Electronic Payments News

How does Electronic Payment Processing Work?

 

Electronic payments in Canada began in March of 1985 with TelPay’s first electronic payment transmission. Since that time electronic bill payments have grown in volume, and are slowly becoming as common as direct deposit payroll. However, that still does not answer the question of how electronic payments work?

First, we should examine the fundamental aspects of electronic payments. These would be debits and credits. In the world of electronic banking, a debit is used to indicate a deposit, or a “money in” transaction. A credit indicates an expense, or a “money out” transaction. This is how banks and other financial service organizations manage millions of transactions every day. A debit cannot be made without a corresponding credit and vice versa.

Electronic payments and the complex series of debits and credits which are “transmitted” between TelPay and its customers result in: bills being paid, direct deposit being made, and even transfers between bank accounts. When you use the TelPay system to send a payment to someone, the system marks that as a debit against your account, and as a credit towards the account you are sending a payment to. Likewise, when a supplier or business sends a payment to you, the TelPay system creates a debit against their account, and a credit towards your account.

Electronic Payments Will Replace Cheques like Email Replaced Letter Writing.

 Is your Business Prepared?

Writing cheques is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and the truth is they are costing your business a lot of time and money. The cost savings of paying your bills electronically using TelPay can amount to an average of $1,450 to $2,900 annually for businesses that writes 50 to 100 cheques per month!

While cheques have traditionally been the leading method for paying business expenditures, today more and more businesses are opting to pay their bills electronically. With TelPay's pay anyone, anywhere capability your payee list is endless.

Each time you pay a bill electronically your business saves money. Take into consideration the cost of banking and credit card merchant fees, plus paper and postage expenses, not to mention your valuable time; paying your bills electronically with TelPay just makes sense.

Why are businesses adopting paperless bill payment systems?

• Businesses can save up to 78% off the cost of manual processing, by paying their bills electronically. It costs the average company $2.57 for every cheque they write (see our savings calculator for a detailed analysis)
• Electronic payments are safe and secure - there is less risk of fraud and TelPay provides you the option of single or dual authorization functionality offering you greater accessibility and management of business expenses.
• Recurring payments can be made, thereby eliminating late fees and penalties
• Paper cheques can get delayed, lost, stolen or damaged in the mail, but with electronic bill payment your payments will be made on time, every time
• Creates a more efficient process for posting and reconciling accounts by maintaining a clear audit trail including account distribution and payment history.
• More control of expenditures as you do not have to wait for the cheque to clear your account

The trend is undeniable: Business owners are streamlining their operations by using easy and cost effective electronic bill payment solutions from TelPay. With over 25 years experience as the leader in electronic payments, TelPay provides your business with advanced payment solutions allowing you to adapt and excel in this rapidly changing business environment.

TelPay Increases its Biller List to 40,000 Plus!

TelPay is releasing the latest version of its business software! We've been listening to our customers, and have introduced several improvements to the way the software works.

Some of the most exciting new features of version 6.6 are:

 

1. Increased biller list. TelPay's biller list has gone from 4000 to nearly 40,000 billers, with new billers being added daily.
a. This means fewer biller import charges due to the larger standard biller list.
b. This will improve the speed and accuracy of bill payments.
2. Improved error-checking on biller account numbers and duplicate invoice checking will help you avoid errors.
3. More flexibility to delete payments in the "View/Transmit Payments" screen means greater accuracy, with less work.
4. Email notifications when paying individuals ensures that your payee knows when a payment has been sent to them.
5. Improved payment history gives greater visibility to past transactions.
6. Payment Method Indicator - Know which of your payments will be made via cheque, and which will be made electronically before the payment is made!
7. Greater control over banking information with QuickBooks and Simply Accounting when importing payments.
8. Expanded printing options, you decide whether or not to print, and where to print to.

We will send you an email to notify you when TelPay 6.6 is ready for download. We sincerely hope that you are as excited about this latest release as we are.

Sincerely,
The TelPay for Business Team

Its Easy to Be Green - TelPay Innovation Saves the Environment

 A blog entry on April 22nd couldn't really be anything other than a post related to how much we save the environment! Being the largest independent payment processing company in Canada, and a "Green" innovator in the world of electronic payments, one could imagine that we have a lot to talk about.

By eliminating paper cheques, TelPay estimates that in 2009, it was able to save:

• 77,500 kilograms of paper (171,000 lbs)
• Over 2000 trees
• 3.8 million pounds of greenhouse gases from being released
• Over six million litres of waste water from being discharged 
• Eight dump trucks worth of waste from paper production
• Nearly 350,000 litres of gasoline from being consumed due to mailing bills, statements, and payments

(source: PayitGreen Business Calculator)

TelPay has been helping Canadian financial institutions such as CIBC, the Credit Unions, and businesses of all sizes to process electronically for the last 25 years. Having been the first Canadian company to do so, TelPay has made it possible for all these companies to process electronically.

