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1) What is the difference between a Bank Draft and
a check? 1) The check is created by the
account-holder. The Bank Draft is created by someone else with the accountholder’s permission.
2) What is the difference between receiving payments with Bank Drafts, and receiving payments with automatic withdrawals (electronic funds transfer - EFT) like my insurance company receives? With a Bank Draft there is a separate paper
documentation of the transaction, and it goes with the rest of your
customer’s checks. Receiving Bank Drafts is arranged by us, without
the need to qualify. Bank Drafts are routinely accepted by all Banks. 3) What gives Bank Drafts the advantage over EFTs (Electronic Funds Transfers)? 1) There is no qualifying or application required to use Bank Drafts, like there is for EFTs. You can be turned down or denied using EFTs (Electronic Funds Transfers) or ACH (Automatic Clearing House) services, based on a variety of financial reasons.. 2) With Bank Drafts, one simple procedure fits all, no matter who banks where. 3) With Bank Drafts there is nothing for you to do if you ever decided to change your own bank. With EFTs, it means setting up all over again. 4) Bank Drafts do not require uploading or downloading with the bank or a service provider's web site.. 5) With bank drafts, if by chance you submitted any changes (in your customer's info, like address, amount, name, etc.) late for that month, you simply don't deposit the bank draft that arrived with the old information. If you're late with updates on an EFT, you can't stop the process as quickly and confidently as with a bank draft (a 2-3 week notice is required in most cases). 6) Customers feel more comfortable and willing to give
authorization for Bank Drafts than for EFTs, because: A) With Bank
Drafts, you remain in control of the transaction (depositing,
updating, stopping, etc.), not some entity they can’t contact with
questions or for help. B) The bank draft itself ends up with the rest of
your customer's other checks, providing a physical documentation of the
transaction for their future reference if needed. 4) Even though I won’t have to bill my customer with this Bank Draft service, do I have to mail anything, like confirmation of payment? Typically not. Whenever the
amount and description of the charge is just repeated, you can inform
your customers not expect any more invoices for that reason. Also,
because the Bank Draft charge will appear on your customers regular bank
statement, there's no real need to send a payment confirmation. 5) How does the cost of collecting payments using the old billing method, compare with using Bank Drafts?
(Back to Top) The financial industry is among the most highly regulated and
supervised. As a National Bank Draft Producer, the financial
services of Prompt-Pay Inc. produce Bank Drafts that comply with all
state and federal controls, regulations, and requirements. All
information remains as secure and confidential as a regular checking
account. No. We actually don't handle any money at all. We simply create a
"clone" of your customer's check (with their authorization) called a
Bank Draft. Then we mail them all to you on the first of each calendar
month, and you deposit them (whenever their due date arrives for that
month). This saves you the time and cost from
billing your customer, while they enjoy the convenience of not having to
mail out a check. 8) Do I or my customers need to contact any bank before we use this Bank Draft service? No, just like you don’t need to contact a bank when you order
checks from your favorite check-printing vendor. All banks already honor
the Bank Draft system. 9) What if the amount due varies, or other information changes, like my customer's address or bank? Not a problem. Simply enter those changes in your MS-Word table (from
the Starter Kit) where you have all your customers' checking account
information. Then email us the complete table once per month. We'll
replace your previous table with the updated one. You can even enter
account information for a one-time-only bank draft, and then delete it
from your table before you email it to us the next month. 10) It sounds so easy and convenient, why haven’t I seen this before?
11) What if only a small number of my customers switch over to this Bank Draft System? When your packet of Bank Drafts arrives from Prompt Pay, even a small number is still a saving, a pleasure, and a benefit to receive. For each customer that switches over to the Bank Draft System,
that’s one less customer you need to deal with again for payments. The
total number usually continues to grow due to continued encouragement
(through any follow-up in subsequent billings or by phone) and
especially from enlisting new customers at the time of sale, as a
matter of policy. Try to present the bank draft system as a matter of your company's
policy or your usual method of doing business. If you receive a "strong
objection" explain that the Bank Draft
System is your "preferred policy" and is recommended
for mutual benefit, but ultimately, is not mandatory. Providing
an additional incentive of your own at this point, would be worth
considering. 13) Could I use your Starter Kit and make my own Bank Drafts? Of course. However you would still need to purchase and learn the special software that is needed to print the mechanical integers (odd-looking numbers and symbols) on the bottom of each bank draft, so that any banking system can process them just like a check. Unprofessional Bank Drafts containing errors are returned by banks with incurred processing charges. (Software not available from us.) Add to the software cost, your time & labor printing the drafts each month (along with the cost of bank draft forms), and your cost would easily exceed our charge of 65 cents, unless you are into serious volume like we are. NOTE: All other
bank draft producers are charging up to $1.00 - $1.50 per draft for
volume under 500 drafts a month, along with minimum term contracts, and
no Starter Kit. 14) What if other questions come up, or if I want further assistance? Here at Prompt-Pay we are very proud of our consulting &
technical staff. They are well informed, experienced, and prompt. They
are at your service, toll free, at: 800-599-9118 Office 15) What's the first step? CLICK HERE (Howard Watson; OR) 16) Why don't I contact my customers first, just to see how they feel about this, before I send them authorization forms? This approach has not been successful, because it does not convey enough of your own confidence in the program, that they "should" participate. Instead it lowers what would have been the actual "conversion rate". Present our Bank Draft Payment
System confidently to your customers (even as a matter of new policy)
accompanied with supporting literature and answers to their
questions. Provide them with the necessary forms for commitment
right at the time of maximum influence. All this is in the Starter Kit
and is effective when used as recommended.
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Actually,
Bank Drafts have been around for decades. However, it is still not
cost-effective for most companies to be their own in-house Bank Draft
producer. In the past there were no other options. Today, Prompt-Pay
Inc. is here to contract out our Bank Draft services to thousands of
companies like yours.