Payments Help Desk

Here at Elevation, we’re ready to help you navigate the challenges associated with receiving and applying remittance data from electronic payments. Our team can help you develop the strategies and processes you’ll need to fully capitalize on faster payments. That’s why when we read Ernie Martin at ReceivableSavvy’s list of five challenges companies face when dealing with remittance data from electronic payments, we knew we had to share!

Topics: Accounts Receivable, Receivables, ACH Network, ACH

Speed and efficiency are important to any organization looking to grow and succeed. If you’re responsible for managing your company’s Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) and you want to better understand how to improve DSO management, you need to check out Ernie Martin’s recent post “Improving DSO Management with ACH” on RecievableSavy.com. 

Topics: Accounts Receivable, Receivables, ACH Network, ACH

By Robert Unger

According to Mercator Advisory Group analysis, U.S. commercial card payments grew at a compound annual rate of 9 percent from 2013 to 2015.¹ In 2015, commercial card volume reached $428 billion.  This figure only represents about 1 percent of the B2B payments market (including check, ACH, wire transfer and cards) that totals $23 trillion (USD). 

Topics: Receivables, Payments, payment costs, cash flow, Payments Consulting, Webinar, Electronic Payments, credit card, credit card cost, credit card cost analysis, commercial card, commercial card costs, interchange, reducing interchange

By Robert Unger

Credit and debit card payments are surging.  The “2016 Federal Reserve Payments Study,” which has been tracking longitudinal trends in consumer and business payments, cites that: 

Payments made with general-purpose credit cards and with non-prepaid debit cards each grew faster than other payment types from 2012 to 2015, in terms of both percentage growth and growth by number.

Topics: Receivables, Payments, payment costs, cash flow, Payments Consulting, Webinar, Electronic Payments, credit card, credit card cost, credit card cost analysis

“Cash is king” and Same Day ACH supports the crown!

Cash flow is the lifeblood of companies, and faster closure of accounts receivables ensures smoother operations, particularly with respect to purchases, payroll, investments, debit reduction and any other functions requiring payment.  Cash flow forecasting is one of the key metrics for most treasury departments and one of the most challenging to get right consistently. 

Topics: ACH, Automated Clearing House, Receivables, ACH Network, Payments, ACH Transfer, Same Day ACH, Faster Payments, payables, Treasury, cash flow, payment costs

By Robert Unger

With apologies to the famous newsman Francis Pharcellus Church and his column on Santa Claus, which appeared in New York’s “Sun” newspaper Sept. 21, 1897).

DEAR EDITOR: I am 38 years old.  Some of my accounts payable and receivable friends say there is no such thing as International ACH, and that I have to make and receive international payments by check, wire or correspondent banking.  A colleague says, ‘If you see it in The Payments Help Desk blog it’s so.’  Please tell me the truth; does International ACH exist?

Sincerely,
Virginia (the sender and receiver of international payments in my company) 

VIRGINIA, your accounts payable friends are wrong – there is International ACH!  But you’re not alone in thinking otherwise; lots of folks aren’t aware that International ACH is a payment option, and that it’s really easy to send an International ACH payment.

Topics: ACH, Automated Clearing House, Receivables, ACH Network, Payments, ACH Transfer, International Transfers, Cross Border Payments, International Payments

Remember the Saturday morning “Jetsons” cartoon when George Jetson took his dog Astro out for a walk on the space treadmill?  Yikes!  He got sucked up into a never-ending, out-of-control spin cycle, screaming “Jane, stop this crazy thing!” 

Similarly, many businesses are stuck on the check-writing treadmill, and the spin cycle is cranking out an unfathomable 20 million commercial checks each day.  

Jane, stop this crazy check thing!  Here’s 5 reasons why it’s crazy for businesses to write checks.

Topics: ACH, Automated Clearing House, Receivables, Payer, Payee, Checks, Business, Fraud, Managing Cash, Debit Payments, B2B, ACH Debit

If you’ve experienced the “joy” of having teenagers matriculating through middle and high school, you’ve no doubt heard the question, “Why do I have to take Algebra?”  

I know with each darling little one of mine, I tried to articulate the importance of problem solving, mastering methodology, applying logic to formulas, etc.  But, I gotta admit, I’ve never encountered a need to solve a quadratic equation post algebra class, and I still went to college, got jobs, married and am enjoying an Algebra-free life. Of course I couldn’t tell my kids that.  Better that they suffered through it like I did!  

Topics: ACH, Automated Clearing House, B2B, Business, Webinar, Receivables

NACHA and the Credit Research Foundation recently conducted a study of payments trends, preferences, and perceptions of electronic payments by credit and receivables professionals. NACHA's Rob Unger sat down with Matt Skudera, VP of Education and Research for the Foundation, to get his views on some of the most interesting finds from the survey.  You'll be surprised! Learn more by listening to the recording of the Webinar covering the same topic.

Topics: ACH, Receivables, B2B, Checks, Credit Research Foundation, Electronic Payments, cash flow