense is to connect and tune them: stop the obvious bad, step-up protections against the suspicious, and keep things smooth for good customers. Think in three layers: front door, journey, and back office.

1. Front door: strong, sensible access control

Focus: prevent ATO and automated abuse without locking out real policyholders.

Key moves:

Multifactor authentication (MFA) or onetime passwords for:

  • New device logins
  • Sensitive actions (adding/changing payment methods, bank accounts, addresses)
  • High-risk segments (e.g., high premium policies, recent fraud activity)

Rate limiting and bot controls on login and payment endpoints:

  • Throttle repeated failed logins per IP/device
  • Add CAPTCHA only when risk signals are elevated, not on every session

Device and behavior signals:

  • Flag new devices, impossible travel (logins from distant geos in short windows), and odd hour activity for risk-based challenges rather than outright blocks.

2. In-journey: tuned controls at key payment and profile steps

Focus: treat high-risk steps differently from routine interactions.

High-impact points:

Account creation and profile changes

  • Validate email and mobile; confirm changes via out-of-band notifications.
  • Delay or add review for changes that pair with high-risk events (e.g., address change + bank change + large refund request) [needs internal validation].

Payment method add/update

  • Always apply AVS/CVV for new cards; require MFA for adding or replacing stored instruments.
  • For ACH, follow Nacha guidance and validate accounts at first use or on change, not after the first failed debit.

Premium payments

  • Apply risk-based scoring: low-amount, low-risk recurring payments can flow with minimal friction; unusual one-off high-value payments might trigger additional checks.
  • Use intelligent retries and recovery for genuine failures (insufficient funds, transient errors) so declines don’t turn into unnecessary lapses.

Refund initiation in the portal

  • Limit what customers can self-initiate vs. what requires agent review.
  • If you allow self-service refund requests, bind them to original funding sources and enforce caps per period.

3. Back office: monitoring, playbooks, and cross-team coordination

Focus: treat fraud management as an operational discipline, not one-off firefighting.

Core elements:

Clear metrics and dashboards

High-performing organizations track:

  • Decline and failure rates (card and ACH)
  • Chargebacks by reason code
  • ACH return rates and reasons
  • ATO incidents and password reset volumes
  • Refund volume and patterns over time

Fraud spike playbooks

Use a predefined incident runbook (aligned to CSG’s broader “fraud spike” guidance) that covers:

  • Detection and triage thresholds
  • Short-term rule/rate-limit changes
  • Communication flows to CX, legal, and compliance

Governance and ownership

Ensure fraud, payments, security, billing, and CS know:

  • Who owns portal risk decisions
  • How exceptions are handled
  • When to involve vendors or card networks

 

A pragmatic way forward

You don’t have to solve every portal risk this quarter. But you do need a plan.

A realistic sequence for most insurance teams:

Turn on and tune what you already have:

  • AVS/CVV enforcement
  • Basic velocity controls
  • MFA at least for high-risk actions

Close obvious gaps in ACH validation and refund policies:

  • Align to Nacha’s WEB debit account validation expectations for new/changed accounts.
  • Make “refund to original method” your default.

Instrument your metrics:

  • If you can’t see declines, returns, ATO indicators, and refund patterns in one place, fix that. Everything else depends on it.

Layer in smarter tools where warranted:

  • Risk-based monitoring, device intelligence, or specialized fraud platforms when volume, loss, and complexity justify it.

Done well, a layered approach lets trusted policyholders glide through their payment and portal experiences—while fraudsters find your doors locked, your windows latched, and your team ready when they test the walls.

Ready to strengthen your insurance portal against payment fraud? Take the next step: schedule a personalized risk assessment with our experts to start building your layered defense today.

CSG Forte can help you protect your customers, minimize losses, and future-proof your operations. Connect with us now to get started.

 

FAQs

What are the most common fraud threats to insurance payment portals?

Insurance portals are typically targeted by credential stuffing and account takeover attacks, card testing bots, first-party dispute abuse, and refund/overpayment scams that try to reroute funds to different destinations.

How does ACH fraud differ from card fraud in an insurance context?

ACH fraud often appears as unauthorized debits, repeated NSF returns, or use of invalid account details, while card fraud is more likely to involve card-not-present misuse and card testing. Nacha’s WEB debit rules now explicitly require ACH originators to include account validation as part of their fraud detection systems for online debits.

What is Nacha’s expectation for WEB debit fraud detection and account validation?

Nacha requires ACH originators of WEB debit entries to use a “commercially reasonable fraudulent transaction detection system” that includes account validation at a minimum for the first use of an account number and for any subsequent changes, to confirm the account is open and able to receive ACH entries.

How can insurers prevent over-blocking good customers while fighting fraud?

Rather than blanket rules, insurers should use risk-based controls: apply MFA and extra checks for higher-risk actions or unusual patterns, allow low-risk recurring payments to flow with minimal friction, and give CS visibility and scripts to quickly resolve false positives without undermining controls.

Where do CSG Forte/CSG solutions help with insurance portal fraud?

CSG Forte BillPay centralizes card and ACH payments across web, mobile, IVR, text-to-pay, and in-person channels with PCI-compliant hosted forms, tokenization, Account Updater, and reporting that support lower decline and fraud rates, while CSG’s broader security and journey tools help orchestrate reminders, recovery, and risk-aware experiences.

A Practical Guide to Modern Property Management Payment Solutions

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Key Takeaways

  • Digital, omnichannel rent and dues payments dramatically improve on-time collection and reduce manual work for property management teams.
  • Modern payment solutions like combine a branded, resident-friendly portal with secure processing, flexible schedules, notifications, and reporting.
  • Real-world platforms such as Rentec Direct and Buildium have proven that modern payment infrastructure can reduce late payments, stabilize cash flow, and support significant portfolio growth.

Rent and dues collection is the heartbeat of your operation. That money funds your mortgage payments, payroll, maintenance, capital projects, and growth margins.

But for many property managers, “rent week” still looks like pulling crumpled paper checks and money orders from office drop boxes, waiting on staff to key numbers into ledgers or spreadsheets, correcting errors and recalculating deposit totals, making phone calls and sending emails to chase down late payers, driving to the bank to manually deposit the payments, and then waiting three-plus days for the checks to clear—or maybe bounce.

These workflows do more than create stress. They:

  • Limit your ability to scale across properties and markets.
  • Introduce avoidable errors and disputes.
  • Make cash flow harder to forecast.
  • Create an experience that feels outdated to residents who pay everything else online.

Modern rent payments give you another option. By moving to a digital, automated, omnichannel model, you can make on-time payments the default, simplify operations and create a better experience for residents and staff.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through examples of what “modern rent payments” look like; explain how they impact collections, cash flow, and admin work; and discuss how property management platforms like yours fit them into their tech stack.

 

Where manual payment processes hold you back

Manual payment processes show up as operational drag in four core areas.

1. Cash-flow uncertainty and portfolio risk

When payments arrive by mail or in person, timing is largely out of your control. You may have:

  • Spikes of activity around due dates
  • Gaps where you’re waiting on envelopes and walk-ins
  • Delays when staff can’t process deposits immediately

For a single building, that’s an annoyance. For a multi-property or multi-region portfolio, it becomes a structural risk: it’s harder to forecast when you’ll have the funds to cover mortgages, vendors, and payroll or to plan capital improvements with confidence.

2. High administrative burden across locations

Every manual step adds more paid time on tasks like:

  • Opening mail and logging checks or money orders
  • Taking payments over the phone and re-keying card or automated clearing house (ACH) details
  • Tracking down missing information and correcting entry errors
  • Reconciling bank deposits with property management software or accounting systems

Multiply this across leasing offices, communities, and associations, and you’re dedicating dozens of hours per cycle to work that could be handled by integrated systems.

One large property management firm, Gordon James Realty, cut accounts receivable processing costs by 25% and reduced time spent manually processing checks by 15% after adopting CSG Forte electronic payment processing—freeing staff to focus on resident service instead of data entry.

3. Elevated risk and disputes

Cash and paper checks create risk you don’t need:

  • Items can be lost, misrouted, or misapplied.
  • Handwritten notes and ad hoc spreadsheets are easy to misinterpret.
  • The lack of a clean, digital audit trail makes disputes harder to resolve.

Without a consistent, tokenized, system-of-record approach to payments, you’re more exposed to fraud, chargebacks, and resident complaints. And then you spend even more time proving what happened.

4. A resident experience that feels out of step

Today’s renters and owners expect:

  • To see what they owe and pay it from any device
  • Clear confirmation that payments went through
  • Flexible options for timing and channel

Many will still pay with checks if they have to—but it’s rarely the experience they want. Modern payments help you differentiate your communities and meet expectations for professionalism and convenience.

 

What “modern” rent payments really should be

Modernizing payments isn’t just taking cards online. For property managers and community associations, it means building a rent and dues experience that is:

Digital-first, but truly omnichannel

Residents and owners can pay:

  • Through a mobile-friendly portal
  • Over the phone or via interactive voice workflows
  • In person, with staff using the same underlying processing platform
  • Using ACH, cards, or digital wallets, based on your policies

Behind the scenes, your team manages everything through a single, integrated platform that feeds your property management or accounting system.

Resident-friendly and branded

Instead of a generic third-party page, you offer a portal that reflects your brand:

  • Your logo, color palette, and messaging
  • Your URL, so residents feel they’re still on your site
  • Clear presentation of charges, history, and receipts

CSG Forte BillPay, for example, lets organizations create a custom portal URL, upload images for the landing page, and customize text, so the experience feels like a seamless extension of your website.

Automated and policy-driven

Modern rent payments are designed to run on rails:

  • Scheduled and recurring payments
  • Automated reminders and confirmations
  • Automatic posting and reconciliation into your ledgers

You can configure:

  • Schedule-pay and auto-pay for residents who want to “set it and move on”
  • Partial-pay, over-pay, and pre-pay options that align with your lease terms or bylaws
  • Different rules by property, portfolio, or association

Secure and compliant by design

Payment security can’t be an afterthought:

  • Sensitive payment data is captured via PCI-compliant forms.
  • Card and bank details are tokenized and stored on secure servers.
  • Staff interact with tokens—not raw card numbers—reducing PCI scope.
  • Every transaction has a digital audit trail to support dispute resolution and reporting.

Reporting-ready for finance and operations

With cloud-based reporting, you can:

  • Monitor collections by property, payment method, and channel.
  • Spot trends in delinquencies or failed payments sooner.
  • Support audits with exportable data instead of manual roll-ups.

When these pieces work together, “rent week” stops being a scramble and becomes a predictable, trackable process that you can manage strategically.

 

Real-world proof: Buildium’s growth with modern payments

Buildium, a successful property management software company, was born out of firsthand experience with rental properties. Their core customers—property managers—needed a way to:

  • Process a high volume of rent payments.
  • Support high ticket sizes via ACH for larger transactions.
  • Integrate payments cleanly into the software experience property managers already relied on.

Buildium chose CSG Forte for a customized ACH processing solution with:

  • A payment platform built for high volumes and high-value transactions
  • Easy-to-use APIs that fit Buildium’s product architecture
  • A dedicated implementation team and a consistent CSG Forte account owner

The results

Between 2016 and 2017, Buildium saw almost 35% year-over-year growth in transactions and a 39% year-over-year increase in dollars processed.

