Bacs is the number one payment method businesses use to pay their employees or suppliers in the UK. Despite a growing number of alternative payment types, Bacs is the cheapest and most standardized way to make payments, it also comes with negatives such as slow payment times and it is very inflexible.
Advantages
- Bacs payments are the cheapest way to send payments
- Every payroll/accounting software supports Bacs files
Disadvantages
- Payments take three days to clear vs instant Faster Payments
- Bacs payments only clear on business days
- Strict cut-off times (e.g. Wednesday 3pm to have payments sent on Friday)
Alternatives to Bacs payments
Bank to bank payments can also be made through Faster Payments. Faster Payments are instant payments up to the value of 250,000 pounds per transfer, which are cheaper than CHAPS. Most banks charge between 1 and 5 pounds per Faster Payment.
How to get started with Bulk Payments
Sending individual payments is simple, mostly free, and accessible to even very small businesses. When it comes to sending more than a handful of payments it becomes more difficult and you are left with three options:
- Upgrade regular Business Banking to Corporate Banking (eg. Barclays.Net alike)
- Outsource payment file submissions to payment bureaus
- Use new web based applications such as Telleroo Batch Payments
We at Telleroo are committed to end this era of slow and expensive business payments to eventually level the playing field, and make business payments as effortless as consumer payments.
