In this article, you will learn how to collect payments from clients via bank transfers (ACH) using Workiz Pay. You will also learn what to expect when collecting these types of payments.
What is a bank transfer?
A bank transfer — often referred to as ACH (automated house clearing) — is an electronic fund transfer made between banks and credit unions. The transfer is made without the use of a paper check, credit card network, wire transfer, or cash. Bank transfers can be used to make full or partial payments in Workiz.
Bank transfers come with a lower processing fee (1%) than credit card transactions, but take longer to deposit into your bank account (6–8 business days vs. 3–4 business days). For larger payments, you may decide that the lower fee outweighs the drawbacks of waiting longer to receive your money.
The processing fees associated with bank transfers are not in addition to credit card processing fees. For a single transaction in Workiz, you will either pay the credit card processing fee or the bank transfer processing fee, but never both.
To learn more about bank transfer processing times and what you can expect when receiving these types of payments, please see this article.
Bank transfer (ACH) payments are only available in the US.
How to collect bank transfer payments
In order to collect bank transfer payments, you will need to have Workiz Pay enabled. To learn more about enabling online payments with Workiz Pay, please see this article.
After enabling Workiz Pay, you will be able to enable bank transfers from your Workiz Pay dashboard.
- From the sidebar menu, select Workiz Pay
- From the Workiz Pay dashboard, select the My account tab
- Under Payment settings, turn the toggle switch on for Accept bank transfers (ACH)
- (Optional) Turn the toggle switch for Offer bank transfers (ACH) by default on to ensure the option for bank transfers is always enabled when sending estimates and invoices
After enabling this setting, you will see the option to offer bank transfers as a payment method for every estimate deposit or invoice subtotal of $20 or more.
In order to pay using a bank transfer, your clients will need to select the payment option and then link their bank account to Workiz from the client portal using Plaid — a third-party tech company that creates secure connections between banks for ACH payments.
What your clients will see
Your clients will receive a message with a link to the Workiz client portal like normal, except now they'll see the option to pay with a bank transfer as well.
They will have the option of connecting their bank account using one of the following options:
| Method | What they see | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Instant |
|
Your client chooses their bank and connects by entering their bank username and password. The connection is made instantly, allowing them to submit payment right away. |
| Manual |
|
Your client initiates a connection of their bank by entering their account and routing numbers. After, Plaid makes two micro-deposits linked to a verification code. How long it takes for the micro-deposits to be made will depend on your client's bank. Most often, the micro-deposits are made instantly. If your client belongs to a smaller bank, it may take up to 2–3 business days for the micro-deposits to appear. After verifying manually, your client can submit payment. To learn more about manual (micro-deposit) verification, please see this article. |
If your client wants to submit a partial payment, they can do so by editing the charge amount after connecting their bank account.
Your clients will receive a confirmation message in the portal and a separate email once the payment was made, and you will receive a notification that the payment was initiated.
Monitoring bank transfer payments
After a bank transfer payment has been made, it will be listed under the Payments tab of your Workiz Pay dashboard. Bank transfer payments progress through a series of statuses that allow you to understand where your money is.
Workiz will notify you of status updates relating to bank transfer payments your business has received.
| Stage | Definition | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Payment iniated (pending) | Your client has submitted a bank transfer payment, but it has not been processed. It will take approximately 4 business days for the payment to be processed. | |
| Payment completed (succeeded) | The bank transfer payment has been processed and added to your Workiz Pay balance. | After the payment has been completed and added to your Workiz Pay balance, it will be another 2 business days before the funds are paid out to your bank account. |
| Payment failed | The bank transfer failed to process |
If you receive this message, it is important for you to contact your client to collect the payment owed.
Receiving this message is the result of a very rare case in which Plaid validates your client's bank account to ensure it has sufficient funds at the time of the transaction, only for the funds to no longer be available before the payment could finish processing. In this case, your business would be charged a non-refundable $5 fee.
If the funds were not sufficient at the time of the transaction, the payment would never begin processing and you would not be charged a late fee. You would be notified of the circumstances almost immediately. |
The payments and statuses will also be visible from the payments section of your jobs, estimates, and invoices.