That growth helped Buildium become a leading software solution for property managers and contributed to its acquisition by a multinational property management software corporation for $580 million.

For property managers, that success translates into a more robust, reliable payments backbone embedded in the software many of you already use—proof that the right payment infrastructure can scale with your portfolio.

 

Where CSG Forte BillPay fits in your property management tech stack

CSG Forte BillPay is an electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) solution that layers a hosted, branded portal and omnichannel payment experience on top of secure, scalable payment processing.

For property managers, HOAs, and community associations, that means you can:

  • Present charges (rent, dues, fees, utilities and more) clearly in a resident-friendly portal.
  • Let residents pay anytime, by phone, online, or in person, with their preferred method.
  • Configure autopay, schedule-pay, partial-pay, over-pay, and pre-pay based on your policies.
  • Offer notifications and text-to-pay for recurring users to reduce late payments.
  • Feed daily payment files into your accounting or property management system in flexible formats.
  • Keep data secure with tokenization and PCI-compliant capture of payment details.

CSG Forte can complement the property management software you already use—helping you modernize the payments experience without replacing your core PMS or rewriting your entire tech stack

 

Next step: See modern rent payments in action

Modern rent payments are no longer a “nice to have.” They’re quickly becoming the standard that residents expect and that operations teams need to stay ahead.

If you want to:

  • Reduce late payments and delinquencies across your portfolio.
  • Cut down on manual work every rent and dues cycle.
  • Offer a resident experience that feels modern, not dated.
  • Put your teams on a single, secure payments backbone.

If you’re ready to see what recurring digital payments and a hosted bill pay portal could do for your communities, request a demo of CSG Forte BillPay to learn how modern rent and dues collection can improve your tenants’ payment habits, allowing you to move away from paper checks from paper checks, manual tracking, and traditional rent-week chaos.

 

FAQs

1. Why should property managers move from paper checks to digital rent and dues payments?

Rent and dues collection is the cash-flow engine for your properties, funding everything from mortgages and payroll to maintenance and capital projects. Manual processes—opening mail, keying in checks, reconciling deposits, and chasing late payers—introduce delays, errors, and uncertainty, especially across multi-property portfolios. Digital, omnichannel payments help make on-time payments the default, reduce admin work, and give you clearer, more predictable cash flow so you can plan and grow with confidence.

2. What makes “modern” rent payments different from basic online payments?

Modern rent payments go beyond simply accepting cards on a website. A truly modern solution is:

  • Digital-first and omnichannel: Residents can pay online, on mobile, by phone/IVR, or in person, all on the same underlying platform.
  • Resident-friendly and branded: A portal on your URL with your logo, colors, and messaging, plus clear views of balances, history, and receipts.
  • Automated and policy-driven: Auto-pay, schedule-pay, partial/over/pre-pay options, reminders, confirmations, and automatic posting/reconciliation.
  • Secure and compliant: Tokenization, PCI-compliant capture forms, and a full digital audit trail for easier dispute resolution and reporting.

3. How can modern rent payments reduce late payments and delinquencies?

Digital payment infrastructure makes it easier for residents to pay on time, every time by:

  • Allowing them to set and forget with auto-pay or scheduled payments tied to due dates.
  • Sending proactive reminders and confirmations through their preferred channels (email, text, portal notifications).
  • Supporting multiple payment methods (ACH, cards, digital wallets) and channels, so residents can pay from anywhere, on any device.

Real-world platforms like Buildium, powered by scalable payment processing, have seen strong growth in both transaction volume and dollars processed, translating into more reliable collections and healthier cash flow for property managers.

4. How does CSG Forte BillPay fit into my existing property management or accounting system?

CSG Forte BillPay is designed to layer on top of the tools you already use, not replace them. It provides a hosted, branded portal and omnichannel payment experience that can:

  • Present rent, dues, fees, and utilities clearly to residents.
  • Capture payments online, by phone, or in person and feed daily payment files into your PMS or accounting system in flexible formats.
  • Apply your rules for auto-pay, partial/over/pre-pay, and property- or association-specific policies.

That means you can modernize the resident payment experience and streamline back-office work without rewriting your tech stack or ripping out your core property management software.

5. Is it secure for residents to store their payment information and pay online?

Yes—when payments are handled through a modern, compliant provider. With CSG Forte:

  • Sensitive card and bank data is captured via PCI-compliant forms and tokenized, so your staff interacts only with secure tokens, not raw account numbers.
  • Transactions are processed on secure, audited servers, reducing your PCI scope and exposure to sensitive payment data.
  • Every payment generates a digital audit trail, which helps resolve disputes and supports internal and external audits.

The result is a safer experience for residents and a lower-risk, more compliant environment for your business than handling paper checks or storing payment details locally.

ACH vs Card Payments: A Practical Strategy for Mid-Market Banks

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Key Takeaways

  • ACH generally offers lower processing costs and strong support for recurring, high‑value payments, while cards excel at real‑time, customer‑friendly experiences.
  • Banks should tailor ACH and card mixes by industry and use case, then help clients gradually migrate appropriate volumes from card and checks to ACH.
  • Unified platforms support both ACH and cards across channels—with account verification, PCI‑aligned security and shared reporting—simplify operations for banks and mid‑market customers.

Mid‑market financial institutions (banks with annual revenue between $10 million and $500 million) are under pressure to move money faster, more efficiently, and with less friction. Yet many still rely on a default mix of cards and even checks that was set up years ago, without revisiting whether those payment rails still make sense for today’s volumes, margins, and customer expectations.

For banks, that’s both a risk and an opportunity. Your mid‑market portfolio depends on reliable, low‑friction money movement. Helping business clients choose and optimize between ACH and card payments is one of the most direct ways to cut costs, reduce failures, and deepen relationships over time.

This guide offers a practical way for to talk about ACH vs card payments with business customers, and to design the right rail mix by use case and industry.

 

How ACH and cards each support business clients

ACH: the low‑cost, bank‑to‑bank workhorse

The Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network is the United States’ system for batch electronic funds transfers. It’s used for everything from payroll and benefits to bill payments and B2B transactions.

It moves money directly between bank accounts via credit “push” and debit “pull” transactions, governed by Nacha standards and rules.

For mid‑market businesses, ACH is often the best fit when:

  • Ticket sizes are larger or recurring: ACH processing typically costs less than accepting credit card payments, especially for high‑value or subscription‑like transactions.
  • Predictability matters more than instant authorization: Same‑day ACH and late cut‑off windows can provide funds availability within one business day for many payments, while keeping fees below typical card costs.
  • They want “set it and forget it” billing: ACH is well suited to recurring invoices, memberships, rent and payroll, where customers authorize regular debits from their accounts.

Modern ACH platforms also support acceptance across online, mobile, phone (including interactive voice response, or IVR, and text-to-pay) and in‑person channels from one system, so finance teams are not juggling separate tools per rail.

Cards: the high‑conversion, customer‑friendly rail

Debit and credit cards run over global card networks governed by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which sets technical and operational requirements for protecting cardholder data.

Cards tend to win when:

  • Convenience and familiarity drive completion: Customers know how to pay with cards in eCommerce, mobile apps, and at physical points of sale.
  • Instant authorization and confirmation are critical: Cards provide real‑time approval, which is valuable for time‑sensitive purchases, last‑minute bill payments, or services that start immediately after payment.
  • The payer is hesitant to share bank details: Many consumers and small businesses are more comfortable using card credentials than routing and account numbers.

In U.S. online payments, debit cards are widely preferred: more than half of Americans say debit is their primary payment card, and debit card online payments outperform bank account transfers in some contexts.

That makes debit a particularly useful rail for digital bill pay and repayment scenarios.

In practice, most mid‑market clients benefit from using both ACH and cards—applied intentionally to the right use cases rather than by habit.

 

Comparing cost, speed, and risk by use case

A simple way to structure client conversations is around three dimensions: cost, speed/experience, and risk/failure patterns.

Cost

ACH

  • ACH payments can generally be processed for less than the cost of credit card transactions, which is especially impactful on large or recurring payments.
  • This makes ACH a strong fit for B2B invoices, subscriptions, dues, leases, tuition and similar flows where margins are tight.

Cards

  • Card acceptance involves network, interchange and acquirer fees that add up at scale, particularly on high‑ticket items.
  • For some regulated use cases, businesses may use compliant service or convenience fees to offset card processing costs, particularly on debit transactions; this requires careful alignment with card‑network and regulatory rules.

Speed and customer experience

ACH

  • Nacha estimates that about 80% of ACH payments—credits and debits—settle in one banking day or less via regular or Same Day ACH.
  • Same‑day ACH and flexible cut‑offs mean many payments can reach the receiving account the same day or by the next business day, with some weekend processing posting on Monday.
  • That’s fast enough for most recurring and scheduled obligations, especially when paired with reminders and autopay.

Cards

  • Cards provide real‑time authorization and immediate confirmation at checkout, which reduces anxiety for customers making last‑minute or high‑stakes payments.
  • This often improves completion rates in digital flows, particularly with debit card options that match how many US consumers already pay for everyday expenses.

Risk and failure patterns

ACH

  • ACH transactions can be returned for reasons like insufficient funds, invalid account numbers or closed accounts; these are communicated using standardized return codes.
  • Account validation and verification services help identify inactive or high‑risk accounts before submission and support Nacha’s fraud‑detection mandate, reducing unnecessary fees from returns.

Cards

  • Card transactions can fail due to expired or reissued cards, insufficient credit, issuer fraud controls or technical issues.
  • Debit card payments used for recurring obligations can reduce certain types of returns, because funds are verified in real time and card credentials typically don’t change as frequently as customer bank relationships. This aligns with broader research showing debit as a preferred, high‑usage rail for U.S. consumers.

Encourage clients to look at where payments fail today—for example, ACH returns vs card declines—and then consider which rail, combined with better tools, best reduces that friction.

 

Designing the right rail mix by industry

Rail strategy is highly contextual. Specific recommendations should reflect each client’s customer profile, ticket sizes, channels, and regulatory environment. The patterns below can help structure industry‑specific conversations.

1. B2B services and SaaS

  • Default rail: ACH for recurring invoices, retainers and subscription fees to keep processing costs low and cash flow predictable.
  • Complementary rails: Cards for small, one‑off invoices, international customers or long‑tail segments that resist sharing bank credentials.
  • How to frame it: Position ACH autopay as a way to simplify collections and reduce manual reconciliation, with card as a flexible backup for online checkouts.

2. Property, rent and association dues

  • Default rail: ACH for monthly rent or dues, especially for residents or members on long‑term agreements.
  • Complementary rails: Debit and credit cards for move‑in fees, short‑term leases or residents who want to manage cash flow on a card; digital wallets can support mobile‑first experiences.
  • How to frame it: Use ACH for stable, recurring payments where lower costs and predictability matter, while offering cards and wallets to improve adoption and convenience.

3. Healthcare, education and membership‑based organizations

  • Default rail: ACH for payment plans, tuition and larger balances that benefit from lower transaction costs.
  • Complementary rails: Debit and credit cards for co‑pays, incidentals and smaller balances where patients, students or members prioritize familiarity and speed.
  • How to frame it: This segment often sees a mix of institutional and consumer payers; focus on flexibility, clear communication and the ability to support both scheduled plans (ACH) and ad hoc payments (cards).

