Think Outside the Square: How QR Codes reshape payments

Posted on April 16, 2024

From telemedicine to bread baking, there’s a list of things that enjoyed a surge in adoption during the pandemic. For businesses, that includes the use of contactless payments and QR codes—which turned out to be no passing trend.

More than half of U.S. consumers now use some form of contactless payment, according to a Mastercard poll. In 2022, QR code payments accounted for $2.4 trillion in global spend, and that number is projected to keep growing past $3 trillion by 2025.

Previously, QR codes were used mainly for marketing purposes. Now they have found mainstream adoption beyond the pandemic as a tool to facilitate contactless payments. With convenience being a top priority among consumers, QR codes have proven to be a seamless and secure payment method for both businesses and customers alike.

We’ll delve into the benefits of incorporating QR codes into your multichannel payment processes and offer examples on how to effectively implement them, enhancing the payment experience for your customers.

WHAT ARE QR CODES?

QR (short for “quick response”) codes are two-dimensional barcodes that store information in a readable pattern. Traditional barcodes can only hold limited data like product numbers. QR codes, with their added dimension, can store various types of information including URLs, contact information and payment details (e.g., an invoice).

QR codes encode data into a grid of black squares on a white background, which can then be scanned by a smartphone or QR code reader. The scanning device then instantly accesses the encoded information, letting users quickly access websites, make payments or retrieve other information automatically.

You can think of QR codes as a bridge between physical and digital commerce. They offer a quick way to interact with content and perform tasks using a smartphone camera.

TYPES OF QR CODES

The QR codes that businesses use can be split into two types: static and dynamic. Each type differs in content and function.

STATIC QR CODES

These QR codes contain fixed data—the data can’t be changed once the code is generated. You often see these used to contain simple, unchanging information like website URLs, business card details or product information.

DYNAMIC QR CODES

Dynamic QR codes can be modified after creation. They’re often used in conjunction with a web service or platform that lets a user update the content linked to the code. This means the QR code can be personalized to specific users—linking to different URLs or displaying different text. This is why dynamic QR codes are often used in situations that require real-time updating, like marketing campaigns, inventory management and—as concerns us here—payments.

HOW QR CODES WORK IN PAYMENTS

Here, we’ll focus on one of those tasks that QR codes facilitate—initiating transactions—which merchants can use to offer contactless payment at a store or settle an invoice remotely.

Take retail transactions, for example. Merchants can generate QR codes to represent a specific payment amount. At the point of sale, a customer can simply scan a displayed QR code using their smartphone. This usually directs them to a secure payment portal where they can confirm the transaction and choose their preferred payment method—credit/debit card, mobile wallet, bank transfer, etc. The process makes it easy for customers to pay on the go, and merchants don’t need to have a cash register or payment terminal to accept payment.

Beyond retail transactions, QR codes can also facilitate invoicing with reduced friction. Businesses can generate a QR code for each invoice, embedding payment details such as the invoice number and amount due. When recipients receive the invoice, they can simply scan the QR code to access the payment portal, where they can review the details and complete the transaction with a few taps on their device. This streamlines the payment process by eliminating manual entry of payment information and reduces the risk of errors.

Essentially, QR codes are digital keys that unlock seamless payment journeys, whether they involve in-store purchases, ecommerce or invoice payments. They’re versatile and easy to use, making them an appealing tool for businesses looking to simplify their payment processes and improve the payment experience.

EXAMPLES OF QR CODE USE CASES FOR PAYMENTS

As mentioned, QR codes are versatile, and they help customers make quick, secure payments in a variety of ways. Here are just a few examples.

STREAMLINING PAYMENT VIA MONTHLY BILLING STATEMENTS

If your company sends out monthly billing statements, chances are you encourage customers to make payment online or through your app. You can take them straight to a payment portal by printing a QR code on the bill encoded with that URL. This saves the customer time in having to navigate to that portal through several clicks or even having to enter the URL. Not only that, but you can also encode the QR code to include the account number and amount due, which pre-fills the payment information for a faster checkout. It’s a great way to combine a traditional communication channel—the paper statement—with an easy digital payment experience.

