Merchants who accept payments directly from customer bank accounts need to take precautions to mitigate the risk of insufficient funds, chargebacks, and accounts that come back unable to locate. A robust verification process can help a business avoid accepting fraudulent payments and underfunded accounts. There are different types of verification, however, with varying levels of security and certainty.
Account Verification and Daily Balance Check
Verifying if a customer account exists and is currently active is a good place to start. This type of service can also check if the customer has a positive balance at the start of the business day. But, this type of verification falls short of reassuring business owners that funds will be available when a payment hits their account.
Account History
Enlisting a verification service that alerts a seller to a client’s previous NSFs or bounced checks is smart business. While a history of bounced checks does not necessarily mean that the customer is not good for the money at that moment, it can help retailers determine the account holder’s character. Again, this type of verification doesn’t provide enough information about the current state of a customer’s account.
Verification of Funds
Of course, most companies want to do their due diligence when accepting client purchases. Their best bet is to employ a verification process that looks inside consumer accounts in real-time to ensure enough funding exists. This process allows businesses to see what is in a customer account at the time of purchase.
All-in-One
eDebit Direct verification service covers all of these areas. We check a client’s account and immediately provide accurate information about the account status. And, we take it one step further, by looking into an account and verifying that there is enough money to cover the transaction. With this information in hand, a merchant can immediately control their cash flow, and as a result, the health of their company.