Category: Industry

Embedded Payments for Fintechs: Scale, Compliance, & Control

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Key Takeaways

  • Embedded payments are becoming the default expectation for software-as-a-service (SaaS) and financial technology (fintech) platforms, but they also expand your responsibilities for risk and compliance.
  • Choosing between payment aggregator, Payment Facilitation-as-a-Service (PFaaS), and Registered Payment Facilitation models isn’t just about APIs; it’s about control, economics, and risk appetite.
  • High‑performing platforms design onboarding, payment and account flows that reduce friction for users while baking in fraud controls and regulatory requirements from the start.

If you are building a fintech platform, you’re under pressure from both sides.

Your customers expect to onboard, accept, and reconcile payments without ever leaving your product. At the same time, regulators, sponsor banks, and networks expect clear answers about who is moving money through your platform, how you monitor risk, and what happens when something looks wrong.

Handle this well, and embedded payments could become one of your biggest growth levers. Get it wrong, and you inherit operational headaches, compliance exposure, and unhappy customers.

This guide walks through how to implement embedded payments in a way that supports growth—while managing risk and compliance—using services like Registered Payment Facilitation and Payment Facilitation‑as‑a‑Service (PFaaS).

 

Why embedded payments are platform table stakes

Embedded payments weave payment capabilities directly into your platform so users can pay—or get paid—without being redirected to a third‑party checkout or portal. Instead of spinning up a separate merchant account and logging into a different gateway, your customers sign up, accept payments, and see their reporting without leaving your page.

Embedded payments are one part of “embedded finance,” where non‑financial companies offer services like payments, lending, or insurance in their own experiences without holding every underlying license themselves.

The appeal is clear:

  • Less friction for users: People complete financial tasks in the same digital journeys they already use, rather than jumping to bank sites or generic payment pages.
  • More revenue for platforms: By participating in payment economics instead of just referring merchants out, platforms can unlock new fee‑based revenue streams.
  • Stronger retention and stickiness: When payments, reporting, and settlement are deeply embedded, switching platforms means re‑platforming payments as well as software.

The trade‑off is that once your brand is attached to onboarding flows and payout screens, banks and regulators increasingly see your platform as part of the control environment, even when you don’t hold every license directly.

 

Which embedded payment type is right for you?

Before you design a single screen, you need clarity on your operating model. Most software‑led platforms end up in one of two buckets.

1. Aggregator / referral‑style models

In an aggregator model, you connect merchants to a processor or merchant‑of‑record provider, often via a referral or reseller agreement. The provider holds the merchant‑of‑record or payment‑facilitation role; you embed their onboarding and checkout experiences into your product.

Where this model shines

  • Fastest path to market: You can add an “accept payments” option in your platform without building a full risk and compliance program.
  • Lower operational burden: The provider typically handles direct KYC/KYB, chargebacks, scheme rules and much of PCI scope.

Trade‑offs

  • Limited control over pricing and settlement policies
  • Less flexibility in underwriting rules and edge‑case handling
  • Most transaction margin accrues to the provider

For emerging financial technology (fintech) companies and independent software vendors (ISVs), this is often the best way to validate demand for embedded payments before taking on more responsibility.

2. Payment Facilitation and PFaaS

So, what is payment facilitation and how can it help your business scale? Payment facilitators aggregate many sub‑merchants under a master merchant account and are responsible for underwriting, onboarding, monitoring and funding those sub‑merchants.

Platforms can approach this in two ways:

  • Managed PFaaS: You act like a payment facilitator in your customers’ eyes, but a specialist provider supplies the core infrastructure, bank sponsorship, and most scheme‑level compliance. You focus on UX, go‑to‑market and higher‑level risk decisions.
  • Registered Payment Facilitator: Taking this much control allows you to own your acquiring relationships, compliance program, and risk stack.

Why platforms pick these models:

  • Control over experience: You can brand payment flows, tune onboarding, configure pricing, and keep users inside your app.
  • Improved economics: Instead of small referral fees, you participate directly in transaction fees and can package value‑add services on top (e.g., recurring billing, account updater).

What you take on:

  • Risk and underwriting: Payment facilitators are expected to verify sub‑merchant identities and ownership, assess risk, and approve or decline applications before processing starts.
  • Ongoing monitoring: Networks and regulators expect monitoring for unusual activity, excessive chargebacks, or fraud patterns.
  • Broader compliance scope: Even with PFaaS, you share responsibility for things like sanctions screening, AML, PCI scope, and automated clearing house (ACH) risk management.

PFaaS is often the “sweet spot”: you improve your business model and customer experience while offloading much of the underlying regulatory and operational complexity to a partner.

 

Designing payment flows that help users succeed

Once you know your operating model and compliance boundaries, the real differentiation happens in your flows: onboarding, day‑to‑day payment UX, and account lifecycle.

Onboarding: faster, not reckless

Onboarding is where growth and risk often collide. Drag it out and merchants abandon; move too fast, and you open the door to fraud and regulatory findings.

Best‑practice patterns drawn from Registered Payment Facilitation and PFaaS programs include:

  • Progressive profiling: Start with a lightweight sign‑up (business name, email, basic use case), then request additional data as merchants commit to going live or hit certain volume/feature thresholds.
  • Tiered underwriting: Auto‑approve lower‑risk merchants; route higher‑risk verticals or large volumes to enhanced review.
  • Clear status and expectations: Show merchants where they are in the process (“in review,” “approved,” “more information needed”) and what’s left to do.

Done right, you reduce time‑to‑first‑payment while still collecting the data your Registered Payment Facilitation/PFaaS provider and sponsor banks need to be comfortable.

Everyday payment experiences: reduce friction, not insight

Payment experience decisions have an outsized impact on conversion and support tickets. Embedded payments let you keep users in your experience, but you still need to design for clarity and trust. Consider:

  • Native, branded forms using secure components: Keep users on your platform while leveraging provider‑hosted fields for sensitive data.
  • Context‑aware friction: Require step‑up verification or additional checks for high‑risk actions (e.g., unusually large payments, new device, unusual IP) but keep low‑risk, everyday payments straightforward.
  • Transparent errors and states: Distinguish between “card declined,” “account under review,” and “suspected fraud” so merchants know what to do and your support team can triage effectively.

These patterns support higher conversion and better self‑service without relaxing your risk posture.

Account flows as a fraud‑control surface

Account creation, login, password resets, and payout‑account changes are prime targets for account takeover and fraud in embedded environments. Nacha and banking guidance emphasize that financial institutions remain responsible for risks created by third‑party models and new technologies, even when fintechs are involved.

Practical safeguards include:

  • Stronger authentication for sensitive changes: Require multi‑factor authentication or out‑of‑band verification before users can edit payout bank accounts or issue large refunds.
  • Lifecycle monitoring: Track behavioral signals over time—device changes, frequent password resets, new IP geographies combined with payout updates—and route suspicious sessions through additional checks.
  • Coordinated controls with your provider: Align your risk rules (e.g., account flags, velocity checks) with your Payment Facilitator/PFaaS provider’s fraud tools so issues in your app map to controls on the payments side.

These measures help you reduce fraud and protect both your merchants and your own reputation.

 

Where an embedded payments partner fits in

An experienced payments partner can accelerate this roadmap by:

  • Providing PCI‑compliant infrastructure, tokenization, and risk tooling.
  • Handling much of the day‑to‑day underwriting, monitoring, and scheme compliance in PFaaS and Registered Payment Faccilitation models, while collaborating with you on risk policies.
  • Offering flexible partnership models (referral, reseller, PFaaS, Registered Payment Facilitation) that let you start where you are and grow into deeper ownership when you’re ready.
  • Supplying real‑time reporting and analytics so you and your merchants can see what’s happening without stitching together multiple dashboards.

The platforms that win in this next wave won’t be those that take the most risk or those that avoid it entirely, but those that treat embedded payments as a growth engine and a risk/control program—designed together from day one.

