⚠️ Please review the following requirements ⚠️

Accepting payments via bank transfer (ACH) is easy for both you and your clients!

But first, there are a handful of requirements before you can accept payments via bank transfer, so take a moment to review and make sure you qualify:

Requirements

Only available for businesses based in the United States.
Requires the "Pass on Credit Card Fees" feature to be enabled.
Requires payments to be enabled.

All set? Let's go 🚀

How do I enable payment via bank transfer?

Ensure that the "Pass on Credit Card Fees" feature is enabled.
Once enabled, check the "Enable ACH payments" box.

How much does it cost to accept payment via bank transfer?

There is a flat fee of $3.99 per transaction for bank transfers paid for by you (the inspector). This is a significant savings over our already low credit card rates.

How long does it take to receive my funds?

Unlike credit cards, bank transfers are a delayed payment method, meaning they do not settle instantly.

While you'll see your payout within 2 BUSINESS DAYS, it takes up to 5 BUSINESS DAYS for the payment to finish processing.
The cutoff time for payments made via bank transfer is 2:00 pm ET. This means that any payments made AFTER that time will be submitted for processing the NEXT BUSINESS DAY.
Depending on when a client submits their payment, it could be anywhere from 2 to 5 days before you receive payment in your account due to weekends and holidays.

What options do I have when accepting bank transfers as a payment method?

Mark inspections as paid only when ACH payments settle

It's crucial to note that bank transfers have the potential to encounter failures at any stage within their processing period, which normally takes 5 BUSINESS DAYS. This option keeps your reports locked until the payment has settled successfully and ensures that you've received your payment before your clients and agents can see their reports.
If this setting is enabled and you would like to allow your client to see their report before their payment has been finalized, you can unlock their report.

Send me a reminder when the bank transfer payment is available in my account
- You can be notified via email when a bank transfer is successful. After the payment has been submitted, enable the "Send me a reminder when the bank transfer payment is available in my account" option in the Internal box of the Inspection Details page.

What does this look like to my client?

When paying for an inspection, your clients will see a "Bank Transfer" option.

After clicking the "Bank Transfer" option, your clients will be presented with a window to connect directly to their bank to verify their account and pay for the service. Spectora uses Stripe to securely connect to your customer's bank to initiate the transfer.

💡 Quick tip: Click on the video above to expand it in another window.

Click "Pay Now" in Client Portal
Select "Bank Transfer"
Input full name, email and select your bank
Confirm bank choice and continue
Enter bank login credentials
Confirm where to send verification code
Enter code and continue
Select bank account and continue
(Optional step) save payment information with Link

✨ You have the option to use and/or save your payment information with Link. You can read more about Link here.

How do I refund a bank transfer?

To refund a payment made via bank transfer, you'll follow the same steps as you would for a credit card payment. However, because a bank transfer payment takes multiple days to process, you'll need to wait until the payment settles before issuing the refund.

What happens if a client disputes a payment made via bank transfer?

Disputes on ACH payments are fundamentally different than those on credit card payments. If a customer’s bank accepts the request to return the funds for a disputed charge, the funds are immediately removed from your account. Please be aware that there is an associated fee that will be charged to your account for a failed ACH payment. More details here.

Unlike credit card disputes, you can’t contest ACH reversals. You must contact your customer to resolve the situation. The ACH network allows 60 days for consumers to contest a debit. Business accounts only have 2 business days, but because there is no way to be sure if the account is a business or personal account, don’t rely on this as a way to reduce risk.

Frequently Asked Questions

My client said the bank transfer option (Stripe) is asking them to log in with their bank account username and password. Is this correct?
- Yes! ACH payments (bank transfers) are direct bank-to-bank transactions, so Stripe will ask your client to log into their bank account with their username and password. This information is not stored in Stripe or Spectora!
I've already received the money for the bank transfer, but it won't let me issue a refund. What's going on?
- While you'll see your payout within 2 BUSINESS DAYS, it takes up to 5 BUSINESS DAYS for the payment to finish processing. The refund option won't be available until after the payment is fully processed.
I want to offer ACH payments to my clients, but I don't want to pass on the credit card fees. Is this possible?
- Unfortunately not! The ACH payment option is only available when the "pass on credit card fees" setting is enabled.
I thought bank transfers were fee-free, so why am I getting charged a fee?
- ACH payments (bank transfers) are only fee-free for the clients who are paying for the inspection. They are still run through a payment processor, so there is still a fee for them. Since the payment option is fee-free for the client, that fee is paid by you.
When is the $3.99 fee charged to me/my account?
- That fee is charged when clients make their payments via bank transfer/ACH.
Why did I get charged a CC fee when I have it set to pass on CC fees?
- When passing on the credit card fees, there is still a fee charged by the payment processor in order to run the payment. While you are not charged the full credit card fee, you are charged a flat $3.99 fee to process the ACH/bank transfer payment.
Can I get rid of or disable the $3.99 fee? I don't want to pay for that!
- Unfortunately not. Because the ACH/bank transfer payment is still run through the payment processor, there is still a fee for it. If you would prefer not to offer ACH payments, you can disable them and offer a different fee-free method to your clients.
Is it possible to run a declined or failed ACH through again or is that something the customer will need to do?
- There isn't a way to re-run a declined payment again on our end, so the customer will have to submit a new ACH payment.
My client's ACH payment failed, do I need to resend the pay request to them?
- No, you do not need to resend anything to them. They can still access it through that same link to the Client Portal they got in their confirmation email.