ACCEPTING IN-PERSON PAYMENT MORE EASILY

Imagine you’re a field technician installing a new internet router in a customer’s home. As you’re setting it up, the customer shows interest in upgrading to a better router on the spot. With a few taps on your tablet, you quickly generate a personalized invoice reflecting the upgrade cost. Instead of fumbling with cash or card readers, you simply present the QR code on your device screen. The customer scans the code with their smartphone, and just like that, the payment is processed. You install the upgrade then and there, leaving the customer satisfied with faster internet connection. The best part is the QR code ensured payment right away—you didn’t have to invoice them and wait for the payment via the monthly bill.

REPLACING PAPER INVOICES

Suppose you’re a home repair service worker who has just completed a job for a customer. Instead of the traditional route of handing over a paper invoice and waiting for a check, you offer a more secure and efficient payment option: a QR code. The customer scans the code with their smartphone, securely processing the payment electronically. This not only saves time and reduces the risk of errors associated with manual payments, but it also provides a better payment experience by using a modern payment solution.

ADD QR CODES TO YOUR PAYMENT CHANNELS

Incorporating QR codes as a payment channel offers businesses a practical and efficient way to interact with customers. With CSG Forte Engage, our intuitive payments solution, organizations can seamlessly integrate QR codes into their operations, providing customers with personalized and secure invoices for hassle-free transactions. By leveraging QR codes, businesses can streamline their payment processes and enhance customer satisfaction with a secure and convenient digital payment channel.

Take the next step in offering this convenient, secure method and contact us today.

‘Tis the Season for Secure Payments: Protecting Your Business from Holiday Fraud

Posted on December 11, 2023

The holiday season is here, bringing with it the hustle and bustle of surging online transactions. Consumer spend is expected to rebound above pre-pandemic levels for the first time, even as 72% of shoppers anticipate higher prices.

Inflation dread isn’t enough to deter cash-strapped consumers. Credit options, such as Buy Now Pay Later short-term financing, will cover an estimated 13% of holiday purchases this year.

With the uptick of consumers embracing the holiday splurge, it’s essential to ensure that your store is safeguarded from the Grinches of the online world—fraudsters. Here are three tips to keep your e-commerce business merry and bright:

1. Hosted Payment Pages: A Trusted Haven for Transactions

Picture a secure fortress for your customers’ payment data—one that’s not on your servers. This is where securely hosted payment pages with a reliable payments provider come into play. By directing your online payments through these secure pages, you’re ensuring that sensitive payment data doesn’t linger in your system like a misplaced ornament.

The beauty of securely hosted payment pages lies in their ability to provide a seamless and secure transaction experience. Customers enter their payment details on a page hosted by the payments provider, keeping the crucial data away from your servers and reducing your PCI (Payment Card Industry) Data Security Standard scope. This ensures a worry-free experience for both you and your customers that leaves fraudsters out in the cold.

2. Digital Wallets: Security Wrapped in Convenience

‘Tis the season for giving, and what better gift to offer your customers than secure and convenient digital payment methods? Enter digital wallets. With enhanced security features, they provide a hassle-free and speedy checkout experience.

By offering popular digital wallets at your checkout, you’re not just embracing the holiday spirit—you’re also aligning with what consumers trust. Digital wallets safely store payment credentials and employ advanced encryption techniques to keep them protected. It’s a win-win—customers get a seamless payment experience, and you get the peace of mind that their data is protected.

3. Tokenization: Turning the Tables on Fraudsters

If you want to take your holiday defenses up a notch, consider the power of tokenization.

Tokenization involves replacing actual card and ACH payment data with generated tokens. These tokens have no intrinsic value and provide no value to fraudsters. It’s the equivalent of leaving fake presents under the tree for anyone attempting to snatch them. A reputable payments provider can assist you in implementing this robust layer of security, ensuring that even if a Grinch manages to sneak into your system, they leave empty-handed.

In the midst of the holiday season excitement, don’t let the fear of fraud steal your joy. By following these three tips—utilizing hosted payment pages, offering secure digital payment methods, and embracing tokenization—you can ensure your online business stays secure while shoppers stuff their carts.

CSG Forte is here to protect your payments this holiday season. Contact us to get started today.

Not Ready for Rising Card Fees? Try These 4 Payment Alternatives

Posted on October 20, 2023

Credit cards emerged from the pandemic stronger than ever. After bearing the brunt of decreased recreational spending in 2020, the industry is riding the wave of ecommerce growth to top an unprecedented $500 billion in online credit card usage. Resurgent travel spending, higher wages and generous rewards programs all bode well for credit card payments.

But as card spending stabilizes among consumers, their issuers must contend with the broader impact of economic downturn.