4. Government, utilities, and recurring billers

  • Default rail: ACH for scheduled bill pay and autopay programs, where lower per‑transaction costs are attractive at scale and Same Day ACH can still provide prompt posting.
  • Complementary rails: Cards and digital wallets for last‑minute or catch‑up payments, and for customers who rely heavily on mobile and IVR channels.
  • How to frame it: Emphasize omnichannel bill pay with a consistent experience across web, mobile, IVR, text‑to‑pay and in‑person—while nudging predictable payers toward ACH to protect budgets.

Across industries, your advisory role is to help clients document key flows (by channel and scenario) and assign both a primary and backup rail for each.

 

How CSG Forte helps banks deliver modern ACH and card experiences

Banks do not need to build a multi‑rail payments stack from scratch. A modern payments partner can help you deliver both ACH and card capabilities—plus the tooling around them—as an integrated merchant services offering.

CSG Forte provides a unified, cloud‑based platform for ACH, debit and credit card acceptance across web, mobile, IVR, text‑to‑pay and in‑person channels, with centralized reporting and reconciliation.

By pairing your relationship strength with a platform built for multi‑rail, omnichannel payments, you can help mid‑market customers move from ad hoc choices (“whatever rail is there”) to an intentional ACH + card mix that reduces friction, lowers costs and supports growth—while protecting and expanding your own revenue base.

CSG Forte‑powered solutions help financial institutions just like yours modernize their bill pay and receivables. Reach out today to schedule a demo.

 

FAQs

What is the main difference between ACH and card payments for businesses?

ACH moves funds directly between bank accounts in batches via the ACH Network, often at a lower processing cost than card payments, and is ideal for recurring or high‑value transfers.

Card payments run over global card networks with real‑time authorization and higher fees, making them a better fit where speed and convenience are paramount.

How fast do ACH payments clear compared to cards?

Many ACH payments—credits and debits—settle in one banking day or less, thanks to Same Day ACH and optimized processing windows.

Card transactions authorize in real time at checkout, but actual settlement with the merchant’s bank follows the card network’s clearing cycles.

Are ACH payments secure enough for mid‑market companies?

Yes. ACH payments are governed by Nacha Operating Rules, and modern providers layer in account verification, fraud monitoring and strong data protection controls to reduce returns and unauthorized transactions.

Can one platform handle both ACH and card payments for our business clients?

Yes. CSG Forte, for example, supports credit and debit cards, ACH and eChecks across online, mobile, IVR, text‑to‑pay and in‑person channels, with a unified reporting and reconciliation layer.

What metrics should banks track to know if their clients’ rail mix is working?

Useful measures include payment mix by rail, cost per payment for ACH vs cards, failure and return rates by method, digital vs manual channel adoption and the operational impact on staff time and call volume.

 How Recurring Rent Payments Improve Collections, Reduce Admin Burden

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Key Takeaways

  • Manual rent collection drives late payments and inefficiency: Paper checks and cash slow cash flow, increase errors, and consume staff time—contributing to higher delinquency rates and tenant frustration.
  • Recurring rent payments significantly reduce delinquencies and late fees: Automated, scheduled payments eliminate forgetfulness and friction, improving on-time payment rates and stabilizing monthly cash flow.
  • Autopay improves tenant satisfaction and operational performance: Recurring payments reduce payment anxiety, minimize rent-chasing, lower turnover, and free property teams to focus on higher-value work.

Rent is one of the largest—and most important—monthly expenses for the 35% of U.S. households that rent their homes. Today’s renters expect the same speed, convenience, and flexibility they get from other online payment platforms.

Despite many tenants’ preference to make rent payments online, many property managers still rely on paper checks and manual processes that frustrate tenants, slow collections, and increase administrative burden. Late and missed payments remain a top operational challenge: 41% of property managers cite late rent payments as a major issue, and 14% of tenants incurred a late fee in 2024.

Recurring rent payments—automated, digital payments scheduled in advance—offer a better way forward, creating a better experience for both renters and property teams. In this blog, we’ll explore how recurring payments overcome the limitations of manual rent collection, reducing delinquencies, stabilizing cash flow, and easing administrative burden.

 

3 drawbacks of manual rent collection

Manual rent collection can often be a factor in:

  • Administrative drain: Many property managers find themselves stuck “in the weeds,” spending hours processing checks, updating spreadsheets and making bank deposits—time that could be better spent maintaining properties and building tenant relationships. Without automated reminders or recurring payments, staff must chase late-paying tenants, increasing stress and workload.
  • Late payments and slow cash flow: With manual payments, you’re often waiting for the money. Checks take time to arrive and clear, delaying payments to mortgage companies, vendors, and staff. If a check bounces, property managers must follow up with the resident and secure another payment.
  • Increased risk of error and fraud: Manual data entry and cash handling increase the likelihood of mistakes. Late fees, security deposits, and payment records are easier to mishandle without automation. Cash payments lack a digital trail, leading to disputes over lost or partial payments. Storing cash or sensitive bank info exposes managers and tenants to theft and identity fraud.

The solution: an online rent collection system with recurring payments.

 

Benefits of recurring rent payments

Recurring rent payments—often called autopay—automatically charge a tenant’s saved bank account or card on a set schedule, typically monthly or biweekly. Once tenants enroll, rent is collected digitally with minimal effort from either party.

Increased on-time rent collection

  • Collecting rent online with recurring payments makes on-time payments the default instead of the exception.
  • Units with tenants on autopay achieve a 99% on-time rent rate, compared with 87% for units without autopay.

At Rentec Direct, a provider of online property management software powered by CSG Forte, renters using recurring payments were late only 1% of the time between April and July 2020, versus 22% overall during that period.

Reduced tenant turnover

  • Recurring payments reduce common pain points that can drive tenants away.
  • Less payment friction via no more paper checks, manual reminders, or rigid office hours.
  • Rent becomes a predictable, “set-it-and-forget-it” expense instead of a monthly stressor.
  • Automated payments limit awkward rent-chasing conversations.

The result is a smoother landlord–tenant relationship and higher lease renewal rates.

Less administrative work

  • Recurring payments turn rent collection from a high-touch process into a low-touch one.
  • Property management software can match payments to units and ledgers automatically.
  • With more on-time payments, staff spend less time on reminders, notices and follow-up.
  • Direct deposit and clearer cash flow: Funds are deposited directly into bank accounts, improving cash flow visibility and predictability.

 

4 best practices for setting up recurring rent payments

To maximize autopay adoption and results, property managers should balance convenience for tenants with operational control by:

1. Requiring card-on-file input during onboarding

  • Make online payment setup part of the onboarding process.
  • Even if tenants opt out of autopay, having a backup payment method on file enables quick recovery if a primary payment fails.

2. Offer flexible, payday-aligned scheduling

  • Align payments with paydays.
  • Reduce non-sufficient funds (NSF) declines and payment stress.

3. Incentivize Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments over credit cards

  • ACH accounts don’t expire like cards, reducing failed payments and late fees.
  • Apply convenience fees to card payments.

4. Use automated dunning before applying late fees

  • Send immediate text or email notifications, asking the tenant to update payment info.
  • Retry payments using intelligent retry logic.
  • If recovery attempts fail by Day 5, send a formal notice of payment failure.

 

How to encourage autopay enrollment without adding pressure

Some tenants hesitate to enroll in autopay due to concerns about losing control of their money. If their rent payment is withdrawn three days before a paycheck arrives, it could trigger an overdraft fee. The key is to highlight the control, flexibility, and peace of mind provided by recurring payments.

  • Late fee prevention: No missed payments due to travel or busy schedules
  • Split payments: Align rent with biweekly paydays
  • Credit building: On-time payments may be reported to credit bureaus, helping tenants build credit

Simple, mobile-friendly autopay enrollment built into resident portals removes friction—making renters far more likely to complete setup. Showing residents how easy it is to cancel or pause autopay boosts adoption.

 

Measuring automatic rent collection success

To evaluate effectiveness, track more than autopay sign-ups. Key metrics include:

  • Autopay adoption rate: The percentage of your total tenant base enrolled in recurring payments vs. those paying manually. Aim for 85% or higher. If the adoption rate is low, the enrollment process may be too difficult, or you’re not highlighting the benefits clearly enough.
  • Delinquency rate: The percentage of rental units for which rent has not been paid by the established due date. Target 2% or less for autopay users.
  • Collection velocity (days to zero): How quickly balances reach zero after the first of the month. Day 1 is the goal.
  • Payment failure rate: The percentage of recurring transactions that fail due to expired cards or NSF. If the failure rate is high, you may need to encourage ACH instead of credit cards or implement an account updater and recovery services with intelligent retry logic.
  • Administrative labor reduction: The number of hours staff save on rent collection tasks. Track how many hours staff spend on manual reconciliation, chasing late payments (e.g., sending emails and making phone calls), and processing checks—before and after implementing autopay. You should reduce “rent week” administrative labor by 50% or more.

 

Streamline rent payments and cut late fees with CSG Forte

Automatic rent collection through recurring payments delivers faster collections, fewer late payments, and a smoother experience for both renters and property teams. For property managers focused on modernizing operations and improving retention, recurring payments are no longer optional—they’re the standard.

CSG Forte’s property management payment solutions make it easy for renters to pay online while automating rent collection to simplify workflows and strengthen cash flow.

Contact us to learn how CSG Forte helps streamline rent payments, reduce delinquencies, and keep renters satisfied.

How Modern Bank Bill Pay Solutions Compete on CX, Cost, and Risk

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Key Takeaways

  • Bill payments are now a strategic engagement and trust driver for banks, not just a back‑office utility.
  • Customers expect fast, clear, mobile‑first bill pay with flexible options like autopay, partial payments, and text‑to‑pay.
  • A phased roadmap—improving UX, expanding channels, centralizing insights, and adding valuable services—helps banks compete with fintechs while managing cost and risk.

For years, bank bill pay was treated as a “utility feature”—something that just needed to exist inside digital banking. That’s no longer enough.

Consumers now pay most of their bills online, and the share paid directly on biller sites has steadily grown as those sites improved their user experience (UX) and flexibility.

At the same time, financial technology companies (fintechs) have built bill pay into wallets, P2P apps, and budgeting tools, wrapping payments in helpful nudges and clear communication.

When that’s the competitive set, bank bill pay solutions becomes strategic in three ways:

  • Primary engagement driver: Bill pay is one of the most frequent digital banking activities. If customers find it easier to pay bills elsewhere, they have fewer reasons to log in to your apps or portal.
  • Trust signal: Paying a mortgage, utilities, credit cards, and subscriptions through your bank means customers are trusting you with on‑time, accurate delivery of life‑critical payments. Missed or late payments—even when caused by UX friction or routing issues—damage that trust.
  • Defensive moat against fintechs: As more non‑banks offer “pay from any account” options, a modern bill payment platform helps keep payments—and data—anchored with the bank, instead of disintermediated by third parties.

Banks that treat bill pay as a differentiator design the experience to be:

  • Simple enough to use every month without thinking
  • Flexible enough to fit changing income and expense patterns
  • Reliable and transparent enough that customers never have to wonder, “Did that actually go through?”

 

What customers expect from modern bank‑hosted bill pay

Customer expectations around bill pay have shifted in three big ways.

