Dwolla adds debit push payments, years after faster-ACH push

Dwolla, which spent most of the last decade touting various alternative ACH-powered faster payments approaches, is adding the more mainstream option of debit push payments in its latest iteration.

The fintech has adapted its software-as-a-service B2B model to include push-to-debit payments through integrations with Finix and MetaBank along with its core ACH B2B payments, the company announced this week.

Companies using Dwolla’s API-based platform can add direct debit payments verified by Finix and settled by MetaBank for disbursements that can be completed within 30 minutes, the release said. Dwolla will charge $2 per debit push transaction.

The move comes six months after Brady Harris took over as CEO in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic after the departure of co-founder and CEO Ben Milne, who made a splash several years ago promising instant bank-to-bank payments using ACH rails through its proprietary FiSync approach. Dwolla discontinued that service in 2017.

Dwolla, which is based in Iowa, launched in 2008 with a digital wallet. It eventually switched to a B2B model and has played a prominent role in pushing the payments industry to adopt faster payments.

Harris told PaymentsSource in a June podcast he was retooling the company’s pricing and offerings to help its B2B customers survive.

“No matter how fast ACH payments are, they aren’t instant. This new push-to-debit offering gives Dwolla its first instant payment product and adds another dimension to our infrastructure,” Harris said in an emailed statement.