Credit Card Payments Under Pressure

The country is seeing record numbers of credit card debt and growing delinquency rates. Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York report that credit cards are the most prevalent form of household debt and expect this trend to continue—particularly with student loan payments resuming.

Talk of congressional action to lower swipe fees and rumors swirling around rising interchange fees also loom large for merchants that rely on credit card payments. With so much uncertainty, how can businesses protect their bottom line?

Bolster Your Business Growth With More Ways to Pay

Prepare for volatility in the credit card space by diversifying your payment methods. Consider these alternatives to safeguard your cash flow and generate revenue in any economic conditions.

4 Alternative Payment Methods

1. ACH

Automated clearing house (ACH) payments are a strong solution for businesses seeking reliability. This payment method allows merchants to draw funds directly from the customer’s bank account, limiting risk and excess costs.

ACH processing expenses are generally low compared to other forms of payment. Unlike credit cards, which are subject to fluctuating fees, ACH doesn’t require merchants to make authorization requests to credit card networks or issuing banks. This means that not only does using ACH save businesses money—it also insulates them from rising interchange fees if Visa or Mastercard choose to schedule increases.

ACH is also a more secure payment option. Credit card fraud is on the rise, with global losses projected to surpass $43 billion in the next five years. What does that mean for merchants? More chargebacks, less revenue and greater overall risk.

ACH payments also come equipped with security features that protect businesses from fraud. With end-to-end encryption and tokenization, sensitive payment data is disguised during transmission. It’s one of the safest payment methods available to businesses today.

2. Same-day ACH

Businesses can further optimize their electronic payments by implementing same-day ACH transfers. This method carries the same benefits as standard ACH payments, but with the added promise of receiving funds within a single day.

Payment processors traditionally could expect to see direct transfers reach their accounts in around four business days. But those that partner with a same-day ACH provider are guaranteed usable funds much sooner, provided they initiate the transaction by the designated cutoff time.

By bypassing processing delays, businesses enjoy the following advantages:

Faster payments, with lower fees. The speed of same-day ACH processing is comparable to credit cards. But with lower costs involved, the former provides merchants the best elements of both.
Streamlined cash flow. Automated transfers and reduced cycling times simplify delivery and allow for better control of cash flow.
Optimized customer experience. When you enable customers to pay their bills closer to the due date, both sides benefit. Same-day ACH processing helps last-minute payers avoid penalties, while faster crediting is applied to late payments.
Expedited payroll disbursement. Same-day ACH can also be used to pay employees via direct deposit. Faster issuance reduces administrative burdens by providing quick resolution of late payments or emergency distribution.

3. RTP

Real-time payments (RTP) can also quickly provide your business with cash flow. Much like ACH, this method supports quick electronic transfers between banks. But the similarities stop there.

RTP transactions are instantaneous—faster even than same-day ACH. These payments are initiated, cleared and settled with virtually zero perceptible delay. The unrivaled speed of RTP is a contributing factor to its international appeal: one 2020 survey found that consumers across six different markets consider real-time payments at least as important as internet access.

Speed isn’t RTP’s only convenient feature. Year-round availability is another unique benefit. Unlike ACH, real-time payments are also available on weekends, holidays and after business hours. Because it’s processed by The Clearing House rather than banks, RTP isn’t subject to the same limitations and enables 24/7/365 payments.

However, he RTP system isn’t always the answer. Transactions are capped at $1 million, and only credit payments are supported. Its network is also smaller than that of ACH—not every bank covers RTP.

But RTP is gaining popularity, and as it does, these drawbacks are expected to shrink. The U.S. Federal Reserve recently rolled out an instant payments service of its own in FedNow. As banks push for faster fund processing, the government’s network will offer them additional high-speed coverage options, making RTP more broadly available.

By stimulating competition with this move, expect to see increased adoption of real-time payments in the U.S.

4. Alternative Methods of Payment

Non-traditional payments are also available to businesses seeking credit card alternatives. To capitalize on these options, connect your bank account to an e-wallet that is compatible with popular payment methods. These might include:

PayPal
Physical or digital gift cards
Loyalty points
Apple Pay
Google Pay
Direct carrier billing

Offering customers the capability to use their preferred method encourages on-time payments, increased revenue and a seamless CX.

Get A Consult: Find Your Payments Fit

Payment methods should be built for your business—not the other way around. Connect with CSG Forte to get expert advice on which payment processing options will work best for you. Get started.