1. Speed and clarity as table stakes

Customers assume:

  • Payments will post quickly, with clear expected posting dates.
  • They’ll see unambiguous confirmations and receipts.
  • They can easily track payment history and status.

Anything less feels outdated compared to biller sites and fintech apps that behave more like modern payment portals with features such as real‑time status and push notifications.

2. Flexible options that match real‑world cash flow

Many consumers don’t pay every bill in a single monthly batch anymore. Data across billers shows that most bills are still one‑time payments, leaving them dependent on customers’ organization and memory—and about half end up being paid late.

As a result, customers increasingly look for:

  • Autopay (“set it and forget it”) for recurring bills
  • Scheduled payments to align with paydays
  • Partial‑pay, over‑pay, and pre‑pay options when they need extra flexibility

3. Omnichannel, mobile‑first access

Customers want to pay:

  • In a mobile‑optimized web or native app
  • Via text or email links when they get reminders
  • Over the phone or in person when necessary

The bar has been raised by billers offering text‑to‑pay, digital wallets, and guest checkout flows that don’t force registration.

If your bank’s bill pay solution doesn’t deliver on these basics, customers will either default to individual biller sites (where the biller can cross‑sell credit or competing products) or adopt fintech apps that feel more in tune with their day‑to‑day lives.

 

Balancing convenience, cost, and risk

As banks modernize bill pay, the following tensions show up repeatedly as:

Customer convenience vs. payment costs

  • Cards and wallets are often the most convenient for customers but carry higher interchange costs.
  • ACH/eChecks tend to be more cost‑efficient for recurring, predictable payments.

A modern strategy doesn’t force customers into a single method. Instead, it:

  • Makes cost‑efficient options like ACH easy and attractive for recurring bills.
  • Uses clearer messaging and incentives to guide customers toward preferred rails where it makes sense.

Frictionless UX vs. fraud and compliance controls

Security and compliance are non‑negotiable, especially for banks. But many controls can be applied behind the scenes:

  • Tokenization and PCI‑compliant forms ensure sensitive card data isn’t stored or exposed unnecessarily, reducing PCI scope while protecting customers.
  • Risk‑based monitoring and layered defenses can be applied to higher‑risk actions (adding payees, changing payment accounts, large transfers) without slowing every simple bill payment.

The goal is to apply sensible friction where risk is highest, not across the entire journey.

Modern capabilities vs. internal capacity

Many institutions struggle to modernize because payments data is fragmented across systems and teams, and they lack in‑house development resources to re‑platform bill pay.

That’s where hosted, configurable bill pay solutions can help:

  • They provide modern UX patterns, omnichannel support, and robust security out of the box.
  • Banks retain branding, messaging, and policy control, without needing to build and maintain payment infrastructure themselves.

 

Building a roadmap to modernize bank bill pay

Modernization doesn’t have to be a single, massive project. A phased roadmap helps banks compete more quickly while de‑risking the journey.

Step 1: Assess and prioritize friction

Start with a pragmatic diagnostic:

  • Analyze abandonment points in current bill pay flows.
  • Identify which bill types generate the most support calls or disputes.
  • Gather qualitative feedback from customers and front‑line staff about what’s confusing, slow, or unreliable.

Use this to rank opportunities by:

  • Impact on customer experience (NPS, complaints).
  • Impact on on‑time payment rates and late fees.
  • Implementation complexity.

Step 2: Modernize the front‑end experience

Before replacing every back‑end system, banks can often make significant gains by:

  • Simplifying and standardizing UX across mobile and web.
  • Adding guest checkout and reducing required fields.
  • Improving confirmation, receipts, and payment status visibility.
  • Introducing or refining autopay and scheduling options.

Hosted, branded bill pay portals can accelerate this phase, enabling banks to define graphic and contextual elements while taking advantage of proven UX patterns and mobile responsiveness.

Step 3: Expand channels and options

Once the core portal is improved:

  • Add text‑to‑pay and email‑to‑pay options that deep‑link into the bill pay flow.
  • Introduce or promote digital wallets for customers who prefer stored credentials across devices.
  • Align these with a clear communication strategy so customers know what’s available and when to use it.

Step 4: Centralize operations and insights

To sustain and optimize modern bill pay, banks need better operational visibility:

  • Centralized, cloud‑based reporting across channels and payment rails.
  • Real‑time access for customer‑facing teams to view transactions, cancel scheduled payments, process refunds, or voids as needed.

This kind of central management hub allows banks to:

  • Spot issues early (e.g., spikes in declines or specific payees with frequent errors).
  • Answer customer questions quickly without escalating to back‑office teams.
  • Track the impact of changes on completion, adoption, and decline rates.

Step 5: Optimize with data and value‑added services

As bill pay matures, banks can further defend against fintech competition by quietly improving reliability and approvals behind the scenes using value‑added services such as:

  • Account updater to refresh expired or reissued cards and reduce decline rates.
  • Account verification to lower ACH decline rates and reduce fraud risk.
  • Automated recovery services for failed ACH due to insufficient funds, with smart retry logic that minimizes customer friction.

These capabilities help ensure that when customers do everything “right”—set up autopay, pay on time—the payment actually goes through. That kind of reliability is a powerful differentiator, even if customers never see the mechanics.

 

How a modern bill pay partner fits in

Most banks don’t want to become payment UX design shops or PCI experts. They want to provide secure, reliable, flexible bill pay that keeps them at the center of their customers’ financial lives.

CSG Forte BillPay is designed for exactly that outcome:

  • Hosted, branded portals that preserve bank identity while delivering a modern, mobile‑friendly experience.
  • Omnichannel acceptance across online, mobile, POS, IVR, and text‑to‑pay so customers can pay how and when they want.
  • Flexible payment options including scheduled, recurring, partial, over‑pay, and pre‑pay to match real‑world cash flow needs.
  • Security and compliance by design, with tokenized, PCI‑compliant payment capture and storage that reduces PCI scope.
  • Centralized reporting and controls via a cloud‑based operations hub, giving banks a unified view of payments and tools for refunds, voids, and reconciliation.

By pairing these capabilities with a pragmatic roadmap, banks can move from “good enough” bill pay to an experience that truly competes with the best fintechs—on customer terms, without compromising on risk or operational control.

Are you ready to explore how modern bank bill payment options can work for you? Contact the experts at CSG Forte today to learn more about how a branded solution can help you compete on experience and trust.

 

FAQs

Why should banks invest in modernizing bill pay now?

Because customer expectations and competitive pressure have shifted. More bills are paid online and via digital channels, and fintechs and billers are offering flexible, mobile‑first experiences that can disintermediate banks from day‑to‑day payment behavior.

What bill pay features do customers consider “must‑have”?

Clear payment status, fast posting, the ability to set and manage autopay and scheduled payments, mobile accessibility, and support for common rails like ACH and cards are increasingly seen as table stakes.

How can banks reduce the cost of digital bill pay?

By encouraging cost‑efficient rails like ACH for recurring, predictable payments and using centralized reporting to monitor and adjust the mix of channels and methods over time.

How does a hosted bill pay solution impact security and PCI scope?

When sensitive card data is captured using PCI‑compliant, tokenized forms hosted by a payments provider, banks can reduce their PCI scope while maintaining strong data protection and compliance posture.

Is a full core replacement required to modernize bill pay?

No. Many banks start by modernizing the front‑end experience and centralizing reporting through hosted bill pay portals that integrate with existing systems, then phase in more changes over time.

7 Common Reasons for ACH Returns (and How to Prevent Them)

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Key Takeaways

  • ACH returns are electronic payment failures signaled by standardized codes that reveal whether the issue is funds, data quality, authorization, account status, or suspected errors.
  • Nacha expects originators to keep unauthorized ACH debit returns under 0.5%, administrative returns under 3%, and overall debit returns under 15% over a rolling 60‑day period.
  • Combining strong data capture, clear authorization, customer‑friendly billing journeys, and automated return/NOC handling within a unified bill pay and payments platform significantly reduces ACH return rates and manual effort.

ACH returns don’t just slow down cash flow—they quietly eat into staff time, increase risk and erode payer trust.

For office managers and finance directors who rely on ACH to keep costs low, understanding why those payments come back is the first step toward fixing the process, not just the symptom.

This guide walks you through what ACH returns are, the most common reasons they happen, how Nacha looks at your return rates, and how a modern bill payment stack can help you get ahead of them—without piling more work on your team.

 

What are ACH returns?

ACH (Automated Clearing House) payments are electronic transfers that move money between bank accounts using routing and account numbers instead of card networks. They are governed by Nacha, which sets the operating rules for the ACH Network.

In a typical ACH debit:

  • Your organization (through its bank or payments provider) sends a payment request into the ACH Network.
  • The ACH operator routes that request to your customer’s bank.
  • The customer’s bank either posts the debit or rejects it.

An ACH return happens when the customer’s bank can’t or won’t complete that transaction. Instead of the funds moving to your account, the transaction is “returned” through the network with a standardized return code explaining what went wrong.

In practice, an ACH return is the electronic version of a bounced check: you expected the money, but the bank sent back a code instead.

Two bank roles are central to every ACH return:

  • Originating Depository Financial Institution (ODFI): Your bank or payments provider, which sends ACH entries into the network on your behalf.
  • Receiving Depository Financial Institution (RDFI) :Your customer’s bank, which receives the entry and either posts it or returns it.

When the RDFI returns a transaction, it uses one of more than 70 return codes—each mapped to a specific scenario and timeframe.

 

Why ACH returns matter for finance and operations

Even if they represent a small portion of your total volume, ACH returns have outsized impact.

Operationally, every return usually means:

  • Extra research to decode the reason and decide what to do next
  • Outreach to the payer to correct information or resolve a dispute
  • Manual updates to your billing or ERP system
  • Potential rework of payment plans or service status

Financially, ACH returns:

  • Delay or prevent expected revenue
  • Increase days sales outstanding (DSO)
  • Add overhead in the form of staff time and bank or processor fees

From a compliance perspective, Nacha expects originators to keep return rates within specific thresholds over a rolling 60‑day period:

  • Overall ACH debit returns: below 15%
  • Administrative returns (R02–R04): below 3%
  • Unauthorized debit returns: below 0.5%

These thresholds are significantly higher than typical, healthy return rates—but they’re clear signals. If you’re approaching them, it’s a warning that your authorization, data quality or risk controls need attention.

For office managers and finance directors, the takeaway is simple: you can’t treat ACH returns as one-off annoyances. They’re ongoing indicators of how well your payment processes are working.

 

What are the main reasons for ACH returns?

Behind the alphabet soup of return codes, most ACH returns fall into a handful of patterns that you can understand—and influence.

1. Insufficient or unavailable funds (NSF)

What’s happening: The payer doesn’t have enough available money in their account when the debit tries to clear.

Nacha distinguishes between:

  • Accounts that are simply short on funds
  • Accounts where funds are on hold because prior deposits haven’t cleared yet

In both cases, the result is the same: the debit can’t be posted, so the bank returns it.

Why it matters:

  • Direct impact on cash flow: You don’t get paid on time.
  • Additional staff time: Someone needs to decide whether and when to retry, and how to communicate with the customer.
  • Higher perceived risk: Repeated NSF returns from the same payer or segment can signal credit or affordability issues.

