If you are an inspector contemplating charging a convenience fee with credit card payments but have concerns about pushback from your customers, an ACH / e-check option is the best solution.
With Guardian/ISN’s Integrated ACH Payment feature, home inspectors can now streamline e-check payments and potentially eliminate credit card processing fees. With the integrated e-check solution, your customers are presented the option to pay for the inspection with a credit card for an additional fee (completely controlled by you) or pay with an e-check for free. By offering your customer an ACH payment option with no additional fees, you remove the potential opposition of a convenience fee being attached to the credit card payment option.
The ACH/e-check feature is completely seamless for both you and your customer. All that is required is for the customer to input their information once, and the process is complete. ISN will automatically mark the inspection as paid and release the report just like a credit card transaction.
How much does it cost?
An ACH account with Guardian is $20 per month and $2.25 per transaction. If more than one inspection per month is paid with ACH you will typically break even.
Do I still have credit card processing fees?
Yes but remember, if you are using ISN’s Convenience Fee tool, you can add an additional fee or percentage increase for credit card transactions to cover your monthly processing fees, potentially taking your monthly credit card fees to $0.00.
How do I know if the ACH transaction is good?
ISN is dialing into a system that verifies the account number and that the routing numbers are valid, however, ACH funds will not be verified for 3-5 business days.
**Important**
Similar to when you deposit a physical check, the bank will accept the check and deposit the money into your account, but you won’t get notified of insufficient funds for several days . ACH works the same. It’s important to check the CardPointe dashboard regularly to find out if any past transactions were “returned” (this is the term it uses for rejected transactions).
To activate the ACH Payment Integration in ISN, please visit this link or contact Guardian at 1-800-608-7363.