Tips to Reduce Late Payments by Engaging Payers

Posted on September 19, 2023

Suman Chaudhuri, VP, Sales & Revenue, CSG Forte

Late payments are on the rise, and they can weigh down your organization’s growth if they go unaddressed.

Auto loan and credit card delinquencies have bounced back to their pre-COVID rates, and late payments on consumer loans aren’t far behind. With these indicators, merchants in other industries might be right to wonder if they’ll see more missed or late payments—assuming they haven’t already.

Organizations are well aware how late payments can disrupt cash flow. As they add up, they can limit the ability to make the investments needed for growth, from purchasing new equipment, to hiring talent, to ordering inventory. Then there’s the cost of collecting late payments: sending out notices, attempting to call customers, engaging collection agencies, and so on.

Consumers often miss payments due to a lack of funds, but a large chunk of late payments are highly preventable. Among consumers who missed a payment in the previous six months, nearly half said either forgetting about the bill or mixing up the due date were factors, according to a recent survey.

So what can organizations do to help customers pay on time? By keeping them engaged with these approaches.

Make the payment experience as easy as possible

Many late payments result from transaction abandonment, which is a usually fixable problem in the customer’s payment journey. Sometimes the abandonment is accidental: think of how easy it is to get distracted in the process of paying a bill online or over the phone if it requires multiple steps. Other transaction abandonment is deliberate: perhaps the customer became frustrated to learn that they can’t make their payment online, and they put off the task for later.

To reduce transaction abandonment—accidental or otherwise—it’s important to make the payment experience as simple as possible.

Accept multiple payment methods.

You want to ensure most of your customers can use the payment method they most prefer, whether that’s credit/debit card, ACH, digital wallets, and yes, paper checks (55% of U.S. consumers wrote checks in 2022).

Offer auto-pay.

Automating regular payments is a win-win for you and your customers. Customers get to put the recurring payment out of mind, and your organization sees fewer late or declined payments. Offering and encouraging auto-pay makes a huge difference. Between April and July 2020, renters failed to make timely rent payments approximately 22% of the time. However, renters who used Rentec’s recurring payment system, powered by CSG Forte, only made late payments 1% of the time.

Allow payments in installments.

Making the payment experience easier can also involve offering a payment plan if your organization can provide that flexibility. Accepting partial or installment payments can be preferable to delinquent payments, and offering installments keeps the customer engaged. The key here is to use a payment solution that enables customers to set up their own alternative payment arrangements easily, without having to call into your call center. The payment terms, installment amounts and due dates also need to be clearly communicated to the customer through the user interface.

Send payment reminders on the customer’s preferred communication channels

The modern consumer has plenty of notifications and due dates competing for their attention. It’s easy for even your most organized customers to forget a payment unless they receive regular reminders. But reminders only matter if customers receive them on communication channels they use. Make sure you can send these automated messages by multiple methods, including email, text and outbound interactive voice response (IVR).

Also consider payment reminders that can integrate with customers’ calendar applications, increasing their visibility as part of your customer’s recurring to-dos. If you can enable seamless payments through your reminder communications, such as offering text to pay, then you’ve not only made it easier for customers to remember their bill, but also pay it in seconds.

CSG Forte Engage, a payer engagement platform, can help simplify your customers’ payment journey in these ways and more, enabling you to minimize late payments and protect your bottom line. Learn more about CSG Forte Engage and start increasing on-time payments today.

4 Best Practices for a Better Payment Experience

Posted on August 16, 2023

Providing a smooth experience is key if you want to make on-time payments easy for your customers. But meeting their expectations can be easier said than done.

The payment experience is often reported as a source of friction for customers. According to a survey of 400 billing and collections executives, 91% of customers cited the inconvenience of bill pay as a pain point. And 34% received customer feedback that there isn’t enough choice in payment methods.

Fortunately, there are simple solutions to facilitate a better payment experience. Follow these four best practices to deliver a secure and convenient digital payment experience that cuts down friction and meets customer expectations.

4 best practices to improve the customer payment experience

1. Seek seamless integration of payment methods

Simply making a multitude of payment options available to your customers won’t create a convenient experience. You need to integrate those channels if you want to encourage prompt payment.

When the payment process is comprised of disparate solutions, it creates friction for customers who are forced to leapfrog from one to another. A customer receiving an email payment reminder doesn’t want to get on the phone with a call center agent just to provide their credit card information. Imagine instead the convenience of being directed to an online payment platform directly within the reminder email.