How to reduce NSF returns in practice

You can’t control your customers’ balances, but you can:

  • Align payment timing with common pay cycles where possible (for example, allowing customers to choose dates that work for them).
  • Use reminders before scheduled debits so customers can move funds if needed.
  • Apply smart retry logic (within Nacha rules) rather than manual, ad hoc re-submissions.

A bill payment experience that supports schedule‑pay, auto‑pay and configurable email or text reminders makes these tactics easier to operationalize, especially as your ACH volume grows.

2. Bad or outdated account information (administrative errors)

What’s happening: The routing or account details on file are wrong, incomplete or no longer associated with an open account.

Common scenarios include:

  • The payer closed the account after setting up ACH with you
  • A number was keyed incorrectly
  • A merger or bank change altered routing/account structures

These issues appear as administrative return codes (for example, “Account Closed,” “No Account,” “Invalid Account Number”) and are subject to the 3% administrative return threshold.

Why it matters

  • You incur a failure before you even reach the “real” risk of insufficient funds or disputes.
  • Your team has to track down updated details or alternative payment methods.
  • Recurring payment schedules can break quietly, leading to downstream collections issues.

How to reduce administrative returns

Practical moves include:

  • Using PCI‑compliant online forms so customers enter their own bank data instead of dictating it over the phone, which reduces keying errors.
  • Applying basic format validation at capture (for example, verifying routing number structures before you submit a live debit).
  • Taking advantage of Notices of Change (NOCs) from banks to update stored account details when institutions or account structures change.

A hosted bill payment portal that accepts both standard and custom file formats, supports ACH and cards, and tokenizes sensitive data helps you maintain data quality while keeping your PCI footprint manageable.

3. Closed, frozen or restricted accounts

What’s happening: The payer’s bank can’t allow debits from the account because of its status.

Common reasons include:

  • The payer or bank closed the account
  • Legal or regulatory action froze the account
  • Sanctions or watchlist matches require the bank to block certain activity

In all cases, the originator sees a return code that maps to “account closed” or “entry not allowed due to account status.”

Why it matters:

  • You may need to move the payer to a different funding source quickly to avoid service interruptions.
  • A cluster of returns linked to frozen or sanctioned accounts can prompt more detailed review from your bank or payments partner.
  • Repeated returns from the same payer or entity could indicate larger risk issues.

How to respond:

  • Flag accounts with repeated “account status” returns for manual review.
  • Make it easy for payers to update funding methods in a self‑service portal (for example, switching from a closed bank account to a new ACH account or card).
  • Work with your payments provider to understand any patterns in these returns across your portfolio.

4. Missing, revoked, or disputed authorization

What’s happening: The payer disputes that they agreed to the debit, or that it was carried out in line with what they agreed to.

Common underlying issues include:

  • The customer doesn’t recognize the company name or descriptor on their statement.
  • The payer revoked authorization (for example, cancelled a plan), but debits continued.
  • The date or amount of the debit didn’t match the terms they remember.

Nacha gives consumers a 60‑day window to dispute unauthorized debits on their accounts.

These entries are returned using specific unauthorized or “not in accordance with authorization” codes and count against the 0.5% unauthorized threshold.

It matters because unauthorized returned are highly scrutinized since they often reflect:

  • Weak or unclear authorization language
  • Poor recordkeeping (you can’t prove consent when asked)
  • Confusing billing descriptors and communication

If your unauthorized return rate drifts upward, your ODFI and Nacha may expect you to change how you capture and manage authorizations.

How to prevent authorization-related returns

Tighten these areas:

  • How you obtain consent: Use plain‑language authorization that spells out amount (or how it’s calculated), frequency and cancellation options.
  • Capture it in durable formats: online checkboxes plus timestamp, IVR or agent call recordings, signed agreements, or digital forms.
  • How you identify yourself on statements: Make sure your company or biller name in ACH descriptors matches what’s on your invoices, website and portals. Many “I didn’t authorize this” disputes stem from simple non-recognition.
  • How quickly you act on cancellations: [TEXT]
  • [TEXT]: Stop debits as soon as a customer revokes authorization or cancels a plan. One or two stray debits after cancellation can generate a disproportionate number of disputes.

A branded bill payment portal that keeps prior bills, plan details, and payment arrangements visible to the payer—and allows them to self‑manage or cancel—reduces surprises and gives you a clear record of what they agreed to and when.

5. Stop payments and payer‑initiated holds

What’s happening: The payer instructs their bank to block a specific ACH debit. This is usually coded as a stop payment.

Reasons vary:

  • The payer wants to switch payment dates or methods.
  • They’re disputing the amount or underlying service.

They simply feel more comfortable involving their bank than contacting you.

Why it matters: Each stop payment is both an operational event and a signal that customers felt they needed an external “brake” rather than working with your team.

Clusters of stop payments can reveal billing disputes, communication gaps, or friction in your cancellation process.

How to reduce stop payments

  • Give customers easy, self‑service ways to pause, reschedule or change payment methods—online, over the phone, or via mobile—so they don’t feel forced to go through their bank.
  • Use notifications ahead of large or unusual debits to surface issues early (for example, “Your draft for $X is scheduled on [date]. View or change this payment in your portal.”).
  • Equip frontline staff to correct billing errors or adjust plans quickly.

When payers can make changes themselves 24/7—via a hosted portal, IVR or text‑to‑pay—they’re less likely to escalate through their financial institutions.

6. Formatting errors, duplicates and data quality issues

What’s happening: The way the transaction data was built prevents the bank from processing it, or creates confusion about whether it’s a duplicate.

Typical scenarios include:

  • Invalid or missing fields in the ACH file
  • Entries sent to accounts that can’t accept that type of ACH transaction
  • The same payment information being submitted twice

Why it matters: These returns are avoidable; they often indicate preventable integration or configuration issues.

They also create noise in your operations by making teams distinguish between genuine customer issues and system-generated exceptions.

In some cases, they can point to broader process problems in how your billing or ERP system hands data off to your payments environment.

How to reduce formatting and duplicate returns

Ensure your systems generate Nacha-compliant files and stay current with rule changes. Partnering with a processor that maintains compliance on the gateway/file side can offload much of this burden.

Put duplicate detection in place—such as checking for recent payments with the same amount and reference ID before submitting a new debit. Apply basic account validation (for example, ensuring a given account type can accept ACH debits) before you send the entry.

A unified payments platform that supports flexible file formats, normalizes data from different billing systems, and handles ACH file-building centrally reduces the number of edge cases that lead to formatting-based returns.

7. Credit entries refused by receivers

Not all returns are debits. Credits, like refunds or payouts, can be refused by the receiver, for example when:

  • The amount is wrong or would cause an overpayment
  • The receiver doesn’t recognize the originator
  • The account is subject to legal restrictions

For finance and operations teams, refused credits:

  • Delay refunds, reimbursements, and vendor payments
  • Create additional work to research and correct underlying data
  • Risk frustrating customers or partners who are expecting money from you

How to reduce refused credits:

  • Double‑check refund and disbursement logic (for example, don’t create credit scenarios that overpay a balance).
  • Include clear remittance information so receivers understand the purpose of the credit.
  • Offer online access to payout or refund history so partners and customers can reconcile without extra back-and-forth.

 

What your ACH returns are trying to tell you

When you look at return codes in aggregate rather than one at a time, they start to behave like a diagnostic tool.

Patterns in your returns can reveal:

  • Data capture issues: High administrative returns (R02–R04) suggest problems with how bank details are collected, stored or updated.
  • Authorization and experience issues: Elevated unauthorized or stop-payment returns highlight gaps in consent, descriptors or customer communication.
  • Risk and credit issues: Concentrations of NSF returns, frozen accounts or refused entries can point to riskier segments or products.
  • Process and systems issues: Clusters of formatting or duplicate returns signal configuration or integration problems in your payment stack.

Nacha’s thresholds—0.5% unauthorized, 3% administrative and 15% overall—are designed as guardrails to prompt these kinds of reviews, not just as punitive lines in the sand.

If you’re a finance director or office manager, one of the highest‑value steps you can take is to make ACH return data visible in a way you can act on: by business unit, channel, funding type, and return code family.

 

How CSG Forte helps reduce ACH returns

In practice, office managers and finance directors don’t want more tools—they want fewer exceptions and less busywork.

Hosted, branded bill payment portal where payers can view bills, set up schedule‑pay or auto‑pay, make partial or over‑payments, and choose ACH, cards or digital wallets.

Omnichannel options—including online, IVR, text‑to‑pay and in‑person POS devices—so customers can pay when and how they want.

If you’re ready to move beyond “just handling exceptions” and start reducing them at the source but you’re wondering where to start, the most effective way to explore options is with a focused conversation.

Talk to one of CSG Forte’s payment experts to set up a BillPay demo and learn more about how to make it easier for customers to pay on time, reduce administrative and unauthorized returns, and connect bill payment, processing and analytics so you can see—and act on—return patterns faster

Convenience Fee vs Surcharge: Choosing the Right Fee Strategy

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Key Takeaways

  • Surcharges apply only to credit card transactions in the U.S., and are usually a percentage fee meant to offset card acceptance costs.
  • Convenience fees apply when a payer uses a nonstandard payment method or channel and are often flat fees designed to recover the cost of offering extra options.
  • Both fee types are heavily regulated by card brands and state laws, so any program must be designed and monitored in partnership with legal counsel, your acquirer and a payment partner like CSG Forte.

Card processing costs have been rising for years, especially for credit cards and rewards products. For organizations that collect recurring payments at scale—such as city governments, utilities, property managers, healthcare providers and independent software vendors—those fees can add up fast.

That’s why it is no surprise more merchants and partners continue asking a version of the same question: “Can we pass card costs back to payers? And, if so, should we use a convenience fee or a surcharge?”

The terms often get used interchangeably, but they are not the same. They are governed by different rules, affect customer perception in different ways and carry different operational risks.

Choosing a payment platform that supports both convenience fees and surcharges—configured separately and never on the same transaction— gives you the flexibility to adapt to changing regulations and customer needs. This article will walk through how each fee works in the United States, when each can make sense and how to think about the right strategy for your organization.

 

What’s a surcharge?

A surcharge is an additional fee that a business adds when a payer chooses to pay with a credit card. It is usually calculated as a percentage of the transaction amount and appears as a separate line item on the receipt.

At a high level, a surcharge is designed to pass some or all the cost of credit card acceptance back to the cardholder instead of absorbing it into your operating budget.

Key characteristics of surcharges

In the U.S., surcharging is governed by a mix of federal law, state law and card brand rules. Several common elements apply almost everywhere:

  • Credit cards only: You can only surcharge eligible credit card transactions. Surcharging debit or prepaid card transactions is prohibited under federal rules that implement the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd‑Frank Act, even when the card is run “as credit.”
  • Percent‑based and capped: Visa and Mastercard typically cap credit card surcharges at the lower of your actual cost of acceptance or 4% of the transaction. In practice, many merchants choose a lower percentage to reduce customer friction.
  • State law limits: Some states restrict or ban surcharging altogether. For example, current guidance shows surcharges are not allowed in states such as Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, while states like Colorado allow surcharges but cap them at 2% and require specific disclosures. The National Conference of State Legislatures maintains an overview of state surcharge statutes.
  • Registration and disclosure: Card brands require advance notice before you start surcharging and specify how signage and receipt disclosures must look. You must clearly tell payers that a surcharge applies to credit card transactions and show the surcharge amount or percentage before they commit to pay.

