Accepting payments in today’s world gets more complicated all the time. Among the newest forms of payment available are e-checks. Understanding this form of payment and the myths around it is absolutely key to helping your business run well.

What is an E-Check?

First, it might be important to understand exactly what this form of payment is. An e-check is an electronic check. The money paid to you for your goods or services is withdrawn from the checking account of the individual paying. It’s transferred using the ACH network, so for e-check processing, you’ll need an ACH merchant account. Overall, this method of payment is a great way to offer your customers one more alternative.

Electronic Check Processing Myths

Despite the fact that e-check processing could mean connecting with many more customers than you do right now, there are still many myths floating around, some of which may be holding you back from accepting this form of payment. Let’s take a look at a few.

• None of My Customers Use Checks: The number of people using checks has been on the decline since 2000, giving rise to electronic payments like debit and credit. One Federal Reserve study found that from 2000- 2012, the number of checks written declined by more than 50%. That doesn’t, however, mean that no one is using checks. In fact, many still prefer checks because it leaves a written record of transactions that is easy to account for at any given time. Moreover, the older generation continues to write checks at a fairly high rate.
• Checks Lead to Fraud: You may be concerned about checks bouncing because of insufficient funds, and when that happens, everyone loses. While that is a real fear, the rate of check fraud is no higher than that of other types of fraud, and electronic processing has greatly changed the potential for check fraud. It minimizes the possibilities, helping give you peace of mind.
• Checks are Too Expensive to Process: E-checks are subject to merchant processing fees, just like a credit or debit fee, and those fees do vary by processing company. It is, however, often cheaper to use this technology than it is to use paper checks, as it completely eliminates the need to manually inspect each check, handle the reconciliation, and make it to the bank to deposit the check.

E-check processing may be the perfect way for your consumers to buy your goods or use your services. Take a closer look at this payment method when you contact Y2Payments today.