For too many firms, getting paid is still cumbersome, expensive, and inefficient. Chances are, you’re using too many tools and it’s slowing down AR.
You’re also probably paying unnecessary fees , too, because payment providers will charge everyone higher fees to cover the costs of riskier industries like ecommerce or travel. Since accounting is a lower-risk industry, that means your firm is basically subsidising the fees for those riskier businesses.
But that’s not all! Right now, many firms are feeling overwhelmed by the tech they use after spending the last few years building up a massive tech stack, only to realise that the apps aren’t actually saving them any time at all. On the contrary, it’s led to redundancies and frustration due to integration and connectivity issues, and now, they’re looking to consolidate the number of apps they’re using.
In this blog, we’ll explore the 4 main types of payment tools, why you’re probably paying too much, and how you can streamline those overlapping tools with an all-in-one solution like Adfin.
1. Credit card Stripe, Square, and Worldpay are all popular platforms that allow clients to pay by card. While convenient, paying by card is typically more expensive as card processors tend to charge higher fees compared to other payment methods.
Firstly, there are the bank fees, also known as ‘interchange’, which depend on the type of card being used. For personal cards in the UK, the fee is usually between 0.2% to 0.3%, but for business cards, that fee can be almost 10x more as it ranges from 1% to 1.9%.
On top of that, there’s the fee charged by the payment providers (i.e. Visa, Mastercard, BACS, etc.), which usually charge a fixed fee PLUS a percentage fee between 0.05% to 0.2% of the transaction value. Then the provider — like Adfin — needs to add fees to cover their costs associated with handling the payment, and credit risk in case of losses.
2. Direct debit Direct debit includes providers like GoCardless, London & Zurich, and Paysuite, to name a few, and it’s no secret that many firms prefer direct debit.
Not only are direct debit fees lower compared to card, but it also allows clients to easily set up recurring payments — which firms love because it helps improve your cash flow and no more invoice chasing.
However, there are a few things to watch out for with direct debit because if a payment fails, providers may charge extra processing fees. Additionally, direct debits don’t have automatic retries, so you might have to manually reach out to the client and ask them to pay using a different method.
3. Invoice chasing Chasing invoices is a huge headache and a constant complaint we hear from firms. While there are platforms for it like Chaser, Xero, and Know It, so many firms do it manually — usually via email, SMS, phone, or a combination of the three.
Not only is invoice chasing frustrating (especially if you have to follow up multiple times) but it also takes up time and resources that could be better spent elsewhere. And that’s not even mentioning how the frustrations can sometimes boil over and damage relationships if clients start feeling hassled and blame it on you (even though we know it’s not the firm’s fault because you’re just trying to get paid!).
4. Open banking Open banking launched in the UK in 2017 and it’s a new(ish) payment option that aims to level the playing field in a market that was previously dominated by established banks. It gives consumers more control over their financial data and who they share it with while cutting costs for smaller businesses to improve competition and innovation.
In practice, it allows you to bypass traditional card networks by providing direct account-to-account transfers, which helps drives down costs and cut out the middlemen.
Since open banking is relatively new, there are a few things holding it back from being as popular as it could be. Out of the 300+ banks operating in the UK, only a handful currently support open banking, although the list continues to grow. And while over 10 million people in the UK have used open banking in 2024, it still lacks the widespread adoption needed to truly rival other payment options like direct debit and card. For example, 50% of the UK population doesn’t even have a mobile banking app on their phone — which makes open banking very difficult to use.
For example, let’s say your accounting firm accepts payment via open banking. That’s great, but if your client’s bank doesn’t support it, or your client doesn't have a mobile banking app, then they won’t be able to pay you.
For that reason, you should never rely on open banking as your only payment option and you should treat some of the more outlandish claims (such as saying it will completely replace traditional card payments) with skepticism. At Adfin, we always offer it alongside other payment methods to ensure you can still get paid.
Challenges In the previous section, we mentioned 10 popular tools for the different payment functions:
3 tools for card payments (Stripe, Square, and Worldpay) 3 tools for direct debit (GoCardless, London & Zurich, and Paysuite) 3 invoice chasing tools (Chaser, Xero, and Know It) 1 open banking tool (some smaller niche players) Now, how many of these tools do you use at your firm? Did we miss any? No matter how you look at it, that’s a lot of tools to be juggling in your day-to-day — and it’s not even an exhaustive list!
It’s a lot of tech and apps to maintain, which can lead to inefficiencies galore due to integration/connectivity issues. It also overcomplicates Accounts Receivable due to all the fees, pricing, and rates your firm has to navigate.
Using too many tools can also hurt the client experience. For example, if the apps in your tech stack are disconnected, that could limit your client’s payment options to a single method, even if you thought you provided multiple payment options. Or if your invoice chasing and payment platforms are disconnected, it could make it harder for clients to pay you — which is the last thing you want!
Too many apps can also make it harder to track which invoices have been seen, which have been paid, and which payments have failed, for example. And if a payment method does fail, there’s usually no auto-retry and on top that, you could get stuck with additional processing fees due to that failed payment.
Adfin: Your all-in-one AR consolidation platform Adfin makes payments easy, from invoicing to chasing to getting paid and everything in between.
With Adfin, you can easily import invoices from the accounting software, create them in Adfin (coming in December), or drag and drop PDFs into the console. Adfin’s built-in AI and OCR system automatically captures all of the invoice data, saving you time. You can also automate your distribution schedule and send reminders via email, SMS, or WhatsApp — whichever method you prefer.
And because Adfin’s intuitive console collects all payment-related data in one place, that means no more juggling multiple apps trying to find what you need because it’s already all there, right in front of you.
And getting paid by card, direct debit, or open banking is seamless and secure as Adfin supports all of those payment options
One of the best things about Adfin is that you’ll no longer have to reconcile between multiple payment providers because Adfin does it all for you automatically.
With Adfin, you can truly take the headache out of getting paid and consolidate those 10 payment apps into a single, elegant payment solution that gets you paid faster.
But don’t take our word for it — check out our case study where we helped Helpbox UK slash payment costs by 58% by consolidating 4 different payment apps into 1.
We charge one flat rate for all transactions with zero monthly subscription fees. If Adfin sounds like it’s right for you, let’s get in touch — we’d love to help!
Book a slot with our payment expert today.
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