Collect payments straight from your customer’s bank account.

Yes! One of the benefits of ACH is that it uses the same automatically encrypted protection as debit and credit card transactions. ACH is regarded to be safer than receiving a paper check which has other security issues, such as it physically getting lost in the mail, lack of traceability, and also the risk of being intercepted by a person other than the intended recipient. Learn more in our article about how ACH payments work.

When you enable ACH payments online with Helcim you are requesting for your customers to pay via their checking or savings account from their financial institution. Most of Helcim's tools including Invoicing, recurring payments, payment requests, and Virtual Terminal are built to collect ACH payments in addition to credit and debit card payments. ACH is automatically enabled for all eligible Helcim merchants, meaning there’s no need to opt in or apply. Within your account settings, you will be able to choose which of our tools you would like to offer ACH payments.

With Helcim, whether the tool requires you, the merchant to enter payment information, or the customer to enter their own information, the process is very similar to card payments and just as easy. When you get to the checkout portion, you’ll have the option to toggle between card payment or ACH payment and the information you’ll provide will change depending on which method you choose to use. If your customer has never used the particular bank account to process with you before, for Canadian merchants, they’ll be required to accept the PAD (pre-authorized debit) agreement by checking a box. If you would like to have the PAD agreement on hand before your first transaction, you can email the customer the PAD agreement ahead of time through the Customer tool in your Helcim platform.

There are a few account details that you’ll need to process an ACH transaction. This information can be found on a check or a direct deposit form which can be found through your online banking or from your financial institution:

• Account holder name
• Account type (checking or savings)
• Business or personal account

For American bank accounts:

• Routing number
• Account number

For Canadian bank accounts:

• Transit number
• Bank ID
• Account number

ACH transfers usually take about 3 business days for the initial setup and first payment. Once a customer is set up and authorized, payments typically take 3-4 business days to be withdrawn from the customer's bank account, you'll see the funds deposited in your bank account 4-6 business days after the batch has been processed.

ACH (automated clearing house) payments will have three critical differences from credit cards for your small business. The main technical difference is that ACH transfers leverage an ACH network and your customers' banking information to transfer funds directly between bank accounts, whereas credit card payments use card details and the card brand networks to process a payment.

By using the ACH network vs. the card brand network, merchants don't pay the interchange fees set out by the credit card brands. Payment processing companies can therefore charge less for an ACH bank transfer. Businesses can benefit from these lower rates, while your customers have more payment options, decreasing the amount of unpaid invoices.

There are many benefits of using ACH with your day-to-day business operations. The biggest being that ACH payments cost less than other payment methods. Depending on your provider there may be an additional cost to enable ACH direct deposits. With Helcim this feature is built in at no additional cost. Small businesses will only pay Helcim's low ACH rates of 0.5% + .25 cent and include a $6 fee cap | $5 per returned or rejected transfer

The main difference between ACH credit and debit can best be summarized as pulling or pushing funds from or into your account. Learn more about accepting and sending ACH transfers in our article.

ACH payments are a form of electronic payments. If you would prefer to use ACH in an in-person setting, using Helcim’s Virtual Terminal tool will allow you to quickly process a transaction with little set up.

Helcim uses gross deposits, meaning your total sales are deposited directly into your bank account, with processing fees deducted as a separate line item on the same day. This ensures accurate daily revenue and cash flow data so you always know exactly how much you've earned and what's available.