During implementation, surcharges are configured at the merchant location level, apply only to eligible credit cards and are passed in a dedicated field on the transaction so they can be reported separately.

Surcharge example

A county utility district allows residents to pay water bills online by bank transfer or credit card.

  • If a resident pays a $200 bill with an ACH transfer, there is no additional fee.
  • If a resident pays with a credit card, the district adds a 2.5% surcharge ($5) that appears as a separate line item on the checkout page and receipt.

In states where surcharging is permitted, this can help offset credit card costs, but requires careful compliance with state and card brand rules.

 

What are convenience fees?

A convenience fee is an additional fee you charge when a payer chooses a payment method or channel that is different from your standard option, such as paying online or by phone when your normal flow is in person or by mail.

Unlike surcharges, convenience fees are not limited to credit cards. They can apply to other methods like ACH or eCheck so long as they are tied to the “convenient” channel or method rather than to the card itself.

Key characteristics of convenience fees

There is no single federal statute that defines convenience fees, but a few patterns are common across card brand rules and state law:

  • Tied to a nonstandard channel or method: A convenience fee is charged because the payer uses a channel that is different from your normal flow, such as paying a tax bill online instead of mailing a check.
  • Often a flat fee: Many organizations use a flat dollar amount (for example, $2.95 per transaction) rather than a percentage, especially on higher‑value items like tuition or tax payments.
  • Channel restrictions: Some card brands limit when and where convenience fees can be used. For example, certain Mastercard rules allow specific types of convenience fees mainly in verticals such as government, education and tax.
  • Disclosures and fairness: Just like surcharges, convenience fees must be disclosed before the payer completes the transaction and must be reasonable in light of the service you are providing and applicable state law.

CSG Forte’s platform supports convenience fee models across channels, with split funding and detailed reporting to ensure compliance and transparency. They offer the ability to absorb the fee yourself, pass it through to the payer or split it, depending on your program design.

Convenience fee examples

Common U.S. examples include:

  • A city that normally collects property taxes by mail adds a flat convenience fee for paying online with a card or ACH instead of mailing a check.
  • A property manager that typically receives rent checks in an office charges a convenience fee for tenants who prefer to pay by phone with an agent.
  • A healthcare provider that normally accepts in‑office payments offers an online portal with a small convenience fee to offset the cost of hosting and maintaining digital channels.

In each case, the fee is associated with the convenience of a different channel, not solely with using a credit card.

 

Convenience fees vs surcharges: compliance and key difference

Both fee types help you manage payment costs, but they differ in how they work operationally and how payers experience them.

Who and what they apply to

  • Surcharge: Applies only to eligible credit card transactions and is directly tied to card acceptance costs.
  • Convenience fee: Applies when a payer uses a nonstandard channel or method (such as online, IVR or phone) and can apply to cards or other methods, depending on rules.

How the amount is set

  • Surcharge: Nearly always a percentage of the transaction, capped by card brands and in some states by statute.
  • Convenience fee: Often a flat dollar amount per transaction, sometimes a small percentage, subject to card brand and state guidance.

Where they are allowed

  • Surcharge: Not legal in every state and subject to detailed notice, cap and line‑item rules.
  • Convenience fee: Generally permitted when properly disclosed and structured, but some states define when you can charge them and how much you can charge.

Customer perception

Research suggests cardholders are more tolerant of clearly disclosed fees than surprise charges, especially when they understand that other fee‑free options (like ACH) are available. Many organizations find that convenience fees, framed around an optional channel, are easier to explain than surcharges that attach directly to card usage.

 

How to choose the right fee strategy

There is no single “right” answer. Instead, the better option depends on your goals, your vertical and your payers.

Scenarios where a surcharge might fit

A surcharge can make sense when:

  • Credit card volume is high and card costs are putting real pressure on margins, especially in thin‑margin operations such as utilities or public sector.
  • ACH or check alternatives already exist and are easy for payers to use, so customers who want to avoid the surcharge can switch channels without much friction.
  • State law clearly permits surcharging for your locations and your legal team is comfortable with the requirements.

Example: A utility that already offers a full ACH and bank draft experience decides to add a compliant credit card surcharge in allowed states to offset card costs while investing more in digital self‑service for ACH.

Scenarios where a convenience fee might fit better

A convenience fee is often the better choice when:

  • You want to recover the cost of offering extra channels, not just card costs. For example, supporting staffed phone payments or a high‑availability web portal.
  • Your customer experience team is wary of a fee that appears to “penalize” card usage directly, especially in sensitive contexts like healthcare or rent collection.
  • You operate across many states and want a slightly simpler legal profile than a full surcharging program, while still giving payers fee‑free options like ACH, mail or in‑person payments.

Example: A property management firm that typically receives rent checks and ACH transfers adds an online card option with a small convenience fee, while keeping ACH and check free. Tenants get new options, and the firm covers some of the incremental cost of digital and card acceptance.

 

How CSG Forte Can Help Build Your Strategy

CSG Forte supports both convenience fee and surcharge programs, but they cannot be combined on the same transaction and must be configured carefully to align with card brand rules and state law.

At a high level, Forte can help you:

  • Design a fee strategy that aligns with your goals, vertical norms and payer expectations across channels like web, POS, IVR and SMS.
  • Configure either surcharges or convenience fees at the appropriate merchant locations so that applicable fees are calculated and passed through consistently in the transaction data.
  • Report on fee performance so you can see how card mix, fee revenue and channel usage change over time, and adjust your strategy as needed.

Because CSG Forte works across acquiring, bill payment and payer engagement, you can approach fees as part of a broader payments strategy instead of a one‑off change at the gateway.

If you are evaluating whether a surcharge, a convenience fee or another approach is right for your organization, CSG Forte can help you weigh your options and design a program that balances compliance, cost control and customer experience. Our modern platform supports both convenience fee and surcharge programs, helping you design a compliant strategy that fits your business and customer needs.

Contact our team of experts to design a compliant convenience fee or surcharge strategy that fits your organization.

 

Frequently asked questions

  1. Can I charge both a convenience fee and a surcharge on the same transaction with CSG Forte?
    No. CSG Forte supports both convenience fee and surcharge programs, but they cannot be combined on the same transaction. Each program must be configured separately and aligned with card brand rules and applicable state law.
  2. How does CSG Forte’s convenience fee pricing work?
    With CSG Forte’s convenience fee pricing, the transaction is processed as two charges: one for the principal amount and another for the service (convenience) fee. The principal amount is funded directly to the merchant, while the service fee is funded to the processor, helping cover processing costs without additional billing to the merchant.
  3. What channels and payment methods can CSG Forte support for convenience fee programs?
    CSG Forte can support convenience fee models across multiple channels—including web, IVR, SMS, in‑person POS and kiosks—and for various methods such as cards, ACH and eCheck, as long as the fee is tied to the nonstandard “convenient” channel or method rather than the card itself and remains compliant with card brand and state rules.
  4. How does CSG Forte help me design and maintain a compliant fee strategy?
    CSG Forte helps you design, configure and monitor fee programs by:

    • Aligning your strategy with vertical norms and payer expectations.
    • Configuring convenience fees or surcharges at the merchant/location level so fees are calculated and passed consistently in transaction data.
    • Providing reporting through Dex so you can track card mix, fee revenue and channel usage over time and adjust as regulations or business needs change.
      You still need to work closely with your legal counsel and acquirer to validate compliance in each jurisdiction.
  5. How does CSG Forte help me design and maintain a compliant fee strategy?
    Yes. In addition to convenience fee programs, CSG Forte supports absorbed-fee models where the merchant pays processing and service fees instead of passing them to payers. This is common in scenarios where agencies or nonprofits want to encourage digital adoption or temporarily waive fees (for example, Mecklenburg County absorbing convenience fees during COVID-19 so taxpayers could pay online or by phone at no extra cost).

How to Modernize Your Healthcare Payment Solutions

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Key Takeaways

  • Modernizing healthcare payment solutions accelerates patient collections, improves cash flow for providers and enhances the overall payment experience for both patients and staff.
  • Digital payment platforms with automated workflows, omnichannel support and electronic health records (EHR) integration address rising patient responsibility and administrative burdens while reducing errors and operational costs.
  • Offering seamless, secure and convenient online and in-person payment options meets patient expectations, reduces confusion and can increase patient retention in today’s competitive healthcare landscape.

Healthcare providers face mounting pressure from rising patient responsibility, manual billing processes and growing administrative costs. Outdated payment systems slow cash flow and frustrate both patients and staff. Modernizing your healthcare payment solution offers perks like automated collections, electronic health records (EHR) integration capabilities and delivery of a seamless, secure experience for everyone involved.

Today’s cash-strapped patients are struggling to make ends meet, and providers are feeling the effects. More than two thirds (71%) of providers say it takes over 30 days to receive payment after a visit. Yet healthcare lags behind other industries in digital payment tool adoption, even as patients expect the same speed, convenience and flexibility they experience when making retail payments.

To address rising patient responsibility and administrative strain, providers need a healthcare payment platform that automates workflows, supports omnichannel payments and delivers a seamless experience for both patients and staff.

In this blog, we’ll explore the challenges providers and patients face with outdated billing processes, examine the benefits of modernizing healthcare payments and highlight key features to look for in a digital payment solution. You’ll learn how adopting the right tools can streamline operations, enhance the payment experience and ultimately support better outcomes for your organization and those you serve.

 

Why modern healthcare payment solutions matter

Imagine this: Eight months after seeing your healthcare provider, you receive a paper bill indicating you owe $45 insurance didn’t cover (without any explanation). There is a return envelope to send payment—but no instructions about how to pay the bill online. You go to the clinic’s website, but it doesn’t include a link to pay online. Finally, you call the office and provide your credit card number over the phone, worrying as the receptionist reads the number back to you that someone may be jotting it down.

Sounds antiquated, right? In most industries it is. Customers expect smooth, seamless, secure payment options. Patients are no different. They expect paying their medical bill to be as easy and convenient as shopping at their favorite online outlet.

More than half (62%) of consumers prefer to pay their medical bills online, while only 6% want to mail a paper check. A significant portion (40%) of patients would like their healthcare providers to support contactless payments and online portal payments. But instead of convenience, outdated patient payment solutions deliver headaches—starting with the bill itself.

Two-thirds (67%) of consumers are confused by their medical bills. And more than half (54%) of U.S. consumers experienced at least one problem while paying a medical bill, and 21% had difficulty navigating the process.

Manual payment processes create additional headaches and friction for customers. Bill confusion, limited payment options and payment snafus frustrate payers, leading to costly contact center calls. What’s worse, this dissatisfaction may result in patient churn. Half (50%) of consumers—and 72% of those under age 35—have switched providers, or are willing to do so, for a better healthcare payment experience.

And those clunky payment processes don’t just frustrate patients. They also stymie healthcare providers and their hard-working staff. Managing multiple payment methods and providers across offices and facilities is complex, and maintaining multiple workflows is a drag on employees. It’s inefficient and manual inputs are error prone.

