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<rant> Why is it when you tell a person "That is | by Classic_Jon | 2008-07-29 09:02:46 |
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Which service is this? | by krikkert | 2008-07-29 09:30:28 |
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We are a "walk in" bill payment service | by Classic_Jon | 2008-07-29 09:42:28 |
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Errr??? | by robertltux | 2008-07-29 10:30:23 |
| It is a bit more simple than that but also |
by Classic_Jon |
2008-07-29 11:41:39 |
a bit different.
Basically there are three levels.
1) merchant store
2)Bank service(who I work for)
3) Company payment is sent to.
The logic flow is this:
a)Customer comes into Merchant store and pay $bill
b)customer is given receipt that they have "made a payment" (that wording is key)
c)Bank service sends out payment the same day to the Company, *BEFORE* getting $$ from Merchant store. Because of that the bank is out the funds for the payment until merchant account is debited.
d)ACH for amount of payments made at that store is sent to Merchants bank account on the same business day the payment is sent but usually takes a business day or two to be withdrawn through the ACH network with the Fed Reserve.
e) If merchants account does not have the $$ to cover the payments they get shut down until we collect per the contract they signed. It normally takes *THREE* business days for us to be notified of an Insufficient funds (or NSF) return because of how the ACH network works.
This is why we run credit checks because we are extending the merchant credit until we collect the $$ from them. The merchants don't seem to grasp the concept that the Bank is sending out *several million dollars* a day in payments and NSF's are considered very serious because of that!!
Due to banking regulations we can send the request 3 times and then can take "other measures" but we have to allow the merchant a chance to pay the NSF amount before resorting to "other measures."
One thing people also do not understand is that "electronically submitted" does NOT mean "instantanious!!" When I explain that there can be up to a three business day lag on ACH requests, most people are shocked. The only common "instant" funds transfer is a wire and that is bank to bank and not through the Fed Reserve. Wires cost $ to do because they are, quite frakly, a bit of a pain. The ACH network is pretty automated so, while it is a bit slower because of the Fed Reserve's involvement, the protection from fraud the Fed Reserve offers is worth it... but THAT is a discussion for a whole nother TLP :) |
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