By integrating your payment methods and eliminating cumbersome payment journeys, you’ll encourage prompt and repeatable payments.

2. Prioritize CX to limit late payments

Providing a positive customer experience doesn’t stop at the point of purchase. The payment portal is a brand touchpoint that deserves equal consideration.

For customers, the hassle of navigating a poorly designed platform can deter on-time payments. According to a 2022 survey of more than 1,500 bill payers, 14% of respondents prioritize convenience. Millennials go even further, with 23% citing payment ease as a reason to pay some bills before others.

A business that offers a user-friendly payment experience may encourage customers to first pay their bills before tackling—or even disregarding—those that involve more convoluted processes.

3. Gain trust with a secure payment platform

Many consumers are concerned about security, for good reason. Credit card fraud is widespread, and card-not-present fraud is expected to account for 74% of all credit card fraud losses by 2024. Up to 52% of U.S. bill payers rank security as a top feature in the digital payment process.

Here’s the takeaway: if customers don’t trust your payment system, they won’t use it.

It’s critical to demonstrate that cardholder data is protected on your payment platform. Follow these strategies to keep your customers secure:

Use payment IVR systems to securely take payments
Asking customers to read out their credit card information to a call center agent increases the risk of fraud. Leverage Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology to add a level of security.
- Inbound IVR allows customers to call in and manually enter their credit card information via keypad, reducing the risk that someone will overhear the details and jot them down.
- Outbound IVR lets customers receive a scheduled payment call at their convenience and then enter their credit card details during the call.
Keep call center payments secure
Use a payment platform that makes it simple for call center agents to quickly create custom invoices and send customers a link to securely complete transactions. Customers can pay directly without sharing their account data with anyone, all while removing the organization’s exposure to sensitive payment data.
Choose a payment platform that offers Payment Card Industry (PCI)-compliant processing
PCI regulations change frequently, making it challenging to keep up with complex security requirements. You can spare your business the risk of inadvertent regulatory discrepancies by using a payment platform with built-in PCI compliance. Trusting your payment platform to securely store sensitive customer data lets you stay focused on growing your business.

4. Make it easy for customers to read your reminders

A quick way to increase the odds of late payment is sending a customer reminders on a communication channel they rarely use. Leverage multi-channel communications for reminders to make sure you’re reaching them where they are most likely to respond.

Relying on email won’t always get your message across. Short Message Service (SMS) is gaining popularity. A Statista survey found that U.S. Internet users opened and read 42% of commercial text messages, as opposed to 32% sent by email.

The CSG Forte Payer Engagement Platform allows customers to pay when and how they want

CSG Forte’s Payer Engagement Platform is a revolutionary payments solution that meets your customers where they are. It enables any-time, any-way payment completion on the channel of their choice. Our low-code solution manages invoice creation, payment processing, and payment notifications—all on one secure platform.

Contact us to learn how the CSG Payer Engagement Platform can simplify your customer’s bill payments, improve their experience, reduce fraud exposure and encourage on-time payments.

Invite customers to receive payment reminders, confirmations and late notices on their preferred channels. Then implement a platform with calendar integrations to easily send personalized links to a custom invoice where you know they’ll see it.

React Native SDK from CSG Forte

Posted on August 16, 2022

The World Advertising Research Center predicted that by 2025, 72% of all internet users will solely use smartphones to access the web.

Continue reading “React Native SDK from CSG Forte”

Your Voice Matters: How CSG Forte Acts on Customer Feedback

Posted on June 30, 2022

Here at CSG Forte, we believe that listening alone is not enough to be truly customer obsessed. We have to learn and respond from customer feedback to deliver the best experiences for our customers.

Continue reading “Your Voice Matters: How CSG Forte Acts on Customer Feedback”

What is WCAG and Why Does it Matter

Posted on June 2, 2022

Why should we talk about Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)? The present and future of engagement are online and web based. With the growth of the metaverse, ongoing drive towards digital transformation and meteoric rise in online purchases, the ability to deliver a great digital experience has become table stakes.

Trend trackers have pointed out how much more important the web experience has become since the start of the pandemic. But for the more than 1 in 5 people with a disability, these experiences might come with caveats. Worldwide, more than 220 million people have a vision impairment of some sort and over 2 billion have a disability of some kind. What implications does this have for web design? Quite a lot!