The staff is also actively involved in ensuring that as a company we all do our part. Having a dedicated "Green Team" helps us to ensure that we keep moving in the right direction. The company has already implemented a recycling program, e-faxing, duplex printing, and paper/ink saving fonts to help save paper, and reduce TelPay's overall carbon footprint. 

If you have any "green" initiatives that you would like to share with TelPay, we would love to hear from you! You can either comment in the form below, or send a email to us: webmarketing (at) telpay.ca

Lower your Cheque Fraud Risk

The practice of leaving sensitive information on paper cheques is becoming increasingly risky. A technique known as cheque-washing is often used to commit fraud against businesses and individuals.

Cheque-washing is when cheques are "washed" (cleaned of their original information) and then cashed for different amounts than they were originally written for and by different people than the intended payee. In order to have these charges reversed, the victim will have to file a police report, fill out affidavits for the bank, and prove to the person/merchant that is being paid that it was fraud. This can be a very lengthy process which can seriously undermine the trust of your business partners and can damage your sense of security.

You can eliminate your risk of falling victim to cheque fraud. The easiest way is to simply pay electronically, and leave the security to TelPay! Our proven system will ensure the highest level of security and confidentiality with your electronic payments. TelPay has multiple layers of fraud detection built into both the software and our processes, keeping you and your business safe from fraud.

In the event you are still writing paper cheques, here are a few steps that you can take to protect yourself.

1) Use high-quality cheques which employ security features
2) Split responsibilities so that no one person is solely responsible for issuing cheques
3) Keep cheque stock in a secure location and minimize who has access to it
4) Reduce cheque usage as much as possible and use either electronic payments or pre-authorized debits
5)  Use cheque paper which bonds the toner to the paper

These five points will assist the "in house" security of your cheques and cheque processes. While we realize that it may be impossible to completely eliminate cheques, it is possible to reduce your business' reliance on them, and in the process, reduce your fraud risk

Electronic Payments are Convenient, Save Time, Money, and Frustration

Businesses often seek out ways to
automate/streamline manual processes.
Automating manual processes improves efficiency and helps businesses to save more money. It was the breakthrough of automation that led to the advent of the modern assembly line (thank you Henry Ford). Had it not been for automating manual processes, then it would not be possible for companies to enjoy the efficiencies which allow us to enjoy all that we do today.

The important point to note when looking at this example is that automation helps to speed up manual or repetitive processes. Speeding up manual processes allows for the time and energy savings to be reinvested in other profit generating activities. What could you do with more time? Could you make an extra sales call? Brainstorm that next breakthrough idea? Or could you simply bank that time, and allow yourself to have a vacation at some point during the year?

The same holds true when it comes to your accounts payable processes. If you are not currently processing electronic payments, then you likely are spending a lot of time manually cutting cheques, chasing approvals, stuffing envelopes, balancing books, and maby even licking stamps. Each and every one of these additional steps costs you time to execute, and money in the form of office supplies. Are you feeling the pain of manual accounts payable yet?

This is why TelPay is helping accountants, bookkeepers, SME's, and non-profits all across Canada! The TelPay for Business software eliminates cutting cheques, accelerates dual and remote approvals, and certainly requires no stamp licking. By speeding up the accounts payable process, you will save you/your business time and money. 

Book a webinar today and find out how!

Breaking Down the Accounts Payable Barrier

For several years consumers have enjoyed the convenience of paying bills electronically.  Many business owners pay their personal bills electronically but realize that the bill payment services available do not meet their needs for business payments.

TelPay's fully integrated electronic payment system allows businesses to pay all of their bills in minutes. Fast, efficient and cost effective TelPay allows you to pay any supplier, government agency, or individual in Canada. You can also make international payments.

TelPay's payment system can be integrated with your existing accounting software, or used as a stand-alone accounts payable system. TelPay allows for both dual authorization and remote authorization, which eliminates the need for 2 signing officers to be present to sign cheques. Payments can be approved securely with a few strokes on your keyboard/Blackberry/iphone. There is no need to gather or store suppliers bank account information. TelPay does all the work.

TelPay's payment system provides security, control, convenience and efficiency.  Businesses can now make all of their Accounts Payable payments electronically by using TelPay, which was designed with the needs of Canadian businesses in mind.

 Key indicators show that electronic payment adoption in the business sector will quickly march ahead. Forward thinking companies that have a desire to reduce costs and improve efficiency will find that TelPay's electronic payment system will  save them time and money .

