ACH card use grows as electronic payments takeover

The use of ACH cards is becoming more common as new technology and convenience enable vendors to accept the products.

Although electronic payments have been available to business owners for some time, vendors have been slow to adopt the technology, according to RBS Citizens Financial Group.

However, it appears that many businesses have finally realized how useful the technology can be for them. RBS noted that payment networks have started to reach out to vendors in an effort to onboard them painlessly, which in turn has allowed processing firms to showcase how useful electronic charging can be for vendors.

Because electronic payments from alternative credit products are relatively quick when compared to the processing times of traditional checks, vendors have been able to cut down on errors and fraud that result from waiting for payments to clear.

"Until recently, many vendors continued to accept only checks for payment, with sporadic acceptance of ACH depending on their systems' ability to process and apply payment," James Gifas of RBS said.

Numbers from the Electronic Payments Association (NACHA) show that ACH card use is on the rise. In 2012, ACH payments exceeded $21 billion, which was in increase of 4.3 percent from 2011.