History of WCAG

The need for a set of web content accessibility guidelines was recognized decades ago. We’ll explore what those standards are, but how have they evolved over time, and when did they first come together?

To find the origins of WCAG we have to go back to before the Y2K crisis. Back to the previous millennium. The year 1999. On May 5^th of that year, the HTML-focused WCAG 1.0 helped shaped the standards for web accessibility and digital experience. In 2008, those rules got an update in the form of WCAG 2.0.

Where the original had focused on HTML, the new guidelines (and the 2018 WCAG 2.1) expressed a technology-agnostic approach to accessibility for “web content on desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices.” The goal of WCAG overall has not changed from creating a more accessible web environment, but each update has given additional guidance on this critical topic.

What Does WCAG Require?

The standards set out in WCAG 2.1 cover four key factors for accessible design along with a series of conformance criteria to evaluate WCAG compliance. In particular, WCAG 2.1 indicates web content should be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. What do these mean?

1 Perceivable

“Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.”

If a user cannot see, hear, or otherwise interact with web content, it is not accessible to them. This means, for example, that non-text content should have transcripts, alt-text, or other features meant to enable screen reading. Perceivable design isn’t limited to text accessibility, but WCAG 2.1 has additional guidelines on creating more perceivable content.

Example: Thanks to labels for all text fields in the screens of CSG Forte Checkout, users can understand what information each field is meant to include, allowing them to complete the form.

2 Operable

“User interface components and navigation must be operable.”

If a user cannot interact with the interface or navigation as designed, then the content therein is not accessible to them. One way to address this is to ensure that all interfaces have keyboard-based alternatives to mouse-based operation. Other types of operability blocks exist, but WCAG 2.1 provides several ways to ensure operable accessibility.

Example: Thanks to correct contrast ratios and keyboard controls to the date picker tool in various CSG Forte offerings, users can input the date they want to pay their bill using only the keyboard.

3 Understandable

“Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.”

If a user cannot understand the content or user interface, then it is not accessible to them. The most basic understandability feature is including language options and translation-friendly pages, but clear labeling and acronym explaining features are other techniques to make web content more understandable. Whatever web content you create, you want your readers and users to understand it. Following the WCAG guidelines makes this that much easier.

Example: Because CSG Forte error messages are described in text along with outlining for invalid input fields, users can parse error messages they might not otherwise understand.

4 Robust

“Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

Where the other three factors are focused on making web content accessible to the user, the “robust” category of WCAG guidelines is focused on making content available to technologies used by those users. This means ensuring that pages are parse-friendly for text-to-speech and other technologies.

Accessibility Regulations

Where WCAG is a set of guidelines to create more accessible content online, there are other considerations for web content as well. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 (508) contain standards for web accessibility. Unlike WCAG, ADA and 508 have legal ramifications.

Section 508

This regulation is meant to ensure that the federal government provides accessible services over all information technology communications channels. This extends from phone to web and beyond. Where WCAG provides wide reaching guidance on accessibility, 508 has specific requirements for federal offices and services. These include providing accessible computer, phone, and mobile services to employees and citizens.

Americans With Disabilities Act

ADA regulation is meant to prevent discrimination against Americans with disabilities by businesses, non-profits, and governments. While ADA regulations apply across more areas than web content, digital experiences should be made accessible as well. Although ADA has existed for over 30 years, many websites and digital products have no yet achieved ADA compliance.

OTHER READING: Did You Know CSG Forte is ADA Compliant?

Why WCAG Matters For Payments

With more than 2 billion disabled individuals around the world, creating an accessible experience isn’t just the right thing to do, it also means reaching a wider audience. Beyond compliance, accessible design allows consumers to do more online, including making purchases and using products.

For example, providing a secure way to validate payments inputs for blind customers can ensure that they enter the correct information. This then means that their transactions can processes correctly. Put in terms of WCAG 2.1, this means ensuring the input is perceivable by the user and that the validation option is operable for someone who cannot see.

As the world becomes ever more digital and with the continuing interest in the metaverse and other cross-platform digital content, being able to meet consumers, corporate clients, and users where they are will remain essential to business success. Providing accessible payment options does require a framework and WCAG provides a powerful starting point for better digital payments.

To learn more about how you can create exceptional accessible online payments, check out CSG Forte’s payment solutions.

What Are NSF Payments?

