Case Studies

Health Club Scenario

Imagine a health club that receives monthly dues from its members for access to their facility and equipment. What does one do for those customers who do not have a credit card, do not wish to use one, or are at or near their credit limit?  Checks are a viable option, but what about the repeated trips to the bank, the paperwork, and the hassle of collecting on bounced checks.  Customers do not want to the hassle of having to pay their fee every month in person. What about the time lost waiting for bad checks to return, while those members continue to use the club?  With First ACH, the hassles of the check are gone.  No more trips to the bank as billing is handled electronically - straight from the customers account to yours.  Our recurring billing is also available and keeps your customer happy and you more productive. No longer will you have to wait so long to identify when a customer bounces a check. With First ACH insufficient funds are identified faster than paper checks and service can be stopped immediately. Customers like it because it offers options and hassle free recurring payments, businesses like it because of how easy it is.

Small Online Business

Imagine you are a small business owner and you sell your products online.  Your typical customer pays by credit card, no problem – But how many sales do you lose because credit card payment is not an option for them and checks by mail require long wait times for their goods? With a check the customer waits for the merchandise, you wait for the payment to arrive, make trips to the bank, and wait for payment to clear.  Checks make for a lot of lost time and added hassle.  Not with First ACH. After providing the account information from a check over the phone or via the internet with Virtual Check, you can debit their account, transferring money from their account to yours. For only $9.99 a month you can process 10 free ACH transactions a month. Even if you process more than 10 transactions you still pay only .39 cents each. At these rates you’ll find ACH is cheaper than credit cards.  Customers may appreciate the more direct method of are identified faster than paper checks and service can be stopped immediately.  Customers like it because it offers payment as well. Open up your options and open an account with First ACH. 

Taxi Cab / Transportation Service Scenario

Consider a transportation service dealing in cabs, shuttles, black car, etc.  Every time a client with a billing account receives transportation a paper voucher is generated that the driver then turns in to their office.  These are then sorted and entered by hand.  The clients are then invoiced, trips to the bank are made, and the office waits for the check to come in the mail. 

With First ACH there’s no trip to the bank and there’s no need to wait for the check to come in the mail.  Customers are billed electronically and directly from their bank account to yours. Additionally, ACH is a great alternative payment method as there are no cards involved and no memberships required.  Anyone with a bank account can pay through First ACH. 

Furthermore, consider that our transportation service has deployed a private label/gift/loyalty card program such as Swipe & Ride.  Though drivers and admin are free from dealing with paper vouchers and coupons for their sales, admin is still responsible for invoicing and submitting transactions to the bank for payment.  Not with First ACH!  Why have the convenience of Swipe & Ride’s paperless payments system, robust reporting tools, and web-based management tools, when you still have the archaic steps of mailed invoices and hand delivered checks to the bank?  Go electronic, and go with the simplicity and convenience that First ACH has to offer. 

Credit Cards vs. First ACH – Price Comparison

Compare the cost of processing a credit card transaction vs. the lower cost of an ACH transaction through First ACH.  Consider the example of a single transaction…

Note that the credit card fees listed above are standard fees and the rates listed are typical for the industry.  Even more importantly, note the difference in cost associated with the two payment types. Though the typical credit card transaction for $100.00 costs around $3.10, the ACH transaction through First ACH cost only .29 cents.

How is that so?  Well, the bank takes a fee based on the percentage of all sales transactions. This is called a discount rate.  A typical discount rate of 2.9% applied to a transaction of 100.00 will cost a merchant $2.90. An additional charge for the transaction fee would also be applied.  The transaction fee is a per item fee charged for each transaction between your terminal or software and the processors network.  A typical transaction fee of .20 cents would then be added to the $2.90 charge for a new total of $3.10. 

Now, imagine in a month you accept 99 more transactions for the same amount totaling $10000.00 altogether.  The same fees will apply to each one of those transactions. Your new grand total would be $310.00. 

How much would the transaction costs be for the same amount and number of transactions if processing through First ACH and on our small business B plan?

Nothing.  That particular plan allows the first 100 transactions for free.  However, there is the standard monthly fee for First ACH.  In this case it is $29.99 for this particular plan.  Keep in mind that for use of credit cards, you are also paying a comparable monthly fee. So, if you include that same amount in the price, your actual payout for credit card would be around $340.00 as opposed to the much lower First ACH total.  How much is that? $29.99.  Big difference.

Imagine this over a year.  Assume that we continue to process 100 transactions a month for $100.00 each, for 12 months.  The credit card fees that you would pay would then total $3720.00, plus monthly fees for a grand total of $4080.00 in that year.  Now, lets compare the same totals to what you would pay using First ACH.  For the transactions, your total would be $0.00.  Remember, the first 100 transactions are free every month.  However, one will have to pay the monthly fee of 29.99 for each month.  Your grand total would be $359.88. 

Would you rather pay $4080.00 every year, or just $359.88?  It’s up to you.