Want to see how leading platforms scale with embedded payments? Check out our customer success stories to learn what changes when payments are seamless, compliant, and built into your product. Ready to talk with an expert to learn how embedded payments could give your business an advantage? Contact us today.

 

FAQs

What’s the difference between embedded payments and integrated payments?
Embedded payments build payment functions directly into your platform’s experience so users never leave your app to complete transactions. Integrated payments typically means you’ve connected to a gateway or processor, but users might still be redirected to third‑party pages or separate modules.

Do we have to become a Registered Payment Facilitator to offer embedded payments?
No. Many platforms start with aggregator or referral models, or use PFaaS to embed payments without becoming fully Registered Payment Facilitators themselves. Moving to a Registered Payment Facilitation model makes sense when your transaction volume, economics and risk/compliance capabilities justify the investment.

Who is responsible for KYC/KYB and AML in an embedded model?
In Registered Payment Facilitation and PFaaS setups, the payment facilitator and their sponsor bank usually hold primary obligations under BSA/AML and similar regulations, but platforms are expected to collect accurate data, cooperate with monitoring and align their onboarding flows so regulatory requirements can be met.

How do Nacha rules affect platforms that use ACH?
If your embedded payments offering includes ACH, your role may fall under Nacha’s definitions of Third‑Party Service Provider or Third‑Party Sender, which brings specific registration, audit and agreement requirements. Recent rules also require corporate end users to have risk‑based processes to identify potential fraudulent ACH payments.

How can we speed up merchant onboarding without breaking compliance?
Use automated KYC/KYB tools, progressive profiling and tiered underwriting. Align your data collection with your Payment Facilitator/PFaaS partner’s policies so that low‑risk merchants can be auto‑approved while higher‑risk ones receive enhanced review without unnecessary delays.

 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.

How Public and Private Utilities Can Modernize Bill Payments

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Key Takeaways

  • Modern utility bill pay solutions stabilize revenue by combining flexible options, reminders, and multichannel access on a secure, PCI‑aligned platform.
  • Customers now expect branded, mobile‑friendly portals with self‑service tools like autopay, schedule‑pay and text‑to‑pay, plus strong privacy and fraud protections.
  • CSG Forte BillPay and related tools such as Account Updater and recovery services help utilities reduce declines and manual collections work without replacing their CIS.

When your community members turn on the lights or the tap, they rarely think about how their bill gets paid. You do. Late and delinquent payments tighten cash flow, stretch staff thin, and can delay maintenance or capital projects. At the same time, customers expect to pay every bill (utilities included) from their phone in just a few taps.

Modern utility bill pay solutions are how city and county leaders close that gap. The goal is not a flashy new portal for its own sake. It is a more reliable, flexible, and trusted way to collect the essential revenue that keeps essential services running.

Budget constraints often make it difficult for utilities to consider overhauling their entire customer information system, so leaders must look for economical solutions that enhance payment processes without requiring a costly system replacement.

 

Why utility bill pay is under pressure

Cash flow, delinquencies, and collection costs

For many utilities, both public and privately owned, too much staff time goes into chasing payments:

  • Customers pay month to month instead of enrolling in autopay, so cash flow depends on them remembering due dates.
  • Some delinquencies happen simply because a customer forgot or their card expired—not because they could not pay.
  • Staff spend hours calling, processing one‑off partial payments, and manually updating account notes.

Those activities have a real cost in overtime, burnout, and delayed projects.

Modern utility bill pay solutions attack those root causes by making it easy for customers to set autopay, schedule payments around their paydays, and keep stored payment information current with tools like ACH-based recurring payments. Having the capability to automatically refresh stored card details when issuers reissue or update cards means recurring payments can continue without disruption, which is an important lever in any recurring billing environment.

Customers compare you to every other online bill

Your customers do not only compare you to other similar service providers. They compare you to their bank, mobile carrier, and streaming services. Government payments research shows residents increasingly expect payments to be digital, fast, and easy, and security and convenience top their list of decision factors.

For utilities, that translates to:

  • A clean, mobile‑friendly portal that looks like your utility, not a generic third‑party site
  • The ability to store a preferred payment method securely
  • Autopay and flexible scheduling options
  • Email or text reminders and confirmations instead of paper‑only notices

If paying their water or power bill feels clunky or less secure than other bills, many customers will push it to the bottom of the stack.

Security, privacy, and fraud concerns for public utilities

Public‑sector payment leaders also worry about:

  • PCI DSS compliance for card payments
  • Card‑not‑present fraud in online and phone channels
  • Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network and Nacha requirements
  • Data privacy and limiting staff exposure to sensitive payment data

For many city and county leaders, shifting this risk to a specialized provider is just as important as improving customer experience.

 

Features customers expect from utility bill pay solutions

Modernizing does not have to mean re‑platforming everything. It starts with a few core capabilities customers already use elsewhere.

A simple, branded online and mobile experience

Customers are more likely to trust and use a portal that clearly belongs to your utility. A flexible, reliable bill payment platform should let you:

  • Launch a hosted bill payment portal customized with your logo, colors and messaging, including a unique portal URL and branded landing page text.
  • Offer both “Pay Now” (no registration required) and “Register Pay” flows so one‑time and recurring payers each have a clear path.
  • Deliver a mobile‑friendly experience that works across phones, tablets and desktops.

That gives you a modern utility bill payment solution without a large internal development project.

Multiple secure ways to pay: ACH, cards and wallets

Different households prefer different payment methods—and some are cheaper for you to process. Most modern bill payment solutions support:

  • ACH/eCheck
  • All major card brands
  • Digital wallets, alongside in‑person and phone payments (where configured)

Self-service tools: autopay, payment plans, and reminders

Self‑service is one of the fastest ways to reduce delinquencies and call volume. Customers expect:

  • Autopay so they can “set it and forget it”
  • Scheduled payments that match pay cycles
  • Partial‑pay, over‑pay and pre‑pay options, within your policies
  • Email and text reminders with links that take them directly to a secure payment page

The combination of reminders and flexible options is especially useful for residents who want to stay current but juggle variable income or multiple obligations.

 

Building flexibility into payment options and timing

Options for on‑time, behind, and at‑risk accounts

A one‑size‑fits‑all bill pay experience is not realistic. You need options that work for:

  • On‑time payers who should be nudged toward autopay and low‑friction digital channels
  • Occasionally late payers who benefit most from reminders, saved payment methods, and scheduling
  • At‑risk payers who may need structured payment plans, partial‑pay options, or short extensions within policy

Utilities need a highly configurable solution that allows them to decide whether registration is required, which payment types are accepted, and which options (like partial‑pay or pre‑pay) are available for specific programs or customer types. What works for a municipality’s fiber customers may not work for its water users, for example.

Reminders and account updates prevent avoidable delinquencies

Many failed or late payments are avoidable. Either the customer forgot, or their stored card information is out of date. A reliable, flexible payment platform helps address both by:

  • Allowing recurrent users opt in to email notifications and text‑to‑pay on their mobile phones, so they get proactive reminders and confirmations
  • Automatically refreshing stored card credentials behind the scenes when issuers update or reissue accounts

 

Make bill payments work harder for your utility

Utility leaders do not need another massive system overhaul—they need a bill pay experience that helps customers stay current while protecting staff time and operating budgets. The capabilities outlined above—branded portals, flexible payment options, self-service tools, and smart reminders—are now baseline expectations, not nice-to-haves.

For many utilities, integration means:

  • Daily files that update the CIS with payments
  • Flexible file formats that align with existing reconciliation workflows
  • Cloud-based reporting so finance and customer service teams can see payment status without logging into multiple systems

CSG Forte BillPay is designed to support that modern experience while working alongside your existing CIS, not replacing it. Paired with tools like Account Updater and recovery services, BillPay helps keep stored card details current, reduce preventable declines and reversals, and streamline collections workflows so your team can focus on higher‑value work.

If you’re ready to stabilize cash flow, lower manual collections effort and give customers a bill pay experience that feels as modern as every other bill they pay, connect with CSG Forte to explore what BillPay can do for your utility.

