ACH vs wire for large B2B payments: which is safer? โ€” need guidance ASAP

I publish illustrative scenarios prepared by my practice. The participants and conversations are fictional. These are not posts by real users, accounts of client experiences or reports of actual results.
Started by bigcityproblems_1 ยท Dec 20, 2024 ยท 5 replies
For informational purposes only. Not legal advice.
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bigcityproblems_1 OP

Starting to get enterprise clients paying $20-50K invoices. They're asking for ACH or wire instead of credit card (makes sense, 3% fee would be brutal). Which is safer from my perspective as the vendor?

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NotaryJane_8

@RiskAnalyst_5 yes, this happened to us as the payer. Our email was compromised, fraudster sent fake invoice with their bank details to our client. Client wired $45K to the wrong account. Took 6 months and lawyers to sort out who was liable. verify verify verify

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bigcityproblems_1 OP

Scary stories. How do you guys handle sharing bank details securely? Just send routing/account in a PDF invoice?

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Sean_O_13

Came across this thread while researching payment options for my agency. Super helpful advice here, especially @RiskAnalyst_5's warning about verifying wire instructions - I've heard too many horror stories.

Quick question though: has anyone used Mercury or similar fintech banks for receiving large B2B payments? My clients are used to traditional banks and I wonder if they'd be hesitant to wire to a "tech bank".

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two_cents_here_15

Actually in my expereince the fintech vs traditional bank thing is a non-issue. Most clients just care that the routing number and account number work. I've been using Relay for 2 years and never had a client balk at it.

@Sean_O_13 one tip: if you're worried about it, just don't mention the bank name. Your invoice just needs to say "Bank: [routing#] Account: [account#]" - nobody asks what bank it is.

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megan.h_7

Thanks for this thread - bookmarking for reference. We just landed our first $75K contract and I was panicking about payment logistics. Going with wire for the initial payment like @the_whole_truth_1 suggested.

Also found the demand letter templates on this site which I'm hoping I never need but good to have in case payment ever becomes an issue with enterprise clients.