Sign Up Now to start using TelPay for Business

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Business to Business E-Payments

Today, companies are increasing their use of e-payments, and the slope of the adoption curve is getting steeper each year. By 2012 it is expected that the balance of power will shift towards e-payments, with over half of all transactions occurring electronically, rather than by paper cheques. At first glance, this appears to be slow growth when compared to the electronic society in which we currently reside. However, when one considers that progress in this arena is slowed by legacy systems, proprietary software, and manual processing, then the results are not really all that surprising.

 

Banks traditionally are the leaders in payment system technologies, and historically have molded these technologies to their needs. Likewise, banks expected that businesses also adapt to their systems and technologies. Next generation service providers create solutions for businesses which will allow them to take advantage of electronic payments without large investments in time or capital.

 

TelPay is a leader in business to business e-payments, and is helping to drive e-payment adoption in Canada. Companies that are looking to change manual processes, seeking to eliminate the operational and financial pain caused by paper cheques, and the desire to turn a expense into a revenue stream often end up moving to e-payment processing with TelPay. Although the image below is American, it does make a strong point about the "conventional" wisdom of sending and receiving paper checks.

 

The savings generated through electronic payments can be substantial when considering how they affect a business. First, e-payments lower business costs by creating a “mini” technological overhaul. This technological overhaul first saves on sunk-cost items like cheques, envelopes, and stamps. Second, because the software-based solution is integrated directly with the accounting software, it generates time savings as well. These time savings can be put towards other value-adding activities for the business.

 

The average cost per paper cheque is now nearly $2.50, whereas an e-payment through TelPay is only $0.50! To calculate the savings for yourself, please see our electronic payments savings calculator

Credit Card Processing vs. TelPay

Accepting credit card orders and processing cards as a payment method is a common business practice, and is used by businesses everywhere. This is the case in the world of business to consumer transactions, and in business to business transactions. This has many benefits for the merchant, and for the consumer.

The consumer benefits by having a widely-accepted payment method always at their disposal. Plus, most credit cards offer some form of “rewards” program which as the name implies, rewards the user for purchases made on the card.

 

Likewise businesses benefit by being able to offer their customers a convenient payment method. By having several methods of payment available, the business helps increase the likelihood of a timely payment.

 

However, the business that processes credit cards is 100% liable in the event that the customer disputes the payment. The business also has to pay what is commonly referred to as a “discount” rate, and interchange fees.

 

These fees charged to merchants are often in the neighborhood of 3% of all transactions on the card, and also is subject to a monthly fee. Additional fees charged to merchants include: Tiered fees, interchange plus, bill backs, authorization fees, statement fees, batch fees, customer service fees, annual fees, early termination fees, and chargeback fees.

 

Once all of these fees are examined, it becomes clear that credit card processing is a very expensive payment option. However due to the high-penetration levels of credit cards it has become commonplace for businesses to accept credit cards and the high costs associated with them as a necessary business expense.

 

Despite being a necessary business expense, companies should not give in to simply “absorbing” all of these additional expenses. The hallmarks of a successful business are innovation, customer service, revenue growth, and cost reductions. This is where TelPay steps in to provide business solutions to businesses of any size. Telpay has several offerings which can help businesses both save money, and get paid faster.

 

TelPay for Business is a software service which integrates seamlessly with accounting software (or as a standalone) to help businesses streamline costs by eliminating paper cheques, lowering merchant fees, and reducing banking fees. Nowadays businesses need to offer several different payment methods, which will ensure the likelihood of a timely payment, and in the case of "Get Paid Faster" will also help to lower costs.

Welcome to the TelPay Blog

This is the very first post to the new TelPay.ca blog! February 19^th, 2010 marks the first step into the world of blogging for us, and the 3^rd step into the wide world of social media! As you can well imagine these are very exciting times in the world of TelPay.

 

Since November of 2009, TelPay has launched itself into the world of social media! It all started with a simple twitter account (http://twitter.com/TelPay), and that very first tweet. For those of you who weren’t there, it was actually quite uneventful.

 

Since then, it grew into our TelPay Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/TelPay.Canada) which currently is at 230 fans and growing.

 

And now we’re blogging! With the creation of the TelPay blog, it is we will be providing timely articles and information on the world of payment processing, EFT, and electronic cheques. Having over 25 years experience in the payments industry certainly means that we will have plenty to talk about.

 

With all of the passionate, dedicated people who work at here, there will no doubt be plenty to write about. With that being said, this is a blog, and it is therefore a public forum. If you are a fan, a customer, an employee, or a content creator who has a great idea for the next post, we would like to invite you to submit content ideas to us! We would love to hear from you, and are looking forward to your comments!