The result: higher costs, staff workload and cash-flow problems. In fact, more than half of healthcare payment leaders describe payment and claims processing delays as a threat to operations, and 80% are convinced that improving the efficiency of these processes is vital to their organization’s success.

As Saurabh Joshi, CSG Forte’s president, asserted in PYMNTS magazine: “Modernizing the payment system is critically important” for operators within the healthcare industry. “Non-digitized payments introduce several operational challenges, such as manual processing errors, delayed reconciliations, record-keeping issues, increased administrative burden and security/fraud risks,” he pointed out. “These challenges lead to increased costs, losses and cash flow issues for healthcare providers, which can hurt business operations and outcomes for these essential businesses.”

Does your practice still rely on manual payment methods like checks? If so, it’s time to modernize your patient payment solutions.

 

Digital payments: the vital prescription for healthcare providers

To accelerate patient collections and meet rising patient expectations, healthcare providers must invest in reliable, modern payment solutions. Digital payments boost efficiency and patient satisfaction, which, in turn, can have a positive effect on receipt of timely payments.

Healthcare providers who digitize payments report better cash flow management, lower transaction costs and reduced financial risk.

 

6 key features of a patient-centric payment platform

A solution that can grow with you will also come integrated with EHR/PM systems, be HIPAA/PCI compliant and offer flexible payment options and automated communications. Look for a system that:

  1. Is healthcare specific: Healthcare payment processing is complex, with unique pain points. Providers should choose a payment provider with industry expertise to help them reduce risk, support revenue and improve patient and employee experience.
  2. Integrates payments with electronic health records (EHR) and practice management (PM) systems: This unifies patient data, simplifies administrative workflows and reduces errors, improving patient and employee experience.
  3. Meets privacy, security and compliance standards: Patient payment solutions that provide tokenization, encryption and risk controls help reduce PCI scope. They should also support Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) data flows, and can be configured to allow customers to retain shared responsibilities. PCI DSS mandates the protection of cardholder data through encryption and tokenization.
  4. Presents a clear bill, online and on paper: The medical bill should avoid five common billing statement sins, such as not providing a clear due date. Reduce bill confusion and calls by explaining charges, co-payments and deductibles, specifying what the patient’s health insurance does—and doesn’t—cover.
  5. Offers flexible patient payment options: Increase on-time payments by allowing patients to pay via their preferred method and channel. Offer flexible payment plans and autopay. Managing multiple payment methods and channels on a single payments platform prevents your back-office staff from being overworked.
  6. Automates communications: Use email and text to send payment reminders, confirmations, and links to patient responsibility information, helping increase on-time payments and reduce ‘did you get my payment?’ calls.

Related reading: The Embedded Payments Advantage—Why Healthcare Platforms Can’t Afford to Wait

 

How CSG Forte streamlines healthcare revenue cycles

Now is the time to future-proof your payment operations. Not sure where to start? Partnering with CSG Forte makes payment modernization painless.

CSG Forte’s healthcare payment platform supports omnichannel acceptance—online, in-person, phone, ACH, cards and digital wallets—while integrating directly with your EHR and practice management systems. Automated reminders, flexible payment plans and unified reporting help you accelerate collections, reduce manual work and improve patient satisfaction—all with HIPAA and PCI DSS compliance built in.

Our solutions combine secure technology, flexible payment options, seamless integration with existing systems and healthcare-specific expertise to create a platform that helps you get paid faster, reduce administrative strain and improve patient satisfaction.

Ready to modernize your healthcare payments? Schedule a demo with CSG Forte to see how our platform can accelerate collections, reduce manual work, and improve patient satisfaction.

 

Frequently asked questions

Q1. How does CSG Forte integrate with my EHR or practice management system?
CSG Forte is designed to plug into existing healthcare workflows by integrating with leading EHR and practice management systems, so payments post correctly without extra keying or spreadsheet reconciliation. It uses strong APIs and mapping to your billing structures so revenue cycle teams see accurate, timely data instead of re-entering transactions by hand.

Q2. What payment methods can patients use with CSG Forte?
Patients can pay using cards and ACH, as well as modern digital wallets, across channels like online patient portals, in-office, mobile, text-to-pay and IVR. This omnichannel approach lets patients choose the option that fits their lives while providers get a consistent, unified payment experience on the back end.

Q3. How does CSG Forte help with HIPAA and PCI DSS compliance?
CSG Forte is built with HIPAA-aware data flows and PCI DSS-aligned security controls, including tokenization and encryption in transit and at rest, to reduce your exposure to cardholder and patient data. The platform centralizes much of the risk monitoring and compliance workload, while clearly defining shared responsibilities so providers and ISVs remain in control of access and configuration.

Q4. Can CSG Forte support flexible payment plans and recurring billing?
Yes. CSG Forte enables payment plans and recurring billing so patients can spread balances over time while providers improve collections predictability. These options work alongside automated reminders and digital channels, helping reduce bad debt and manual follow-up for billing teams.

Q5. What makes CSG Forte different from other healthcare payment solutions?
CSG Forte combines embedded payments and healthcare-specific capabilities, including omnichannel acceptance, EHR integration, advanced risk and compliance controls and white-label options for a fully branded experience. Instead of a bolt-on gateway, acts as strategic infrastructure that connects patient billing, payments and related communications into one closed‑loop, revenue‑focused journey.

What’s the Fastest Way to Transfer Money Between Banks? “Instant” Options, Compared.

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Key takeaways

  • “Instant” isn’t one thing. Depending on the method, it can mean real-time settlement, same-business-day clearing or immediate confirmation with settlement later—so define what “fast” needs to mean for your use case.
  • The best bank-to-bank transfer method is a tradeoff between speed, cost and control. Same Day ACH and wires can be fast, but fees, cutoffs and limits (like Same Day ACH’s $1M cap) determine whether they’re practical.
  • For most businesses, ACH is the most reliable baseline. It’s widely used, predictable for reconciliation and designed with network rules and security requirements—making it a strong default when you need speed without sacrificing governance.

If you need a bank-to-bank transfer to move money quickly—whether you’re paying a vendor, moving funds between accounts or collecting customer payments—you have more than one “fast” option. The catch is that speed isn’t the only variable. Processing windows, cutoff times, fees, dollar limits and security controls can change what “fast” really means in practice.

Below is a clear breakdown of the most common ways to send cash online, including how “instant” each one actually is, what they typically cost and when each makes sense for businesses.

 

What is an instant bank transfer?

An instant bank transfer typically refers to a digital transaction where the recipient receives funds (or a confirmation of funds) with minimal to no delay. In common marketing terms, “instant” can imply several different scenarios:

  • Real-time fund transfer: genuine instant settlement, accessible 24/7 on specific networks
  • Same-business-day processing: quick, yet still subject to banking hours and deadlines
  • Immediate approval with deferred settlement: frequently seen in certain app-based services

Therefore, when selecting the quickest method to transfer money between banks, begin by considering: Do I require the funds to settle immediately? Or do I just need a high level of assurance that it’s on its way, with reliable availability?

This approach will help you determine the most suitable option for your needs, ensuring that your financial transactions are both efficient and aligned with your expectations.

 

How to transfer money from one bank to another instantly (or close to it)

Most “fast” bank transfer methods fall into four buckets:

  1. Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers (standard or same-day ACH)
  2. Wire transfers
  3. Peer-to-peer and digital wallet apps
  4. Paper checks (not instant, but still widely used)

 

ACH bank transfers

ACH is one of the most common ways businesses move money electronically using routing and account numbers. It’s widely used for payroll, bill payments, membership dues, vendor payments and recurring billing.

The ACH Network is administered by Nacha, which sets rules and operational standards for participants.

How fast is ACH?

ACH speed depends on how the payment is sent:

  • Standard ACH is often associated with “a few business days,” but Nacha has emphasized that a significant majority of ACH payments settle in one business day or less.
  • Same Day ACH can settle as quickly as a few hours on a banking day.

Same Day ACH limits

Same Day ACH has a per-payment limit of up to $1 million, based on Nacha’s rule change that took effect in 2022 (and remains the stated limit today, though Nacha has recently sought feedback on raising it).

What ACH costs

Costs vary by bank, processor and risk profile, but the general tradeoff looks like this:

  • Standard ACH: usually lower cost per transaction
  • Same Day ACH: typically higher fees in exchange for faster settlement

When is ACH the best option?

ACH is often the best default method for business payments because it offers:

  • Predictable settlement and reconciliation
  • Lower processing costs at scale
  • Strong network rules around handling bank account data

How ACH transfers stay secure

The ACH Network uses bank account and routing numbers, so security is non-negotiable. Nacha’s rules and security framework require protections for sensitive deposit account information.

For example, Nacha has rules that require certain large ACH participants to render account information unreadable when stored electronically (part of its security framework).
In practical terms, strong ACH security programs often rely on controls such as:

  • Encryption to protect data in storage and transmission
  • Tokenization or vaulting approaches to limit exposure of raw account details
  • Masking/truncation so stored or displayed account data is limited
  • Verification and monitoring to reduce fraud and invalid account activity

(Exactly which controls apply can depend on your role in the ACH ecosystem and your volume.)

 

Wire transfers

Domestic wires can be very fast—sometimes same-day—if initiated before cutoff times and if both banks process promptly. They’re often marketed as instant, but “instant” still depends on banking hours and operational checks.

What wire transfers cost

Wire transfers generally have higher fees than ACH. That can make them a poor fit for frequent, lower-dollar payments—but still useful for high-stakes, high-dollar transfers where timing matters more than cost.

When are wires the best option?

Wires can be a good choice when:

  • You’re sending a large amount and need speed
  • You can justify the higher per-transaction cost
  • You’re okay with stricter requirements and less flexibility

 

Mobile applications and digital wallets

Apps can be a convenient way to send cash online, especially for person-to-person payments or informal transfers. Depending on the app and the transaction type, transfers can be instant, same-day, or take a few business days.

What makes apps feel “instant”?

Many apps create a fast experience by doing one (or more) of the following:

  • Providing immediate confirmation while settlement happens later
  • Moving funds inside the app’s ecosystem first (wallet-to-wallet), then transferring to a bank
  • Offering an “instant transfer” feature for an extra fee

When are apps the best option?

App-based transfers can make sense when:

  • You’re sending money casually (not for formal invoicing or reconciliation)
  • You’re okay with varying fee models and transaction rules
  • You don’t need enterprise-grade reporting or controls

For many businesses, apps are convenient—but they’re not always ideal as a core receivables strategy, especially when you need reliable reconciliation, audit trails, or structured payment workflows.

 

Paper checks

Checks are still common, but they’re the opposite of instant.

Downsides of checks for speed and risk

  • Slow delivery and processing
  • Manual handling (printing, mailing, depositing)
  • Fraud risk (stolen checks, altered checks, counterfeit checks)

Checks can work for certain workflows, but if you’re optimizing for the fastest way to transfer money between banks, checks are usually what you’re trying to move away from.

 

Which is the best way to transfer money between banks?

Truly, it depends on your specific needs. If “best” means earliest reliable availability with a bank-to-bank path, your top contenders are usually:

  • Same Day ACH (fast settlement on a banking day, often within hours)
  • Wire transfers (fast but typically higher cost and banking-hour dependent)
  • Certain app-based instant transfer features (fast, but variable rules/fees)

If “best” means best blend of speed, cost and operational control, ACH—especially Same Day ACH—often wins for businesses because it’s designed for high-volume, bank-account-based payments and has clear network standards.