Posted on July 27, 2021

Handling nonsufficient funds (NSF) payments accurately and efficiently helps businesses protect themselves from financial losses by minimizing the impact of unpaid transactions. Promptly addressing NSF payments through clear communication, compliant follow-up procedures and timely resolution enables recipients to recover funds and prevent further losses. Streamlined handling can also help businesses maintain strong customer relationships, reducing the likelihood of service disruptions due to incomplete payment.

At CSG Forte, our recovery solutions can help equip your business to handle NSF situations effectively. Our re-presentment options enable you to recover the funds for each NSF payment at no charge. More importantly, these automated solutions save significant time and resources, allowing you to focus more on the responsibilities that matter most for your business.

What Is an NSF Payment?

An NSF payment is a returned check or Automated Clearing House (ACH) network payment that was unable to be completed due to nonsufficient funds. This means the bank has refused to honor the payment because there isn’t enough money in the account to cover it. NSF on checks is often referred to as bad or bounced checks.

When the recipient tries to take payment, the bank will return it due to insufficient funds in the account. This situation can result in fees for both the payer and the recipient trying to collect the funds.

The Differences Between Overdraft and NSF

Anyone who has tried spending more money than what’s available in their bank account has likely been issued an overdraft charge or an NSF fee. Although many believe the two terms are interchangeable, there are some critical differences between them:

Overdraft fee: Banks typically charge overdraft fees when they allow a transaction to process that would have otherwise overdrawn an account. Customers can view an overdraft as a temporary loan from the bank, with the expectation of paying back the amount the bank covered plus an overdraft fee.
NSF fee: Banks commonly charge an NSF fee when an account lacks the funds required to cover a transaction and the bank doesn’t permit the transaction to process, resulting in a bounced check or denied electronic bill payment. A bank could impose an NSF fee when the account holder opts out of overdraft protection, surpasses the bank’s limit for overdraft protection or issues a payment that exceeds the amount of money in their account.

What Triggers an NSF Charge?

Several common causes of an NSF payment include unpredictable cash flow, inadequate fund management, delayed or missed payments and unexpected expenses.

Specific situations that may incur an NSF fee include:

A check that bounces: A bounced check means there wasn’t enough money in an account to cover the amount written. The business that accepted the check could issue a fee to the check writer in addition to a fee charged by the bank or credit union.
An electronic ACH payment that a bank doesn’t cover: When a bank processes an ACH payment and the account has insufficient funds, it will decline the transaction and may impose an NSF fee for the unsuccessful payment attempt.
A debit card purchase: A bank or credit union could issue an NSF fee if it rejects an attempted debit card transaction that exceeds the available funds in an account. NSF fees for debit card transactions are highly uncommon because most technologies can identify the funds a purchaser has available.

What Happens When an NSF Payment Is Issued?

When an NSF payment occurs, a number of negative consequences may follow. The financial institution of the person issuing the payment makes one of two choices.

Allowing the Payment

The bank may decide to let the ACH payment or check push through. This, however, would put the account holder into an overdrawn status. For some banks, this means they will charge a fee simply for overdrawing, but may continue to charge for each day or certain amount that they are over. It can end up burning quite a hole in the wallet.

Refusing the Payment

The bank may refuse to honor the payment. The bank will not allow the funds to be processed, and the account holder will likely be charged a fee just for issuing the payment without having funds available.

Potentially, the returned item could sink the depositor’s account into overdrawn status, also initiating an overdraft fee. Banks consider both the depositors and the account holders as being responsible for the NSF payment, and they have no problem making it a very expensive mistake.

How do You Protect Your Business From NSF Payments?

NSF payments can be very frustrating and costly to businesses that need to process the transactions. Some businesses decide not to accept ACH payments or checks at all as a last resort. However, this choice limits payment options for your customers.

For many businesses, accepting paper and eChecks is a wise decision. This practice gives customers the flexibility of selecting a payment option that works for them—and many people just want to simply have a payment come right out of their bank account.

But how can businesses handle NSF payments? It’s wise to have a plan set into place so that when NSF payments appear, it isn’t a complete disaster. NSF re-presentment is your best option, as it allows you to recover the funds for each unsuccessful ACH transaction.

What is NSF Re-Presentment?

When an NSF payment occurs, re-presentment will simply re-present the payment at a later date. This way, the payment has another chance to clear. CSG Forte’s NSF re-presentment option lets you select the date you wish to re-present the payment, enabling you to choose a time when you think there is a stronger likelihood that the funds are available.

