Vendor Experience with Payment Assistant

Payment Assistant is designed to make vendor payments faster, easier, and more secure — benefiting both your organization and your vendors. By automating payment delivery and reducing manual processes, it helps eliminate paper checks, cut costs, and improve operational efficiency.

From the vendor’s perspective, Payment Assistant simplifies the payment experience:

• Streamlined onboarding — With REPAY, your trusted payments partner handles vendor enrollment. With BILL, vendors are payable as soon as they exist, and you can set them up early.

• Flexible payment options — Vendors can be paid by virtual card, ACH, or check. With REPAY, vendors choose how they want to be paid. With BILL, vendors connected to the BILL Network choose, and other vendors are paid by the information on the vendor record.

• Transparent communication — Vendors receive timely remittance notifications and follow-up support.

• Ongoing support — From setup to updates, vendors have access to dedicated assistance. Our goal is to reduce friction and ensure every payment is delivered accurately and on time.

This vendor-first approach reflects our commitment to modernizing Accounts Payable and improving the payment experience for everyone involved.

Onboard Vendors with REPAY

REPAY handles vendor enrollment on your behalf as part of the vendor onboarding journey. If a payment isn’t processed within a set timeframe, REPAY’s specialists proactively reach out to resolve issues and ensure successful delivery.

Tip: If vendors need help with anything related to Payment Assistant, they contact REPAY directly.

Note: When paying individuals using Payment Assistant, those payments follow a unique process that differs from the standard process for organizations and businesses. To learn more, see Paying Individuals with Payment Assistant.

Onboard Vendors 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, vendors are payable as soon as they exist in Financial Edge NXT. BILL pays a vendor with an address by check, and a vendor with shared bank information by ACH. Vendors don't need to complete enrollment before you include them on a payment run.

Setting up vendors early is optional. When you set up vendors early, BILL receives the vendor details before the first payment run, so network matching and bank verification finish ahead of time. Setting up a vendor early doesn't send the vendor anything. You can also invite vendors to the BILL Network so they can manage their own bank information and payment preferences.

How BILL Connects Vendors to the BILL Network

BILL matches your vendors against the BILL Network in the background and connects a vendor only when it's confident of the match. Vendors that BILL doesn't connect stay private vendors and remain payable.

What Vendors Do with BILL

For ACH payments, vendors do nothing. BILL doesn't require written authorization or documents from vendors. Connected vendors can sign in to a free BILL account to manage their bank information and view their payments. If a vendor never responds to an invitation, nothing changes, and BILL pays the vendor by the information on file.

Vendor Contacts for Help with BILL

Vendors use the support link in the emails they receive from BILL. Your team contacts Blackbaud Support, and you can read what vendors receive in the payment emails from BILL.