 

Frequently asked questions

1. Do we have to replace our customer information system (CIS) to modernize bill pay?

No. Modern bill pay platforms like CSG Forte BillPay are designed to work alongside your existing CIS. Many utilities start by exchanging daily files or simple integrations that update payment status, then expand as needs evolve—without a multi‑year rip‑and‑replace.

2. How does BillPay help reduce late and delinquent payments?

BillPay supports tools customers already use for other bills: autopay, scheduled payments, email and text reminders, and stored payment methods. When combined, these features make it easier for customers to stay current, even if their income or schedules vary from month to month.

3. What payment methods can customers use?

Utilities can accept a mix of ACH/eCheck, major debit and credit cards, and digital wallets, alongside in‑person and phone payments where configured. That flexibility lets you meet different customer preferences while steering volume toward lower‑cost channels when appropriate.

4. How does Account Updater help with recurring payments?

Account Updater works behind the scenes with participating card issuers to refresh stored card details when accounts are updated or reissued. That helps keep recurring payments running smoothly, reducing avoidable declines and the manual work that follows.

5. How does BillPay support security, privacy and compliance requirements?

CSG Forte’s bill pay solutions are built to support PCI‑aligned processing and help limit staff exposure to sensitive payment data. You can configure secure online, mobile and phone channels that meet your organization’s policies while giving residents confidence that their information is protected.

How Modern Healthcare Payment Solutions Improve Patient Satisfaction and Collections

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Key Takeaways

  • Outdated healthcare payment systems frustrate patients and cost providers revenue: Confusing bills, limited payment options, and inconvenient processes damage satisfaction, delay collections, and drive negative reviews and patient churn.
  • Patient-friendly digital payments improve collections without adding staff burden: Transparency, choice of payment methods, flexible financing, and omnichannel payment options make it easier for patients to pay, which helps providers get paid faster.

Picture this: Nine months after your medical appointment, you open your mailbox to a paper account statement. Inside is a return envelope and a perforated section to return with your payment. The statement offers no online payment option, so you call the office to pay by phone. The receptionist warns you that given that several months have passed since treatment, your account could be at risk of heading to collections if you don’t pay immediately. You reluctantly share your credit card information over the phone. Doing so leaves you uneasy about its security.

Healthcare billing and payments are significant pain points for patients. Unlike retail transactions where customers know the price and pay on the spot, healthcare is characterized by a delayed, fragmented, and opaque financial experiences. While the rest of the world has moved to one-click payments, healthcare is often stuck in the past, relying on paper statements and mailed-in check payments that are inconvenient for patients and delay cash flow.

Legacy healthcare payment processing systems can delay collections and damage patient satisfaction and loyalty. Across industries, 14% of consumers prioritize convenience in their bill paying, with Millennials (23%) more likely to skip bills that make it too hard to pay.

In fact, one survey of U.S. consumers found that 40% won’t pay their medical bill if they can’t understand the experience. Another survey found that 41% have left a negative review and 38% have switched healthcare providers due to a negative billing experience.

Modern patient payment solutions simplify and accelerate the payment process for patients and providers. In this blog, we’ll explore the shortcomings of traditional healthcare payment solutions and highlight patient-friendly payment options that overcome them. You’ll learn how to design effective patient payment financing plans that increase collections and how to measure the success of your payment solutions.

 

Traditional Healthcare Payment Solutions Frustrate Patients

Patients expect paying medical bills to be as quick and easy as shopping online. But healthcare bill payment experiences often fall short, leaving patients dealing with several payment problems:

Lack of transparency: Almost 60% of patients are dissatisfied with how providers communicate healthcare costs. Unclear bills, surprise charges, and opaque pricing make managing medical expenses challenging. Patients often experience confusion regarding payment processes, including where, how, and how much to pay. One survey found that 56% of patients find comprehending what they owe stressful.

Not enough choice in payment methods: Old-school payment systems—paper statements and check payments—just aren’t good enough for today’s patients. One third (33%) of consumers experience frustration when they are not offered modern payment solutions such as digital wallet or mobile payments. Most (87%) consumers think it’s important for their healthcare provider to offer their preferred payment method, and 24% would consider switching to a different healthcare provider if they couldn’t pay with their preferred payment method.

Inconvenience: Healthcare is behind other industries when it comes to payment ease, with only 8% of consumers indicating that healthcare payments are easy. Login and authentication problems, lack of autopay options, and being redirected to a third-party payment portal (that doesn’t work) waste time and frustrate patients.

Poor (or no) communication regarding patient financing options: About two thirds (67%) of patients reported being dissatisfied with healthcare payment options offered to them, according to a survey of U.S. consumers. Despite 78% of providers offering patient payment schedules, 45% of patients said they were never made aware of these financing options—highlighting a significant gap in communication and awareness.

 

Patient-Friendly Payment Solutions

Modern healthcare payment solutions boost collections and streamline workflows—helping providers get paid faster without adding to billing staff workloads. Delivering a convenient bill payment experience means eliminating friction from the entire process—from scheduling to final payment. Patient-friendly payment solutions include:

Upfront price transparency. Provide a clear, easy-to-understand good faith estimate of the patient’s out-of-pocket responsibility before the visit, not weeks later. When healthcare providers use embedded payments, patients know their costs and payment options before they sign the treatment consent form. This empowers patients to make informed choices about their care and reduces unpleasant billing surprises.

Payment reminders. Send timely, personalized reminders via each patient’s preferred channel, without overwhelming them. One survey found that 68% of consumers prefer an email notification when their healthcare payment is due, 54% want a text notification, and almost 50% like to receive a mailed statement.

Choice of payment methods. Increase on-time payments by allowing patients to pay by:

  • Credit/debit card: 54% of consumers prefer to pay healthcare expenses by credit card.
  • Automated clearing house (ACH): Often used for recurring billing, ACH payments have lower processing fees and failure rates than credit cards.
  • Digital wallet: Payment methods like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Venmo offer multi-layered security and greater convenience, ease, and efficiency than traditional payment methods.
  • Auto Pay: Allow patients to store a payment method for future co-pays or recurring bills.

Convenient payment channels. Give patients several fast, easy ways to pay:

  • Patient portal. Many (62%) consumers prefer to pay medical bills online, and 40% of patients would like to see their healthcare providers support online portal payments. Online digital [payment] portals provide a convenient, 24/7 access to:
    • View cost estimates and billing statements.
    • Pay balances via credit/debit card or automated clearing house (ACH).
    • Set up recurring payments or installment plans.
  • Phone (IVR or live agent). Interactive voice response (IVR) payment systems provide a secure way for people to pay anytime, anywhere, without an internet connection. Instead of entering patients’ account numbers, call center agents can generate secure payment pages (nanosites) on the spot and send the link to patients via text or email. Patients don’t have to log in (and remember a password they seldom use) to access the payment page.
  • Text-to-pay: Reach patients where they are: on their phones. By sending a payment request and link to a secure payment portal via text message, patients can pay with just a tap from their mobile device, without logging in to the patient portal.

 

Perfect Your Patient Payments with CSG Forte

Paying medical bills shouldn’t be painful. Healthcare providers can easily provide flexible, convenient payment options that promote prompt payment by using CSG Forte’s secure healthcare payment solutions. Our platform:

  • Allows patients to pay online, in person, or by phone using credit/debit cards, ACH, or digital wallets.
  • Supports recurring payments, text-to-pay, and payment plans.
  • Integrates with electronic health record (EHR) and practice management systems, simplifying administrative workflows and reducing errors.
  • Has Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) compliance built in.

Are you ready to cure your organization’s patient payment ailments and improve collections? Schedule a demo with a CSG Forte expert to see how our healthcare payment processing software improves the payment experience for patients and providers.

Healthcare Finance Leaders’ Guide to Straight Through Processing

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Key Takeaways

  • Straight Through Processing (STP) automates virtual card payments from “approved” to “deposited + reconciled,” typically in about one day instead of 60–90 days.
  • STP is purpose‑built for healthcare, handling both insurer (B2B) and patient (C2B via payer portals) flows while feeding clean remittance data into the platform and your revenue tools.
  • The solution is designed for HIPAA, PCI DSS and HITRUST‑aligned environments, and runs behind the scenes without forcing disruptive changes to your EHR or practice management stack.

