B2BPay Hub

AR automation

How do we move customers from cheques and cards to ACH?

Short answer

Terms work where persuasion does not. Offer an early-pay discount for ACH that is smaller than the interchange you would otherwise pay, so you keep the difference and the customer gets a genuine benefit. Make ACH the default on new trade account applications rather than an option to opt into. For predictable repeat volume, autopay removes the collection step entirely.

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The fuller explanation

Set a threshold above which ACH or wire is standard and a card is by exception. Most customers accept a policy applied consistently; they resist one applied to them specifically.

Keep the card path open. Some AP departments genuinely cannot pay by ACH, and losing an order to save interchange is a bad trade.

The cheapest customer to convert is a new one. Setting the default correctly at account opening avoids the conversation entirely.

Important caveats

  • ACH requires a retrievable authorization. Capture it at account opening as part of the credit application.
  • Account verification at setup removes most avoidable returns and is worth the extra step.

Other ways people ask this

These phrasings share the same answer, so they live on this page rather than on duplicate URLs.

  • Getting customers to pay by ACH
  • Stop accepting cheques
  • Encourage ACH payment

Follow-up questions

What discount should we offer?
Less than the interchange you would pay on the card. That way the saving is real for both sides rather than transferred from you to the customer.

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Where this fits

GuideBank railsOn a large invoice, ACH is usually the cheapest way to get paid by a wide margin. The obstacles are habit and authorization, not technology.Open ResourceCommercial Card vs ACH Decision GuideWhich rail is cheaper at which invoice size, what each one costs in practice, and where the answer flips. Percentage pricing and flat fees cross over at a point specific to your business.Open QuestionIs ACH cheaper than a credit card for B2B invoicesOn large invoices, almost always. ACH is priced as a flat fee per transaction and a card as a percentage of the invoice, so the gap widens with every dollar. The fee on a $50,000 ACH payment is identical to the fee on a $500 one, while the card cost scales throughout. On small invoices the two can be comparable, and the crossover point depends on your specific pricing.Open ComparisonYou want alternatives to debit acceptance, or a replacement for a debit method that has stopped working.You want alternatives to debit acceptance, or a replacement for a debit method that has stopped working.Open Comparisonour comparison criteriaYou are evaluating ACH or pay-by-bank acceptance for a B2B or distribution business.Open Case studyPackaging Distributor ACH Migration: A Sample ScenarioA packaging distributor used an early-pay discount to move standing accounts onto autopay, then optimized what was left.Open

Read next

  1. 1Bank railsOn a large invoice, ACH is usually the cheapest way to get paid by a wide margin. The obstacles are habit and authorization, not technology.
  2. 2Commercial Card vs ACH Decision GuideWhich rail is cheaper at which invoice size, what each one costs in practice, and where the answer flips. Percentage pricing and flat fees cross over at a point specific to your business.
  3. 3Is ACH cheaper than a credit card for B2B invoicesOn large invoices, almost always. ACH is priced as a flat fee per transaction and a card as a percentage of the invoice, so the gap widens with every dollar. The fee on a $50,000 ACH payment is identical to the fee on a $500 one, while the card cost scales throughout. On small invoices the two can be comparable, and the crossover point depends on your specific pricing.

Find out what your card volume actually costs

Send three months of statements and one representative invoice. You get back a line-item breakdown of what is downgrading and what it costs annually, whether or not you do anything with it.

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