Small Businesses: The 9 Best ACH Payment Processor
Your clients are probably used to paying with credit or debit cards, PayPal, or even digital wallets if you accept payments online (such as Apple Pay or Google Pay). Some of your clients, on the other hand, maybe willing to authorize a simple bank transfer using the ACH Network.
While paper checks are becoming extinct, bank-to-bank transfers that avoid card networks are still in use.
These ACH payments are frequently referred to as eChecks, and you’re probably already using them to pay some of your personal or business bills.
You’ve utilized the ACH Network if you’ve ever used direct deposit to receive or distribute a paycheck, or if you’ve ever gotten a tax return directly into your bank account from the IRS. As you may be aware, ACH has several advantages over card-based payment methods for certain sorts of transactions, making it a desirable low-cost, recurring payment alternative.
How can you compare and choose the finest ACH service provider for your company?
Why Is ACH Processing Necessary for Your Company?
You might be thinking about why you should use an antiquated, out-of-date payment transmission mechanism like ACH. ACH, on the other hand, is still alive and well. You’re probably already utilizing ACH to deposit cash into a digital wallet or to have some of your monthly costs deducted automatically from your account.
One of the most significant advantages of ACH payments is their low cost. ACH costs vary, but they are always less expensive than credit or debit card payments, making them a more cost-effective – if a little more time-consuming – alternative to go cashless. While ACH payments are unlikely to fully replace credit cards, especially in retail transactions, they can provide further convenience for your customers while also lowering your costs.
The Top 9 ACH Processing Organizations
Because most businesses will need ACH services for small business processing as part of their merchant account for credit/debit card processing, it’s important to select a trustworthy organization that can provide both services in one package. ACH processing is normally an extra charge, but some providers will include it with your account for free.
We’ve looked at a lot of different merchant services companies that offer ACH services for small business processing. The following are the finest ACH processing providers with the most comprehensive and competitively priced services:
- PaymentCloud
This is the best option for high-risk businesses.
It’s simple to provide fantastic rates to organizations that don’t pose a significant risk. Giving high-risk firms a fair deal, on the other hand, necessitates a unique type of merchant services provider. PaymentCloud is a high-risk specialist with a good reputation.
PaymentCloud also provides ACH processing, which is particularly useful for firms that have trouble processing credit cards. On request, PaymentCloud’s virtual terminal can enable ACH-related functions. If you have a business checking account, photo ID, and a cancelled check, the company claims to be able to get ACH services for small business up and running for you in 48 hours.
PaymentCloud, unfortunately, does not publicly release much information about its pricing, as is expected of a high-risk business, making a one-to-one comparison difficult.
2. Fattmerchant’s Stax
Best for high-volume retailers in the United States.
Stax by Fattmerchant accomplishes the remarkable accomplishment of having a sense of humor as well as transparent pricing, which are both quite rare in a merchant services company. Stax is also unique in that it is one of the few companies that offers membership pricing. Stax charges a larger monthly subscription cost instead of marking up your rate over the interchange rate. Stax is a better offer for firms that process a significant frequency of card transactions, as you might expect.
3. Square
This is the best option for very small or seasonal businesses.
Favorite of small businesses Square has long been a popular solution for fledgling businesses with little past processing experience or those who just need to accept non-cash payments on occasion. Square now adds ACH services for small business transfer processing with every account, in addition to the ability to accept credit and debit card payments.
Unfortunately, ACH payments can only be processed through Square Invoices, thus eCommerce merchants who use the Square Online Store to run their business are unable to accept them.
While Square is known for having more account stability difficulties than standard merchant accounts, ACH accounts are less likely to experience a sudden account hold, freeze, or cancellation because payments are withdrawn directly from your clients’ bank accounts.
4. Stripe
The best option for international businesses.
If you’ve ever made an online purchase with a credit card, there’s a strong chance your payment information has travelled via Stripe’s infrastructure. Stripe is more of a payment platform than a payment provider, with a long-range of capabilities that can fill most niches.
Stripe can handle ACH payments with ease, but its price structure can be a little perplexing.
Stripe’s biggest flaw is that it has account stability difficulties as a payment service provider. As a result, it’s not a good fit for high-risk firms. To get the most out of Stripe, you’ll want to work with a developer.
5. National Processing
Businesses that require ACH services for small business as a backup payment method.
National Processing, not to be confused with the similarly titled National Processing Company, is one of the smallest processors on our list, but it offers a lot of bang for your buck. You’ll benefit from interchange-plus pricing and month-to-month payment.
The only true disadvantage of National Processing is that it does, in some situations, levy an early termination fee. Customers that sign a long-term contract in return for a free terminal are frequently eligible for this.
6. Seamless Chex
For eCommerce businesses who want to accept non-traditional ACH payments, this is the best option.
ACH payments, as previously stated, are a very old way of transaction. It’s natural for age to appear. Companies like Seamless Chex, on the other hand, aim to mitigate some of the drawbacks of eChecks. With Seamless Chex’s built-in virtual terminal, merchants may accept direct payments on eCommerce shopping carts.
Seamless Chex has three plans to choose from, two of which include many tiers for scaling. Paynote’s plans are designed for organizations with only a few eCheck processing requirements.
7. Dharma Merchant Services
Nonprofits will benefit the most.
Dharma Merchant Services is on a number of our lists for good cause. It’s a transparent payment services provider with interchange-plus rates and no application, yearly, or monthly minimums. These are things that you should expect from any merchant services provider.
Dharma accepts ACH payments through a variety of programmes.
The best option for your business will most likely be determined by whether you own the hardware (as with Clover) or whether you want to take both paper checks and eChecks.
While Dharma Merchant Services is a great deal in general, it does not work with high-risk businesses, and low-volume merchants can definitely save money by using a different provider.
8. Helcim
This is the best option for Canadian merchants.
Calgary-based For both Canadian and US-based businesses, Helcim has long been one of our preferred merchant service providers. Full-service merchant accounts with genuine month-to-month billing and interchange-plus pricing are available from the company. With comprehensive pricing disclosures on the company’s website, advertising openness is among the greatest we’ve ever seen. The company no longer charges a monthly account fee for ordinary accounts as an added incentive. This feature appeals to very tiny or seasonal enterprises that would otherwise be unable to purchase a merchant account.
9. Dwolla
Businesses that rely on ACH as their principal payment method will benefit the most.
The majority of the providers we’ve looked at so far accept ACH payments as part of a bigger payment package that includes credit card processing. But what if you don’t need to accept credit cards? Dwolla is a service that can help with this.
Dwolla is a company that only accepts ACH payments. It’s cheaper than many payment processors that offer ACH even at the Pay-As-You-Go level, so it’s worth considering even if you already have eCheck capabilities.
You can acquire fixed-rate ACH processing if your company is large enough for the Scale plan’s monthly charge to make sense. That would only make sense if you were doing a lot of transactions.