Healthcare finance leaders sit at a difficult intersection. You’re responsible for keeping operating margins in the black while also staying true to the organization’s clinical and community mission—and increasingly, those goals are in tension.

Margins are improving in some markets, but they remain thin and uneven. At the same time, more revenue is tied to patient responsibility, where collection rates continue to fall. The bottom line: every dollar that sits in flight instead of in your operating account adds volatility you can’t afford.

This is exactly where Straight Through Processing (STP) can change the equation—by compressing the time from insurer approval to provider deposit of virtual credit card payments from up to 60 days to roughly one day, and by stripping out the manual work and risk that come with mailed virtual cards.

 

The new realities behind your payer mix

On paper, payer mix still looks familiar: Medicare, Medicaid, commercial and self-pay summarized neatly on the income statement. But the cash story behind that mix has shifted.

High-deductible plans and rising out-of-pocket costs mean more of each encounter’s total charge now falls to the patient after insurance, not just to the insurer. Those patient-owed balances are far harder to predict and collect than contracted insurer payments, and many organizations are recovering only a fraction of what’s billed on the patient side. The result:

  • Less predictable cash flow, as a larger share of revenue depends on patient behavior instead of institutional payers.
  • Higher write-offs, with bad debt and charity care climbing as affordability challenges grow.
  • Greater sensitivity to delays on the “reliable” side of the mix—your insurer reimbursements must do more work to stabilize cash.

Against that backdrop, it’s no longer enough to optimize only patient collections. To protect margin and mission, healthcare finance, IT and operations leaders need to accelerate every predictable dollar.

Where should you start? The lowest-hanging fruit is payer reimbursements.

 

How virtual credit card payment automation accelerates cash flow

For many organizations, insurer reimbursements still arrive the hard way: Payers issue virtual cards for approved claims and send those card details through the mail, leaving providers to finish the last mile manually.

That “status quo” workflow looks like this:

  • Letters arrive at the practice or lockbox.
  • Staff open and sort mail, retrieve virtual card details and key payments into a terminal or practice management system.
  • Teams reconcile deposits and remittance data days or weeks later, often by hand and often across multiple systems.

On paper, it’s a digital payment. In reality, it’s a paper-era process with familiar consequences: extra administrative work, slower access to cash, more opportunities for fraud or loss and a wider PCI DSS footprint as staff handle card numbers directly.

Those pain points set the stage for a different approach: automating the entire path from virtual card creation to deposit and reconciliation, without changing how payers adjudicate claims.

 

What is Straight Through Processing?

STP is a payment automation process offered that allows healthcare providers to receive payments from insurance companies and from patients (via their payers) in about one day, directly into their bank accounts.

Instead of sending virtual card details through the mail and relying on manual posting, STP:

  • Keeps the virtual card model at the payer level: The insurer continues to generate a virtual card (VCC) for each approved reimbursement or patient balance, just as they do today.
  • Routes those virtual cards electronically to CSG Forte: The insurer sends the VCC details and remittance data to CSG Forte over secure, encrypted channels.
  • Automates virtual credit card payment processing and deposit: CSG Forte processes the virtual card and deposits funds directly into the provider’s bank account—typically the day after the claim is approved, instead of weeks or months later.
  • Delivers complete reconciliation: Payments and remittance information are surfaced in CSG Forte’s platform so your finance and operations teams can track, match and report on every transaction efficiently.

From your team’s perspective, reimbursements simply show up as electronic deposits with clean remittance data, without anyone handling plastic, paper or card numbers.

 

How STP fits into your insurance and patient payment flows

For healthcare administrators, IT and revenue cycle leaders, it helps to see how STP aligns with existing claim and billing processes.

At a high level, two flows benefit: B2B (payer → provider) and C2B (patient → provider via payer).

1. Insurance (B2B) payments

  • A patient receives care; the provider submits a claim.
  • The payer adjudicates and approves a portion—for example, $110 on a $200 visit.
  • The insurer generates a virtual card for the approved amount and routes it electronically to CSG Forte.
  • CSG Forte processes the VCC and deposits the $110 directly into the provider’s bank account, usually within one business day of approval.
  • CSG Forte’s web platform presents the payment and associated remittance data so your team can post, reconcile and report without rekeying or guesswork.

2. Patient (C2B) payments via payer portals

  • After insurance, the patient still owes, say, $50 (copays, deductibles, coinsurance).
  • The patient pays their balance through a payer-linked portal using an HSA/FSA or other card.
  • That payment hits the insurer’s engine, which again creates a virtual card for the $50 balance and sends it to CSG Forte.
  • CSG Forte processes the virtual credit card payment and deposits the $50 into the same provider account, with remittance data aligned to the patient and claim.

By centralizing both flows through STP, you:

  • Reduce manual touch points.
  • Gain a more predictable view of insurer and patient cash.
  • Create a cleaner foundation for downstream patient billing and collections.

 

From mailed cards to automated deposits: the STP advantage

Replacing mailed virtual cards with straight-through electronic deposits unlocks a set of concrete advantages across finance, operations and compliance.

1. Faster access to cash: Moving from up to 60 days of mail-based reimbursement to roughly one day after approval has a direct impact on days in A/R and days cash on hand. That acceleration can:

  • Smooth intramonth liquidity swings.
  • Reduce reliance on short-term borrowing or internal juggling.
  • Support more proactive decisions around staffing, capex and growth.

2. Lower administrative burden: With STP, your teams no longer need to open envelopes, key card numbers into terminals or manually match deposits to remittances. Our platform consolidates payment and remittance data so staff can focus on exception handling instead of transactional data entry. In an environment where revenue cycle and billing roles are hard to staff and retain, simplicity significantly increases efficiency for lean teams.

3. Reduced fraud and loss exposure: Automated virtual card processing significantly reduces the surface area for:

  • Intercepted mail and stolen card details.
  • Card testing fraud on exposed numbers.
  • Misapplied or lost payments that never make it to your deposit account.

By keeping sensitive card data within encrypted, controlled systems and eliminating physical mail, STP helps lower your fraud and loss risk while improving traceability.

4. Stronger security and compliance posture: CSG Forte’s healthcare payments capabilities, including STP, are designed to support high standards of HIPAA, PCI DSS and HITRUST-aligned security controls. Because your staff are no longer handling card numbers directly, your PCI scope is narrower and easier to manage and your audit trail for payer remittances becomes more robust.

 

Ensuring compliance and security in payment automation

For healthcare administrators and operations leaders, the value of STP isn’t just “faster payments.” It’s a set of strategic improvements in:

Finance and revenue cycles

  • Cash flow acceleration: Shorter reimbursement cycles stabilize liquidity and free working capital for strategic initiatives, not just firefighting.
  • More predictable revenue: With insurer and payer portal payments flowing directly to your accounts, forecasting becomes more reliable.
  • Cleaner close: Automated posting and reconciliation reduce end-of-month surprises and manual journal entries.

IT and data teams

  • Fewer brittle customizations: STP runs behind the scenes handling the virtual card processing; your core EHR and practice management systems don’t need invasive changes.
  • Better data quality: Consistent remittance data that is aligned with deposits and supports more accurate analytics and reporting across payer, specialty and facility.
  • Security by design: Centralizing virtual credit card payment processing with a healthcare-ready payments partner helps you align with existing security and risk frameworks rather than creating new exceptions.

Operations and practice leadership

  • Staff efficiency: Each remittance that posts automatically is one fewer piece of paper to touch or spreadsheet to reconcile.
  • Less burnout from repetitive work: Reducing tedious, error-prone tasks makes it easier to retain experienced revenue cycle and billing staff in a tight labor market.
  • Alignment with long-term automation strategy: Industry research continues to highlight significant savings potential from automating administrative processes across healthcare finance. STP supports your broader automation strategy.

