Linked2pay Adds Automatic ACH Approval for Merchant Accounts

As the payments industry prepares to lay the foundation for same-day Automated Clearing House payments this week, technology provider linked2pay is combining merchant onboarding for acquirers with real-time acceptance of ACH and other payment services.

Acquirers and independent sales organizations operating through linked2pay's Bank Centric Payments platform can now use automated merchant approval and onboarding with the addition of real-time ACH and remote deposit capture approval for new or existing card merchants.

Approval for card payment acceptance generally occurs at the same time a bank accepts a merchant account, but adding ACH and other services took extra paperwork and steps in the past.

"The merchant approval process for payment solutions other than credit card has long been labor intensive and time consuming for acquirers, ISOs and their merchants," Robert "Jay" McShirley, CEO of linked2pay, said in a Sept. 21 press release.

The Bank Centric Payments platform now makes that process "paperless and automatic," McShirley said.

After clicking a button to submit an online application to the bank, an approved merchant will receive a welcome e-mail with their access credentials and instructions to securely activate their account, McShirley added.

If a merchant application meets the automated accepted criteria set by the bank operating as the originating depository financial institution, they are approved and onboarded through the linked2pay process. Merchants scoring below the bank's criteria are prompted to provide additional information.

The real-time ACH acceptance bolsters Oxnard, Calif.-based linked2pay's integrated platform, which it has had in place for nearly a year.