EFT Sharing with Payment Assistant

EFT sharing lets Payment Assistant use your existing vendor bank records to automatically set up ACH (Automated Clearing House) payments, instead of collecting bank details from each vendor. When you onboard to Payment Assistant, share your electronic funds transfer (EFT) vendor bank account details. EFT sharing is available whether your organization pays vendors through REPAY or BILL.

From the Getting Started with Payment Assistant page, select Review EFT sharing, and then select Allow EFT sharing. You can also go to Settings, Payables, and under Payment Assistant, select Allow EFT sharing.

How Vendors Are Enrolled

With REPAY, sharing EFT details doesn't automatically enroll your vendors in ACH payments. Payment Assistant contacts each vendor to confirm their preferred payment method. If a vendor selects ACH, Payment Assistant sends the vendor's EFT bank details one time for setup. If the vendor is an individual and you share EFT details, the vendor is enrolled in ACH automatically. If a vendor doesn't respond, Payment Assistant sends checks until enrollment is finalized.

When your organization allows EFT sharing and you create a payment run, each vendor shows an EFT sharing status. Vendors with complete, valid EFT details show as Ready. Vendors with incomplete or invalid details show as Not ready — select Not ready to update the vendor's EFT details without leaving the payment run.

With REPAY, if a vendor doesn't want to use virtual cards or ACH, Payment Assistant sends a physical check, which takes 7-10 business days to arrive.

Update Vendor EFT Details

With REPAY, when EFT sharing is enabled, the vendor's current ACH info is sent to REPAY each time a payment run is submitted. EFT updates in Financial Edge NXT are reflected the next time a payment run is processed for that vendor. With BILL, Financial Edge NXT sends bank information when you save the EFT account in Payment Assistant and when the payment run gets final approval.

Required Vendor Fields for ACH Enrollment

To share EFT details with Payment Assistant, the vendor record must include:

  • Vendor bank name

  • Routing number (with REPAY, 9 digits, numbers only, and different from the account number)

  • Account number (with REPAY, at least 5 digits, numbers only)

  • Account type (with REPAY, only checking accounts can be paid via ACH; with BILL, checking or savings accounts can be paid)

  • An email address, preferably with the email type set to "EFT email"

  • Payment method set to "Electronic funds transfer"

Note: If a vendor's EFT bank account is set up for international ACH transactions in Financial Edge NXT, Payment Assistant doesn't enroll that vendor in ACH payments.

Tip: To verify, open the vendor record, select Edit, then under EFT bank account, select to edit the Active EFT account.

Collect and Update Vendor Payment Details with REPAY

If you do not share EFT details and the business vendor chooses ACH payments, Payment Assistant requests those details directly from the vendor.

Note: If a vendor chooses to use virtual cards with our payments technology partner, REPAY, they receive payments by virtual card instead.

Tip: If EFT sharing is not enabled, the vendor must contact REPAY to update their details. To contact REPAY, call 801-679-6044 or 801-762-8772, or email payableshelp@repay.com.

Share EFT Details with BILL

Note: Don’t see this yet? The ability to use BILL with Payment Assistant is currently in an Early Adopter Program (EAP) for some of our customers. Look for full support and general availability in a future release.

With BILL, EFT sharing passes your vendors' bank information to BILL so it can pay them by ACH. If you don't share EFT details, BILL pays a vendor that isn't connected to the BILL Network by check to the address on the vendor record.

When Financial Edge NXT Sends EFT Details to BILL

Financial Edge NXT sends a vendor's bank information to BILL when you save the vendor's EFT account in Payment Assistant, such as from the vendor's Payment Assistant tile, the Vendor enrollment tab, or the EFT sharing link in a new payment run, and when the payment run gets final approval. It sends the information only for vendors that aren't connected to the BILL Network, because connected vendors manage their own bank information in BILL. Your organization must also have Allow EFT sharing turned on.

Requirements for the Ready EFT Sharing Status with BILL

A vendor shows as Ready when the vendor's active EFT account meets the requirements listed in Required Vendor Fields for ACH Enrollment, including a payment method of electronic funds transfer and an account that isn't set up for international transactions. BILL accepts checking or savings accounts. BILL also needs a payee name of 3 to 100 characters. Payment Assistant uses the contact name on the vendor's default invoice address, or the vendor name if there's no contact name. If the name is shorter or longer, Payment Assistant doesn't send the bank account, even when the status is Ready.

Vendor Bank Account Verification with BILL

BILL verifies each vendor bank account once, and the vendor doesn't need to do anything. A new bank account is verified again before the next ACH payment uses it. The verification process takes one to two business days.

Vendor Bank Account Display with BILL

The Payment Assistant tile on the vendor record shows only the last four digits of the bank account. BILL never returns full account numbers to Financial Edge NXT.

Who Can Change a Vendor's Bank Information with BILL

For a vendor that isn't connected to the BILL Network, users who can edit the vendor's EFT account in Financial Edge NXT can change the bank information BILL uses. A connected vendor changes its own bank information in BILL.

Note: BILL checks that a bank account is valid, but it doesn't confirm that the account belongs to the vendor. Control who can edit vendor EFT information in Financial Edge NXT so that only trusted users can change where payments go.