 

Moving from 60 days to 1 day with CSG Forte

Healthcare providers can’t afford to leave cash flow to chance—not when margins are thin, patient affordability is under pressure and labor markets are tight. Optimizing patient collections will always matter, but stabilizing the predictable, contracted side of revenue is just as critical.

CSG Forte’s Straight Through Processing gives healthcare finance, IT and operations leaders a practical lever to:

  • Replace mailed virtual cards with automated deposits.
  • Shorten reimbursement cycles from months to roughly a day.
  • Reduce fraud and compliance risk tied to manual card handling.
  • Free staff from low-value, high-volume tasks.

All while working within the payer and portal ecosystems you already use. STP does not require changes to payer adjudication or your core EHR/practice management systems.

Ready to learn more? Connect with experts from our team to see how STP can fit into your healthcare payment workflows and revenue cycle strategy.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ 1: What is virtual credit card payment automation in healthcare?

Virtual credit card (VCC) payment automation replaces mailed virtual card letters and manual keying with a fully electronic flow from payer to provider bank account.

In the STP model, payers still generate a virtual card for each approved claim or patient balance, but they send the card credentials and remittance data directly to CSG Forte over secure channels instead of sending paper to your office.

CSG Forte then processes those cards automatically, deposits funds to your account (typically the day after approval) and surfaces the associated remittance data so your team can post and reconcile without touching envelopes or terminals.

FAQ 2: How does CSG Forte’s STP differ from ACH or check‑based payments?

Check-based and many “virtual card by mail” workflows rely on postal delivery and manual keying, which can stretch the window from approval to deposit to 30–90 days and consume significant staff time.

ACH EFT can eliminate paper but often still requires a separate process to match deposits with remittance files and handle exceptions. STP focuses specifically on virtual card reimbursements: it automates the last mile from “virtual card issued” to “funds in your bank with matched remittance,” so you get the speed and card-rail protections of VCCs with far less manual work.

Many groups pursue ACH and STP together—using ACH where they can, and applying STP to the substantial volume of virtual card payments that won’t go away in the near term.

FAQ 3: Is STP available for all payment types and payers?

Today’s STP offering is focused on automating virtual card reimbursements, covering both insurer payments and patient payments made through payer-linked portals (e.g., HSA/FSA spend).

Within that universe, you can choose whether to enroll only insurer (B2B), only patient (C2B) or both flows, and you can route them to the appropriate bank accounts.

STP does not currently turn every payer or every payment method into a straight‑through flow, but it gives you a high‑impact way to automate a large and growing slice of card-based reimbursements without waiting for every payer to move to ACH.

FAQ 4: What compliance and security standards does STP support?

STP is designed to operate within HIPAA, PCI DSS and HITRUST‑aligned security frameworks, reflecting the dual sensitivity of payment data and protected health information (PHI).

Card data and remittance information move through encrypted, access‑controlled systems; staff no longer handle card numbers directly, which helps narrow your PCI scope and strengthens audit trails for payer remittances.

On top of that, our platform provides role‑based access, MFA, IP whitelisting and detailed logging so finance, IT and compliance teams can enforce least‑privilege access and reconstruct who did what, when and why.

FAQ 5: Does STP require changes to my EHR, practice management or RCM systems?

STP is intentionally designed to run “behind the scenes” so you don’t have to rip and replace core systems to benefit from automation.

Virtual card processing and data normalization happen on the CSG Forte side; you can start by centralizing acceptance, settlement and reconciliation and then deepen integrations into your EHR, PM or RCM tools over time.

Many organizations use STP to stabilize cash and clean up remittance data first, then work with their internal teams and vendors to map that cleaner data into existing posting workflows rather than rebuilding those workflows from scratch.

Payment Channels Explained: Offer More Ways to Pay Without Adding Complexity

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Payments aren’t getting simpler—they’re getting more varied. Your customers might want to pay online, over the phone, in person or through a link in an invoice reminder. And while offering more ways to pay can increase completed payments and reduce delays, it can also create new headaches if each option lives in its own silo.

That’s why it helps to think in terms of payment channels, not just payment methods. A channel is the full path a payment takes—from the customer’s experience to the technology that securely authorizes the transaction and moves funds. Before you add new ways to pay, you need to understand which channels fit your business, how they differ and how to implement them in your organization in a way that stays cohesive, secure and manageable.

 

What is a payment channel?

A payment channel is any way a customer might make a payment or anywhere that you, a merchant, might accept a payment. A payment channel includes a payment method, such as automated clearing house (ACH), debit card or a bank account, and the technical infrastructure that allows businesses and financial institutions to verify transactions and send funds. The infrastructure might include steps like securely sending card information entered into a website or checking the transaction for potential fraud.

Retail channels are a similar yet distinct concept. Retail channels cover different ways people can shop, like brick-and-mortar stores, catalogs and online shopping sites. Payment channels are generally related to these retail channels but are more specific to how people make payments. They correlate to retail channels but leave some room for overlap.

For example, at a brick-and-mortar retail channel, you might process payments on a physical point-of-sale (POS) system—a cash register—as well as on smartphones or tablets within the store. Your catalog might accept payments by phone but also integrate into an omnichannel approach. Customers could walk into your brick-and-mortar store to pay at the POS, or they could shop the catalog online and pay via online checkout.

Payment and retail channels closely relate to each other. Since you definitely want to create a cohesive, omnichannel experience, it’s essential to consider what payment channels you might implement. Some of the most popular options include:

Physical POS systems

Most brick-and-mortar stores have a point-of-sale (POS) payment system of some kind. These systems allow businesses to take in-person payments such as credit and debit cards, cash and checks. A physical POS can use more traditional technologies as a standalone system, but mobile POS systems are also common. A mobile POS uses devices such as smartphones and tablets to process payments, often with attached card readers. This option works well for businesses looking for easy-to-implement tech or for those on the move, such as field service providers.

Phone and interactive voice response (IVR) payments

Payments made over the phone can come in one of two varieties. The traditional approach involves talking to an agent to communicate payment details and share card information. An alternative to these contact center payments is to use IVR to walk customers through the process without needing to talk to an agent. The customer can enter specific numbers or say certain words to make the payment. Both methods are popular with service businesses and recurring payments.

Online checkout solutions

Online checkouts can come in many forms for everything from e-commerce and subscription services to rent and utility bills. They might integrate features for managing shopping carts, storing the customer’s information for next time or setting up automatic payments. Supported payment methods might include credit and debit cards and Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions. ACH is the system used to electronically transfer funds between bank accounts and process electronic checks in the United States.

Contactless payments

Many cards now have integrated chips with near-field communication (NFC) technology. A compatible POS system allows customers to tap their credit or debit card to make payments. Digital wallets like PayPal and Apple Pay can also use NFC technology to facilitate card payments and bank transfers. You’ll find these wallets integrated with online checkouts and supported by physical POS systems, which can collect payment data wirelessly from a user’s smartphone or watch.

 

How offering multiple payment channels benefits your business

Person paying with a phone on a point-of-sale device. Caption: In a competitive landscape, offering convenience and choice can make a big difference in where your customers shop.

In a competitive landscape, offering convenience and choice can make a big difference in where your customers shop. Credit cards and debit cards are by far the most popular payment methods at the point of sale, but analysts expect digital wallets to become much more common. However, payment preferences can vary widely by industry, geography, customer demographics and other characteristics.

By offering a range of options, businesses and their customers can reap several benefits, including:

Better customer experience

With more choices, customers can make payments how they want. These methods often come with unique advantages. Cash doesn’t have any processing requirements or fees, while credit cards can offer rewards and fraud protection. Online or over-the-phone payments are convenient and fast.

With multiple options, customers can pick the right one for their situation. From a business perspective, a better customer experience from payment channels can make it more likely someone will make a purchase with you or reduce the likelihood that their payment will be late.

More sales opportunities

Different payment channels can create new sales opportunities. Taking online payments can help a local shop reach customers worldwide, while a POS could help a storefront business take payments from customers who don’t typically carry cash.

