A service from Integrity Payment Systems LLC lets merchants pay some of their recurring bills using a portion of their monthly payment card settlement funds.
PayFast is designed to give merchants better control over their cash flow by automating bill payments, said Bill Buchanan, the director of marketing at Integrity Payment Systems, a merchant services company.
"The merchant doesn't have to save up money to write checks at the end of the month," Buchanan said.
Merchants can use PayFast to pay rent, utility bills and suppliers; one merchant even uses it to pay a debt held by a collection agency, Buchanan said.
Auto-repair shops and restaurants are among the types of merchants that are using the service.
Integrity, of Des Plaines, Ill., issues a check to payees or sends funds through the automated clearing house system, Buchanan said. Only merchants with a card processing account at Integrity are eligible to use the service.
An Integrity risk manager evaluates the percentage of daily card receivables a merchant can apply to PayFast payments. Integrity sets both a percentage and a daily cap.
Merchants can monitor their PayFast accounts online. They pay a fee, which Buchanan would not disclose, to use the service.
Buchanan sees opportunities to use PayFast as a referral source for merchant accounts.
For example, a commercial property management company may tell its tenants it also accepts PayFast payments, which could lead the tenant to enroll in the service.
"This would be a way to lower the risk for the management company," Buchanan said, and would also would mean a new merchant account for Integrity.
Smaller franchise firms also could offer their franchisees a discount if they used PayFast to pay their franchise fees on a daily basis, Buchanan said.
