You must pay a bill. You compose the check, pack it in the envelope, stamp it, and hope it arrives before the payment date to avoid a late fee.
You may be wondering, “Can’t I just email the check?” You can, but it’s not very frequent in today’s financial system. You’re more likely to be the recipient of an emailed cheque than the sender.
What Is the Best Way to Email a Check?
Although it is not as simple as writing a paper check, the receiver will receive your check instantly if you send it by email. However, there are some restrictions on who will accept a check by email. Other techniques, such as a check by phone, are in place at your credit card and utility companies to electronically transfer money. Instead, ask a small business — perhaps your dentist or landscaper — if sending a check through email is appropriate to get it in their hands sooner.
To email a check, you’ll need to sign up for third-party assistance. Checkbook, a payment platform firm, is one of them. Before you may email a check, you must first create an account with Checkbook and share your personal and banking information.
After that, you’ll be able to “write” your check and send it to the receiver, who will then be able to print it. You will be charged $1 per check.
How Electronic Checks Work
An electronic check, often known as an e-check, works in the same way as a traditional paper check and is becoming more common among businesses. The payment will be made electronically.
When you write a paper check, you put the recipient’s name and the amount you want to transfer from your checking account to the payee on the check, then sign it.
With an e-check, you agree on the amount to be withdrawn from your account and electronically communicate it to the beneficiary. According to PaySimple, a company that helps businesses with their billing and payment systems, instead of signing a paper check, you’ll offer your consent electronically, either by agreeing a website’s terms or conditions, by voice, or by a signed contract.
You will not be writing or emailing a check.
Who Makes Use of E-Checks?
For the time being, both small and large enterprises use the e-check system to receive and send funds. Individual consumption is less common. E-checks can be used by businesses to receive payments from customers, pay vendor bills, and disburse employee wages.
E-checks are they ever emailed?
Businesses can send e-checks via email. If you sell cakes to a restaurant, for example, you can tell the restaurant that you’d prefer to be paid via email via a third-party supplier. One platform that will email checks to recipients who choose to be paid in this manner is the Deluxe Payment Exchange.
When the check is ready, Deluxe Payment Exchange will send an email to the receiver. Recipients have the option of depositing the funds electronically into their bank account or printing the cheque and bringing it to the bank.
There is no fee for the check recipient with Deluxe eChecks. Depending on the plan chosen, the company will pay between 48 and 60 cents every e-check.
How Does an E-Check Get Paid?
The Automated Clearing House, or ACH, network is used to transmit funds from the payer’s checking account to the recipient’s checking account from an e-check. It is the same method that is used to transfer payments such as your direct deposited payroll check, government benefit cheques, and tax refunds.
Should I Pay with an E-Check?
No, if you wish to send $100 to your niece for her 21st birthday. Paying by e-check necessitates a unique setup, which is why e-checks are largely used by small enterprises. You’re probably going to send her a paper check or slip a $100 cash into a card and present it to her at her birthday celebration. If she is a young woman who is completely digital, she will most likely prefer paying via the widely recognised Venmo, PayPal, or Zelle ways.
However, you may already be writing e-checks without realising it. According to PaySimple, when you agree to pay your rent, vehicle payment, or other monthly fee electronically, you are truly doing it by e-check. These are referred to as recurring ACH payments or direct debits, which are synonyms for recurring e-check payments.
E-Check Authorization
Remember when your apartment manager made you fill out and sign a form agreeing to have your rent automatically and electronically deducted on the same date each month? You were authorising an electronic check.
According to PaySimple, you must give permission to pay via e-check. A company will ask for your permission, enter your payment information into its processing software, and then click the “save” button to begin the payment process.
Why Do Companies Accept E-Checks?
According to Intuit’s QuickBooks blog, businesses who accept e-checks reap numerous benefits. They are as follows:
Cost-effectiveness. E-checks, for example, are less expensive for businesses to process than credit card payments. In fact, Intuit claims that firms can cut payment processing expenses by up to 60%, benefiting their bottom line.
Simple to use. This is especially true for businesses that handle a high volume of paper checks. According to Intuit, converting to e-checks reduces the likelihood of human error, and software makes account reconciliation simple.
Security and dependability. The ACH network has shown to be a dependable method of money transfer. Furthermore, e-checks use data encryption to safeguard checking account information.
How Long Does an E-Check Take to Clear?
According to PaySimple, the time it takes for a business to receive e-check funds varies by financial services provider, but in general, the funds will be in a recipient’s account in three to five days.
The Bottom Line
Digital checking is the way of the future. According to Federal Reserve Board records, which measure the volume of checks flowing through banks, an average of 19 million checks were processed every day in 1992. The figure was 3.7 million in 2021. Paper payments have been drastically reduced by digital payments.
Emailing checks for regular transactions may not be too far off in the future. While e-checks are widespread among businesses, the practise has yet to reach the individual market.