Flexible payment options can also help customers make payments on time, allowing businesses to maintain steady cash flow.

Additional features

Some payment channels support useful features. For example, online checkout systems can help customers set up automatic recurring payments, which you can’t do with cash payments. Online checkouts also offer branding opportunities. You could even create email or SMS text message payment channels by including a link to an online payment platform in emails and SMS text notifications.

 

Security and compliance considerations

Protecting customer information and meeting regulations is crucial for any organization collecting payments. Most payment channels use different technological infrastructures, so you’ll need to pay attention to security and compliance requirements. Make sure your solutions follow best practices for technology standards and protocols, like end-to-end encryption, tokenization and fraud prevention methods.

Depending on your industry and the payment channels you use, look for solutions that meet the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Working with a member of the Nacha Preferred Partner Program can help ensure security with ACH transactions, too.

 

How to set up multiple payment channels

Setting up multiple payment channels might sound complex, but a merchant service provider and a unified payment platform simplify the process. Here at CSG Forte, we use the Dex Payments Platform, a comprehensive solution for payment processing. Dex integrates with various online, in-person and phone payment systems for simplified management and various tools to meet customer needs.

Your team can integrate this highly customizable platform with application programming interfaces (APIs), or you can work with our experienced team to implement channels for your business. We can also help with hardware requirements.

CSG Forte offers full payment processing support for the following channels:

  • Physical POS: We can help build a physical POS solution and supply the tech, including card readers and our Virtual Terminal that turns existing computers into instant workstations. Our POS systems are PCI-validated with point-to-point encryption for extensive security.
  • Phone/IVR: Our phone and IVR services come with your own toll-free number and script-building assistance. Touch-tone and speech-recognition technology can help you build a great customer experience. We also have solutions to streamline and secure payments received through your contact center.
  • Online payments: Our robust online checkout solution is smart, speedy and stocked with options. Accept credit and debit cards and ACH payments, and allow customers to pay through your app or other platforms through robust APIs.

You can accept both credit cards and electronic checks on any of these channels, and each channel comes with our cloud-based Virtual Terminal for transaction management and our powerful payment gateway services. All of the reports funnel into the Virtual Terminal, so you don’t have to worry about piecing things together on your own.

These payment channels don’t necessarily have to correlate only to retail, as well. For example, government agencies could implement online payments to accept taxes on the web and leverage a POS system for in-office payment collection.

 

CSG Forte’s payment channel solutions for your business

Smiling man on a laptop. Caption: Payment channel solutions for your business

Whatever your industry, diverse payment channels can transform your approach. Expand options for your customers and your business with simplified payment processing. And what’s easier than setting up all of your channels with one company? Get started with CSG Forte today.

An Insurance Leader’s Guide to Reducing Payment Declines

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Key Takeaways

  • Insurance payment declines are a customer experience, retention and compliance problem—not just a billing issue—because failed premiums can quickly lead to policy lapses and involuntary churn.
  • The most effective strategies combine prevention (reminders, ACH, account verification, Account Updater) with smart, mostly invisible recovery tactics and empathetic communication when policyholders must get involved.
  • Modern platforms paired with powerful tools help insurers reduce declines, cut manual work and protect premium revenue across the entire policyholder journey.

Payment failures are problematic for all businesses, but the consequences are particularly harmful for insurance companies and policyholders. Insurance payment declines can cause policy cancellations that decrease revenue and leave customers unprotected from catastrophic events.

Even if the policy is later reinstated, policyholders fed up with payment friction may switch insurers, reducing customer lifetime value. To protect and retain clients and revenue, insurers need effective strategies—and a modern online payments platform—to reduce insurance premium payment declines.

 

Why insurance payment declines hurt more than you think

When insurance premium payments fail, they set off a chain reaction of customer frustration, operational headaches and financial losses that erode an insurer’s profitability.

Payment friction damages customer experience: In an industry where “peace of mind” is the core product, online payment friction is particularly damaging because it forces the policyholder to do the heavy lifting during a high-stress moment. When communication regarding payment declines is vague (“payment error”), impersonal and arrives a week later by snail mail, customers must scramble to identify and fix the problem before the grace period ends. Paying bills is often the only contact policyholders have with the insurer, so a stressful payment experience may be the deciding factor about whether to switch providers.

Lapsed coverage leads to churn and revenue loss: If an insurance premium payment is declined and the customer fails to remedy the situation within the grace period, the policy is canceled and insurance coverage terminates. This involuntary churn results in a complete loss of future revenue from that customer, decreasing investment income from float. Even if the customer’s policy is reinstated, the frustration and hassles may send the policyholder shopping for another carrier (i.e., voluntary churn).

Payment failures increase operational expenses: Tending to insurance payment declines requires costly internal processes:

  • Policyholder communications (i.e., dunning management)
  • Payment retries
  • Reinstatement

Compliance risk: In many states, property and casualty insurers have specific regulatory requirements for notifying customers before policy cancellation. Failed payments complicate this process, increasing the risk of compliance errors and potential regulatory penalties.

 

Top causes of premium payment failures

Payment declines may be due to policyholder issues, technical/system failures, or fraud/risk flags:

  • Insufficient funds: The policyholder’s bank account doesn’t have enough money to cover the premium, or the premium exceeds the available credit card limit.
  • Expired or cancelled card: When the card used for recurring payments is no longer valid, the premium payment will fail. The typical life span of a credit card is about three years before it expires or becomes lost or stolen.
  • Invalid payment data (technical error): The payment information (e.g., bank account or routing number, credit card number, CVV or expiration date) was entered incorrectly by the customer or contains a technical error that prevents the payment gateway from processing it.
  • Technical glitches: Issues arise with the payment gateway, processor or card network.
  • Fraud detection/false declines: The issuing bank’s fraud prevention system flags a legitimate transaction as suspicious.

 

Best practices to reduce declines and retain policyholders

The best way to retain clients is to deliver a more convenient online payment experience. Follow these best practices to improve CX and prevent payment declines:

Send automated payment reminders well before the premium due date. If the reminder arrives the day before payment is due, customers may not have enough time to be sure there’s enough money in their account to cover the premium.

Encourage policyholders to pay via automated clearing house (ACH) instead of credit card. Because bank accounts are typically held for 14 years (meaning account numbers don’t change as often as credit card numbers), ACH transactions have lower decline rates.

Offer flexible payment plans and due dates. Make insurance premiums more budget-friendly by allowing policyholders to spread out payments (e.g., monthly, quarterly or biannual payments). Offer paycheck aligned plans that match customers’ pay dates.

Use a card account updater service. An account updater service automatically updates expired, replaced or reissued card credentials with the card network, eliminating the need for customers to manually refresh their payment details.

Implement an account verification solution. Verify the bank account and routing number for ACH transactions to reduce manual errors at the point of capture and reduce bad checks prior to processing.

Take advantage of payment orchestration. Use a system that intelligently routes payment attempts through different processors or networks if an initial attempt fails, sometimes leading to a successful transaction.

 

How to recover failed payments without damaging relationships

Payment declines may still occur, despite your best efforts to prevent them. When they do, you need to tread lightly to resolve the problem without pushing customers away.

Start with “invisible” recovery tactics. The best way to preserve a relationship is to fix the payment issue before the customer even realizes there is a problem.

Use a payment recovery service. When insurance premium payment fails due to insufficient funds, a payment recovery service automates and optimizes the process of reattempting and collecting payment, without the customer’s involvement.

Apply intelligent retry logic. The best recovery systems employ a machine-learning-driven process that determines the optimal moment to re-attempt a declined transaction. For example, debit card retries may be most successful at 12:01 AM, when banks refresh daily balances. Or the system may use payday logic, retrying payments on the 1st or 15th of the month.

  • Remove friction. If you must involve policyholders in recovery efforts, communicate promptly, transparently and empathetically—and make it easy for the customer to fix the payment problem.
  • Issue real-time payment decline alerts. Instantly notify customers via their preferred channel (phone, text or email) when a payment fails, explaining the reason (e.g., “Card declined due to insufficient funds”). Keep the tone friendly and supportive.
  • Include a one-click payment link. Make it simple for policyholders to update their payment method or make a one-time payment, without having to log in to the portal.
  • Allow partial premium payments to prevent policy lapses. Personalized messages and solutions are more effective than generic outreach.