 

Accept payments on any channel with CSG Forte

If you’re a business that wants to move beyond checks and build a more modern bank-transfer experience, CSG Forte’s complete payment platform is configured to help you accept and process online ACH payments, digital wallets, credit and debit cards and many more payment types.

Explore CSG Forte’s payment platform to accept ACH (including Same Day ACH), cards and digital wallets—with the security, visibility and flexibility your business needs. Reach out today to talk to a payments expert.

 

Frequently asked questions

Q1. How long does a bank to bank transfer take with ACH?
Timing depends on whether it’s standard or Same Day ACH. Nacha notes that ACH payments can be processed in hours and that most settle in one business day or less, with Same Day ACH enabling faster settlement. Nacha+1

Q2. Is an instant bank transfer always truly instant?
Not always. Some options are real-time, some are same-day, and some give instant confirmation while funds settle later. Always check cutoffs, weekends/holidays, and any “instant transfer” fees.

Q3. Can I send cash online using routing and account numbers?
Yes. ACH is a common way to send money using routing and account details, and it’s widely used for business payments and recurring billing.

How Registered Payment Facilitators Modernize Patient Payments and Revenue Cycles

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Key Takeaways

  • Patchwork payment systems are holding healthcare back. Most organizations are running healthcare payments through a mix of portals, gateways and processors that create friction for patients and risk for revenue cycle teams.
  • The payment facilitator model can offload real risk and complexity. Forte manages onboarding, PCI DSS scope, and ongoing risk management, while providers/ISVs retain shared responsibility for data security and user access.
  • Choosing the right PFaaS partner matters more than ever. A healthcare-ready payment facilitator with deep industry experience, strong payment services and modern payment gateways can turn payment processing from a liability into a growth lever.

Many healthcare billing teams face persistent payment-related inquiries and manual follow-up tasks. Patients call to ask why a payment did not go through, staff bounce between portals and spreadsheets and your revenue cycle team spends more time chasing down missing information than actually improving collections. Everyone keeps saying your “payment system” is digital now, but it still feels like you are stitching together three different eras of technology every time a card gets run.

Most healthcare organizations did not set out to build complicated healthcare payment software. They added a portal here, a card terminal there, maybe a text-to-pay tool on top of an aging practice management system.

Behind the scenes, that patchwork means multiple payment processors, gateways that do not fully sync with clinical or billing platforms and a growing list of compliance acronyms someone on your team is supposed to “own” on top of their day job. The result is familiar: slow cash, clunky patient experiences and constant anxiety that one misstep in payment processing could turn into a security or compliance incident.

That is the gap compliant registered payment facilitation—delivered through embedded payments and Payment Facilitation-as-a-Service (PFaaS) models—is designed to close. Instead of treating payments as a bolt-on afterthought, the payment facilitator model bakes onboarding processes, risk management and compliance into the same infrastructure that moves money.

When that embedded payment infrastructure is the foundation for your payment systems, not an add-on, you have a shot at making healthcare payments easier for patients, more predictable for revenue cycle teams and far less stressful for whoever is currently responsible for payment operations.

 

The new realities of healthcare payments and the revenue cycle

Healthcare has never been simple, but the way money moves through the system has become especially strained.

Patients now shoulder a larger share of costs through high-deductible plans and coinsurance. They expect the same digital experience they get in retail and financial apps, yet many clinics still rely on mailed statements or in-office terminals that feel stuck in another decade.

On the back end, revenue cycle teams juggle remits from payers, card and Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments from patients and a tangle of adjustments or write-offs. Every disconnected system adds more manual work, more places for errors and more risk to cash flow.

Practice managers sit in the middle of all this. They have to keep front desk teams, billing staff and IT aligned while also dealing with the realities of the payments industry.

That often means negotiating with multiple payment processors, trying to get consistent reporting from different payment gateways and figuring out which vendor is responsible when something breaks.

The common theme is fragmentation. When the tools that handle healthcare payments are not coordinated, the revenue cycle becomes a series of disconnected steps instead of a clear, predictable path from visit to cash.

 

What modern healthcare payment software needs to deliver

To break out of that fragmentation, healthcare payment platforms have to do more than swipe cards and post files. They need to behave like strategic infrastructure, often delivered through embedded payments and PFaaS models that connect front-end patient experiences with back-end revenue operations. In short, they need to behave like strategic infrastructure.

1. Frictionless, patient-friendly payment services

Patients want simple choices that match their lives:

  • Pay from a mobile device right after a visit.
  • Enroll in a payment plan that fits their budget.
  • Store a card on file for future copays or balances.

Modern payment services should support card and ACH payments, digital wallets and recurring options without forcing patients to hop between different sites. A consistent, multi-channel payment solution is increasingly expected by patients and staff. Increasingly, it is becoming the baseline for a decent patient experience.

2. Seamless integration with clinical and billing platforms

A payment that does not post correctly might as well not exist. Healthcare payment software has to integrate cleanly with electronic health record (EHR) systems, practice management platforms and revenue cycle tools so that staff are not re-keying data or reconciling totals by hand.

That means payment systems need solid application programming interfaces (APIs), clear mappings for codes and departments and reporting that matches how finance and billing teams actually work. When payments live outside the core workflow, teams waste time and confidence in the data erodes.

3. Built-in security and compliance by design

Healthcare is a high-stakes environment for data. Any payment system that touches protected health information or cardholder data has to respect that.

That starts with a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant design, but extends into the card rails too. Strong tokenization, encryption in transit and at rest and clear Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) scope boundaries are table stakes. Providers and healthcare software vendors should not have to become PCI experts just to accept a copay.

This is where the underlying payments architecture matters. If the platform is built on top of a modern Payment facilitator model with smart risk management and clear responsibilities, it is much easier for healthcare organizations to stay in bounds.

 

A quick primer on the payment facilitator model

To understand why payment facilitation and PFaaS are such a good fit for healthcare, it helps to look at how the payment facilitator model works.

In a traditional merchant account setup, each healthcare provider or software vendor would work directly with a processor and acquiring bank. They would go through underwriting, set up their own account and carry full responsibility for compliance and chargebacks. This made sense when practices ran their own terminals and little else.

In the payment facilitator model, there is a master merchant account controlled by the payment facilitator. Individual providers or software platforms are onboarded under that umbrella as sub-merchants. The payment facilitator handles much of the underwriting, monitoring and connection to acquiring banks and payment gateways.

In plain terms, the payment facilitator sits between thousands of sub-merchants and the broader payments industry. It packages payment services, manages risk and gives those sub-merchants a simpler way to access card networks and bank rails.

For healthcare, where organizations are busy enough just keeping up with care delivery, this abstraction layer is powerful. It lets them plug into modern payment processing without negotiating separate deals, handling every detail of compliance or building direct relationships with multiple processors.

 

What “compliant payment facilitation” means for healthcare

Not every payment facilitator setup is created equal. In healthcare, compliant payment facilitation has a specific meaning.
First, a healthcare-ready payment facilitator has to understand both PCI DSS and HIPAA realities. That includes reducing cardholder data exposure for providers, designing data flows that respect protected health information and keeping audit trails that stand up to scrutiny.

Second, compliant payment facilitation includes a mature approach to risk management. That means monitoring for suspicious transactions, handling chargebacks efficiently and keeping a close eye on how sub-merchants behave. For healthcare platforms that serve many clinics or providers, this shared layer of risk control is essential.

Third, onboarding processes have to fit healthcare workflows. Providers cannot wait weeks to go live with payments or bounce between multiple portals to submit documents. A strong payment facilitator partner streamlines underwriting, handles KYC requirements behind the scenes and gets organizations transacting quickly without cutting corners.

When those pieces come together, healthcare organizations and healthcare SaaS vendors can rely on the payment facilitator model not just to move money and function as a revenue driver, but to keep them in compliance while they do it.

 

How to evaluate healthcare-focused partners

Once you decide payment facilitation belongs in your healthcare payment software strategy, the next question is who to trust.

A few practical evaluation points:

  • Compliance and security: Ask about PCI DSS level, independent audits and how the provider supports HIPAA compliant deployments. Clarify which party carries which responsibilities for data protection.
  • Healthcare experience: Look for real references in your segment, not just generic payments industry claims. Do they integrate with the EHR or practice management systems you already use. Do they understand common healthcare payment edge cases.
  • Technology and integration: Review APIs, SDKs and documentation. Make sure your team can embed payment services without months of custom work. Check whether the provider offers tools that fit your stack and development practices.
  • Risk and support: Ask how they handle disputes, fraud patterns and sudden changes in transaction volumes. Clarify who your teams call when something goes wrong and how issues are triaged.

A strong payment facilitator partner should be able to answer these questions clearly and show how their payment facilitator model will support your growth, not constrain it.

 

Where CSG Forte fits into your healthcare payment stack

A payments partner should not turn your team into full-time payments experts. It should give you reliable infrastructure so you can stay focused on patients and products while improving and scaling your offerings and generating revenue through the payments process.

CSG Forte delivers payment processing, payment facilitator capabilities and security controls through a single platform that can be embedded into healthcare payment software or wired into existing billing workflows. Healthcare organizations and software vendors use CSG Forte to:

  • Accept card and ACH payments in patient portals, in office and through mobile.
  • Offer payment plans and recurring billing that match real-world patient budgets.
  • Reduce exposure to cardholder data with strong tokenization and encryption.
  • Gain clearer visibility into payment activity across locations and channels.

For healthcare platforms that want to keep the experience consistent end to end, Forte also supports white-label capabilities, allowing you to present a fully branded payments experience while our infrastructure handles the complexity behind the scenes.

If you are rethinking how healthcare payments fit into your revenue cycle, this is a good moment to examine the foundation. Updating portals or adding a new payment gateway helps at the margins, but the bigger opportunity is to stand your payment systems on infrastructure that makes compliant payment facilitation part of the design.

Are you ready to explore what that could look like in your world? Reach out to the experts at CSG Forte to learn how we can support your healthcare payment software strategy.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: How is PFaaS different from becoming a registered payment facilitator?

The PFaaS model lets healthcare providers and ISVs embed payments and monetize transactions while Forte manages underwriting, risk, and day-to-day compliance operations. Becoming a registered payment facilitator means taking on full regulatory and operational responsibility for those areas in-house.

Q2:Where do embedded payments show up in a typical healthcare workflow?

Embedded payments can power patient portal checkouts, in-office copay collection, payment plans, text-to-pay links, and automated recurring billing—all within the same experience your staff and patients already use for scheduling and records.

Q3: Does using a payment facilitator eliminate my compliance responsibilities?

No. A healthcare-ready payment facilitator like Forte significantly reduces your PCI DSS scope and centralizes many risk and monitoring functions, but providers and ISVs still retain shared responsibilities for protecting access, configuring workflows correctly, and handling PHI within their own systems.

Q4: How fast can organizations typically go live with embedded payments through PFaaS?

Because PFaaS centralizes underwriting and onboarding under a master account, healthcare organizations and ISVs can usually go live much faster than with traditional, one-merchant-at-a-time setups—often in days instead of weeks, depending on integration complexity and requirements.