Moving companies signed up for Chariot's payment processing can take payments by card or ACH.
ACH transfers are bank-to-bank money transfers processed through the "Automated Clearing House", or ACH, Network. The ACH Network is a system managed banks and other financial institutions that aggregate and process these transactions. ACH is common practice for many business transactions and is often use by companies to fund payroll, for example.
Upside of ACH transactions
They're cheaper than credit card transactions -- Chariot charges 1% with a maximum amount of $10 per transaction (same as quickbooks), vs. 2.9% + 30 cents for card transactions.
They're secure and relatively fast (banks usually process them within 2-3 days; Chariot will deposit funds in your account 5 business days after the transaction date)
Larger, commercial customers may be used to using them
Downside of ACH transactions
Longer processing time compared to cards -- with credit cards, the transaction is approved and processes "immediately". With ACH, it can take 1-3 business days or more for the banks to approve and send the funds. Chariot will deposit ACH funds in your account after 5 days to ensure most payments clear reliably during this timeframe.
Possibility of reversals -- in some cases (more frequently with smaller/ newer banks), an ACH transaction may take a week or more to process. And if they fail, a reversal will occur -- funds that you previously receive will be removed and you'll need to re-collect payment from the customer.
In short: ACH transactions take longer that cards and do not provide instant feedback on whether they were successful, as running a card does.
How to use the feature
Office side (ON by default): When clicking “New Payment”, you will see the option to charge by ACH. You can enter the customer’s bank details and charge them accordingly.
Customer side (OFF by default: contact Chariot to turn on): For payment links and invoices, customers will have the option to pay by card or by ACH.
Processing fees
The processing fee for ACH transactions is 1%, capped at $10 per transaction (same as quickbooks ACH processing). See Chariot’s fee disclosure for more details.
What happens behind the scenes
When you process a payment via ACH, the following steps occur:
You or the customer enters in their bank details and the amount to pay.
If the information is clearly incorrect -- for example, a routing number not corresponding to any bank -- a rejection will occur right away.
Chariot sends the ACH transaction to the ACH / bank networks. You will see a logged payment with a status of COMPLETED.
Please note: COMPLETED means that the ACH has been successfully submitted. It does not mean the the ACH status is final and paid.
The customer's bank processes the ACH transaction.
Chariot deposits the ACH funds into the moving company's account 5 business days after the transaction was initiated.
If the ACH is rejected or reversed by the bank:
If the reversal occurs within 5 business days of the transaction:
Chariot will create a new, COMPLETED ACH payment with a negative amount for the reversal.
The ACH funds will not be deposited with the moving company.
If the reversal occurs after 5 business days and the ACH funds have already been deposited:
Chariot will create a new, COMPLETED ACH payment with a negative amount for the reversal.
If the moving company has an upcoming settlement / deposit from other payment transactions, Chariot will debit / remove the funds from the upcoming payment. If the upcoming settlement is less than the amount of the ACH, Chariot will debit the moving company's bank account for the ACH payment.
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