 

CSG Forte: the best policy for insurance payment success

A modern online payment processing platform for insurers simplifies payments and revenue management. CSG Forte is your one-stop solution for accepting payments in person, by phone or online. Payment validation, card updater and NSF Check Recovery Services reduce insurance payment declines, boosting retention and revenue.

CSG Xponent, our customer journey management solution, improves policyholder CX by sending timely, personalized messages—such as payment reminders and claims status updates—via each customer’s preferred channel.

Ready to simplify payments? Let’s chat—reach out to our Forte team today and discover how we can help your business boost retention and revenue.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the most common reasons insurance premium payments fail?

The main drivers are:

  • Insufficient funds or credit limit on the policyholder’s account when the premium is due.
  • Expired, replaced or cancelled cards used for recurring payments.
  • Incorrect or incomplete payment details, such as mistyped account or routing numbers, card number, CVV or expiration date.
  • Technical issues at the gateway, processor or network level that temporarily prevent authorization.
  • Fraud/risk rules and false positives, where the issuer flags a legitimate transaction as suspicious and declines it.

2. How does Account Updater reduce card declines for insurers?

Account Updater automatically refreshes stored card details for participating Visa, Mastercard and Discover cards when those cards are reissued, updated or closed. Instead of a recurring premium failing because the old card on file has expired or been replaced, CSG Forte:

  • receives updated card data from the card networks,
  • matches it to tokenized payment methods on file, and
  • updates the token with the new account number or expiration date.

This reduces declines due to outdated card credentials and lets many recurring premiums continue without the policyholder needing to call in or log into a portal to update their card.

3. Can CSG Forte BillPay integrate with my existing policy admin system?

Yes. CSG Forte BillPay is designed to sit alongside your existing policy admin, billing and claims platforms, not replace them. Insurers can:

  • use REST APIs and/or file-based integrations to exchange data,
  • synchronize balances, payment status and settlement details, and
  • feed reconciliation files and reports into downstream finance and policy systems.

The result is a more modern payment experience without a rip-and-replace of your core insurance systems.

4. What payment methods does CSG Forte support for insurance premiums?

CSG Forte supports a broad mix of payment methods insurers typically need, including:

  • credit and debit cards,
  • ACH/eCheck from bank accounts, and
  • leading digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo.

These can be offered across channels like web and mobile portals, IVR and call center payments, text-to-pay and in-person or agent-assisted payments, so policyholders can pay in the way that’s most convenient to them.

5. How can insurers track and improve payment recovery rates?

To manage and improve recovery, insurers should:

  • Track decline and failure rates by channel and payment method (card vs. ACH).
  • Measure recovery rate by value (how much failed premium revenue is successfully collected) and write-off percentage (what’s never recovered).
  • Monitor time to recovery (TTR)—the days from first decline to successful collection.
  • Compare automatic vs. manual recovery, aiming to shift more recovery to automated tools (Account Updater, intelligent retries, recovery services) and reduce labor-intensive outreach.

Improvement typically comes from:

  • strengthening prevention (payment reminders, ACH incentives, account verification, Account Updater),
  • implementing smart retry and recovery logic, and
  • using analytics to refine dunning strategies and channel mix over time.

Modernize the Government Payment Experience for Residents by Adding Online Payments

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Key Takeaways

  • Modern government payment experience drives on-time revenue. When agencies integrate web, mobile, IVR and text-to-pay into a single platform, residents can move from reminder to payment in a few clicks—reducing delinquencies and call volume.
  • Secure, user-friendly portals build public trust. A modern online bill pay experience that’s mobile-first, PCI-compliant and easy to navigate makes residents more likely to pay your bill before less convenient ones.
  • Multi-channel reminders boost engagement and collections. Letting residents choose email, text or automated voice reminders—and pairing those with personalized payment links—helps governments reach more people, increase completion rates and lower staff workload.

Providing a smooth payment experience is key if you want residents to pay taxes, utilities, fees and fines on time. But meeting public expectations is easier said than done.

People increasingly expect payments to be digital, fast and easy—70% of U.S. consumers prefer to receive payments digitally, and 73% prefer to shop and pay using digital methods, according to recent research. At the same time, security and convenience are now the top decision factors in how people choose to pay their bills.

In 2023, more than nine in 10 consumers used at least one form of digital payment over the course of the year. And even though U.S. households received about 9.1 billion bills by mail in 2023, 80% of those bills were ultimately paid electronically. What’s more, for the first time, more than half of all household bill payments were made online. The good news: a few practical changes can dramatically improve your residents’ experience and help your agency collect revenue more reliably. Follow these four best practices to deliver a secure, convenient digital payment experience that reduces friction and supports on-time payments.

 

4 best practices to improve the government payment experience

Modernizing the government payment experience doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By focusing on practical, resident-centered improvements, agencies can make paying bills simpler and more secure—encouraging on-time payments and reducing frustration for both residents and staff. Here are four actionable strategies to help your organization deliver a modern digital payment journey.

1. Seamlessly integrate your payment channels

  • Aim for a flow where a resident gets a text or email with a secure link, taps once and lands on a mobile-friendly page where they can pay in just a few clicks.
  • When you integrate web, mobile, IVR, text-to-pay and agent-assisted payments into a single platform, staff see one source of truth, residents move directly from reminder to payment, and your agency fields fewer “how do I pay this?” calls.

The payoff: more completed payments, fewer delinquencies and less time spent chasing balances.

2. Treat the payment portal like a critical service touchpoint

For residents, your payment portal is one of the most visible ways they experience their city, county or state.

  • Security and convenience are two top factors consumers often cite when choosing how to pay their bills.
  • If your portal is slow, cluttered or not optimized for mobile, many residents will delay paying or prioritize “easier” bills first.
  • Accessibility issues—language, readability, mobile responsiveness—can hit lower-income and older residents hardest.

A modern, mobile-friendly portal with clear steps, plain language and saved payment methods makes it more likely your bill moves to the top of the stack instead of the bottom.

3. Earn public trust with a secure payment platform

Agencies handle sensitive resident data every day. If people don’t trust your payment system, they’ll avoid it and fall back on more manual, expensive channels.

  • Card-not-present fraud (online and phone payments) now accounts for roughly 71% of all card fraud losses, or about $10 billion in 2024, and is expected to remain about three-quarters of total card-payment fraud.
  • Security has become the single most important feature for many bill payers.

Look for a platform that:

  • Uses IVR and self-service to protect card data.
    • Inbound IVR: residents enter card or bank details via keypad instead of reading them aloud.
    • Outbound IVR: residents receive an automated balance reminder and can pay securely in the same call.
  • Keeps agent-assisted payments secure by letting staff send one-time, secure payment links via text or email so residents enter card data directly—staff never see or handle it.
  • Leans on built-in PCI compliance and tokenization, so sensitive data is secured by a specialist provider, your compliance scope shrinks and staff can focus on serving residents, not managing security configs.

4. Reach residents on the channels they actually use

If you’re only sending reminders through a channel residents rarely check, you’re increasing the odds of late payments.

  • Text messages have open rates around 90–99%, compared to roughly 20–33% for email.
  • About 79% of consumers are opted in to receive texts from businesses, signaling a strong preference for text-based communication.

For governments, that means:

  • Residents are far more likely to see a text about a tax deadline, court date or utility bill than a single email or mailed notice.
  • Multi-channel outreach—text, email and automated voice—dramatically improves the chances reminders arrive before the due date.
  • Let residents choose their preferred channel and use it consistently for reminders, confirmations and past-due notices.