You may know, for instance, when your customer gets their paycheck. Scheduling NSF re-presentment on or directly after this date increases your chances of accessing the funds and clearing the payment.

The Benefits of Using Recovery Solutions From CSG Forte

Our Recovery Solutions allow businesses to automate the process of recovering NSF payments. We will attempt to re-collect NSF payments up to two times on your behalf for ACH payments, saving you significant time and hassle. Benefits you’ll enjoy with this service include:

Improved payment recovery: Our smart re-presentment functionality allows companies to re-present payment when they will most likely receive a recovered payment.
Boosted revenue: Besides receiving the complete value of recovered payment, your business will receive part of the collected NSF fee and experience a revenue share.
Easy implementation: With a quick and simple implementation, you’ll be up and running in no time.
FCRA and Nacha compliance: Recover NSF payments with peace of mind. Our Recovery Solutions meet Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Nacha regulations.
Reduce service disruptions: Improve the customer experience by reducing service disruptions due to incomplete payment.

How It Works

At CSG Forte, we make collecting NSF payments simple. When you’re hit with an NSF payment, our solutions will automatically attempt to recollect the ACH or eCheck payment up to two times.

Get in Touch With Us Today

Contact us today to learn how one large enterprise organization recovered $78M in principle through CSG Forte’s Recovery Solutions.

4 Reasons You Need a Scalable Payment Platform

Posted on July 27, 2021

Payment platforms are often rigorously designed for a number of factors, including security, speed, reliability, and more – but one of the most integral factors for any payment platform isn’t what you may think – it’s scalability.

What is a Scalable Payment Platform?

What makes a platform scalable is its ability to handle oncoming work that grows and develops. Similar to flexibility, scalability allows users from either end of the platform to transform and change their businesses with the knowledge that the platform will react accordingly, adjusting quickly to maneuver new challenges.

A platform that is not scalable, on the other hand, will suffer. Static platforms fizzle and die, unable to keep up with the growing trends and industry challenges. Look, for example, at the mobile payments industry. The highly scalable applications like Starbucks find themselves responding quickly and adeptly to consumer wants and needs. Mobile pre-ordering, built-in rewards, music applications, and payments are all part of that ever-changing platform – and it doesn’t seem likely that Starbucks will stop anytime soon.

On the other hand, a great number of other mobile applications lay in waste. Unable to accommodate user demands and requests, these platforms failed to drive forward. As a result, they lost users and sales. The platform dies.

Payments platforms, in particular, are specifically sensitive to scalability because of the nature of the payments industry. With ever-expanding challenges and disruptions, platform creators are now required to do more than troubleshoot. They are almost asked to intuit the new big wave, creating solutions before problems occur.

But such is the life for any tech industry, including fin tech.

Why Your Business Needs a Scalable Payment Platform

Payment platforms that cannot scale risk losing users on either side of the platform. Here’s why merchants and other users should consider scalability on their list when shopping for a payment platform.

Plan for business to grow

As a merchant, your aim is for business to grow, not shrink. Your payment platform should be able to adjust with you. As you increase volume, you should be able to easily move into higher processing levels without much issue. Be sure that your processor can accommodate changes in volume and speak to them about potential contract savings, as well. Many processors offer discounts the more you process.

Expect high functionality

The platform should not be disrupted no matter how little or how much you are processing. You should still be able to perform all of the functions you need regardless of your business size. There’s no reason any of the features you’ve been using at one level cannot translate to another.

Lower risk when business changes

Scalable platforms are more than just flexible. Because they can adapt, if you need to make changes because of a hardship or short-term change, a scalable system is going to help you adjust through this time period. In lieu of terminating contracts or being forced to switch processors, which is a lengthy and arduous process, a scalable platform will allow you to tighten the reins momentarily without much cost.

Increased opportunity for newer features

Scalable platforms are usually more likely to receive system updates and changes as trends come, which increases your opportunity to test out newer features as they are making waves. Static platforms are less inclined to update frequently and most likely will not adopt newer technologies. If you’re interested in the new and shiny, a scalable solution gives you a better opportunity, and it’s much easier to test out than transferring everything to an all-new system or processor.

Choose CSG Forte For Scalable Payment Solutions

Scalability is one of the most important features for payment platforms, landing high on the list for merchant shoppers. CSG Forte offers a scalable platform that adapts to changing business and takes both cards and eChecks. For more information, visit www.forte.net or call 866.290.5400.