 

How CSG Forte helps public agencies modernize the payment experience

CSG Forte’s payment platform is designed to meet residents where they are—whether they’re paying property taxes, utility bills, permitting fees or court fines.
With one secure, low-code platform, your agency can:

  • Enable any-time, any-way payments: online, mobile, IVR, text-to-pay and agent-assisted.
  • Manage invoice creation, payment processing and notifications across channels from a single interface.
  • Reduce your exposure to sensitive card data with PCI-compliant processing and tokenization.

Give residents a consistent, user-friendly experience whether they’re on a phone, laptop or at the counter.

You can invite residents to opt in to reminders, confirmations and late notices on their preferred channels, then use calendar-aware workflows to send personalized payment links when you know they’re most likely to see—and act on—them.

If your city, county or state agency is looking to simplify bill payments, improve the resident experience, reduce fraud exposure and encourage on-time payments, CSG Forte can help. Check out our eBook focused on improving government payment services.

Contact us to learn how CSG Forte can support your team and your community.

Defending Payments in an AI Fraud Era

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Key Takeaways:

  • Payment fraud is accelerating and evolving. Losses are projected to reach $91 billion in 2028, and nearly 80% of organizations reported attacks or attempts in 2024. Fraud is no longer occasional; it’s global, complex and relentless.
  • AI is a double-edged sword. Businesses use AI to fight fraud, but bad actors also leverage AI to automate fraud, create synthetic identities and launch sophisticated phishing campaigns that evade traditional detection.
  • Modern fraud protection requires agility and intelligence. Businesses need solutions that deploy quickly, adapt to unique transaction patterns and provide full visibility with customizable controls—backed by expert support to stay ahead of evolving threats.

The payments industry is under siege. Fraud is no longer an occasional nuisance. It’s accelerating at unprecedented speeds, becoming increasingly sophisticated and harder to detect. For businesses that accept online payments, it often feels like playing a relentless game of whack-a-mole. As soon they address one threat, another emerges.

 

The cost of payment fraud is growing

Scams, account takeovers and fake identities drive most payment fraud schemes. Recent industry research underscores the scale of the problem:

  • $362 billion: Projected global losses from online payment fraud between 2023–2028, with $91 billion expected in 2028 alone.
  • 79% of organizations reported being victims of payment fraud attacks or attempts in 2024.
  • $534 billion: Average amount forfeited in 2024 among business leaders surveyed. This is equal to 7.7% of annual revenue.

The bottom line: Fraud is not just costly, it is evolving, complex and global in scope.

 

Even fraudsters are using AI

Businesses are increasingly seeking partners who are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in their fraud protection tools.

Unfortunately, bad actors are also tapping AI to steal billions of dollars. Fraudsters employ machine learning algorithms to identify patterns in transaction data, initiate account takeovers and automate fraud schemes. They can also generate synthetic identities that are difficult to detect, even with newer fraud protection tools.

AI tools also enable fraudsters to launch sophisticated phishing campaigns that optimize the timing and volume of fraudulent transactions. These tools even evade traditional rule-based detection systems that cannot effectively respond to novel attack patterns. This means that fraud is no longer just opportunistic; it’s intelligent. That’s why having proper security mechanisms in place is paramount for businesses. Fraudsters are calculated and adaptive, and they are scaling at the same speed as legitimate digital payments.

 

Prominent payment fraud types

The types of payment fraud emerging today are highly diverse, targeting businesses of every size and across all industries. Businesses, merchants and independent software vendors must understand common attack methods fraudsters use. This is a key first step to integrating fraud protection capabilities.

Common threats

  • Excessive payment fraud/refund fraud
    • What it is: Customers deliberately or accidentally submit payments exceeding owed amounts, later requesting refunds.
    • Why it matters: It creates significant financial losses through credit card and Automated Clearing House (ACH) chargebacks. It also damages processors’ and merchant networks’ credibility.
  • Merchant bust‑out fraud
    • What it is: Fraudulent merchants or impersonators rapidly process a high volume of irregular transactions before disappearing.
    • Why it matters: Merchants risk chargebacks, inflated fees and refund abuse. This disrupts cash flow and causes financial distress. It is especially problematic when high-dollar amounts funnel to unauthorized accounts.
  • Merchant credit events/defaults
    • What it is: Intended or unintended payment defaults by a merchant. Causes include disputes, chargebacks, returns, mismanaged cash flow and weak financial positioning.
    • Why it matters: Defaults lead to financial instability, credit events, missed payments and bankruptcies.
  • Customer payment fraud
    • What it is: Fraudulent merchants or impersonators rapidly process a high volume of irregular transactions before disappearing.
    • Why it matters: Merchants risk chargebacks, inflated fees and refund abuse. This disrupts cash flow and causes financial distress. It is especially problematic when high-dollar amounts funnel to unauthorized accounts.

More advanced fraud

  • Account takeover (ATO) fraud
    • What it is: Fraudsters steal credentials or run phishing scams to access merchant or customer accounts.
    • Why it matters: Causes direct financial theft, reputational damage, financial losses, potential bankruptcies and regulatory exposure.
  • Anti-money laundering (AML) violations
    • What it is: Illegally obtained funds move through legitimate payment channels to obscure their origins.
    • Why it matters: Brings serious compliance and regulatory consequences, including mandatory reporting, penalties, closures and reputational damage.
  • Card testing fraud
    • What it is: Fraudsters test stolen or generated card numbers with small transactions to identify valid working accounts.
    • Why it matters: It increases payment declines and makes processing more expensive. It also opens doors to bigger attacks that can lead to serious financial problems.

 

Where today’s solutions fall short

Many businesses rely on established fraud prevention tools. They often fall behind increasingly sophisticated fraud attacks. The biggest gaps in traditional systems include:

  • Slow response times: Older systems cannot keep up with fast-growing payment volumes. Without real-time detection, threats slip through and cause losses.
  • Poor customer experience: Outdated models often flag legitimate transactions as fraud. This leads to delays, declined payments and frustrated customers who expect smooth, secure payments.
  • Generic tools: One-size-fits-all solutions do not match the unique risks of different industries. Without customizable rules and thresholds, businesses either block good payments or miss high-risk ones.
  • Rigid systems and long deployments: Many “customizable” tools take months to implement, cost a lot to maintain and require internal teams for every update. Adapting to new fraud patterns becomes slow and expensive.
  • Costly in-house builds: Some businesses try building their own solution. They quickly discover that it demands constant investment, specialized skills and resources that pull focus from core operations.
  • Fragmented protection: Digital payments span multiple channels and regions, but many tools only cover part of the fraud landscape. Disconnected systems create blind spots, delays and inconsistent results.

 

What businesses need in modern fraud protection solutions

Risk management has transformed from a back-office function to strategic necessity and businesses need better support. Fortunately, new providers are challenging the status quo. They are taking a different technological and process approach to fight payment fraud. Key capabilities to look for in a fraud tech partner include:

  • Ever-learning technology: AI-powered platforms that continuously adapt to emerging risks. These platforms learn from new, diverse data without requiring heavy technical overhauls. This significantly reduces false positives, improving customer experience and driving stronger return on investment for businesses.
  • Implementation efficiency: In fraud prevention, speed is critical. Fraudsters exploit any delay. It is important to set up quickly with little effort required from the client. After implementation, ongoing support and expert guidance help businesses stay ahead of fraud.
  • Nimble customization: Customizable systems that adapt to unique transaction patterns and industry needs give businesses detailed, optimized protection.
  • Comprehensive coverage: Robust protection across fraud vectors, payment types, channels and geographics with processor-agnostic deployment gives businesses maximum flexibility as their priorities evolve.
  • Transparency and control: Clear decision logic, adjustable risk thresholds, detailed reporting and API integration deliver actionable insights for effective payment fraud prevention.

 

Partnering for protection

The payments landscape will only grow more complex. Businesses should look for a partner that offers intelligent technology with these key attributes. They should also look for consultative risk management that improves their tools and processes without the outsized price tag.

CSG Forte is on the forefront of addressing payment fraud schemes. Our payment fraud protection tools can help your business stay ahead of bad actors. Learn how to keep legitimate payments flowing smoothly while stopping fraudulent activity in its tracks. Explore the CSG Forte website and sign up for a demo.