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When building a FinTech app or an embedded banking product, there are obviously many things to consider. But should instant payments be one of them? And if so, when?

Instant payments, as compared to more traditional payment methods like ACH and wire transfers, do have a few advantages. 

1. Speed and availability. With 24/7/365 availability and real-time processing, recipients get immediate availability to secured funds. This is especially advantageous over ACH transfers, which are only processed on bank days, have a risk of getting returned, and are therefore typically only made available to customers in 2-3 business days. 

2. Convenience. For instant payments over the card rails, rather than provide their bank account and routing number, customers can provide just their card details to complete an instant payment — something they’re much more likely to have on hand.

3. Customer satisfaction. Faster payments that can be completed with easy-to-access information means customers can use their accounts immediately, increasing conversions, stickiness, and overall customer happiness!

Beyond its advantages, it’s also something that customers have come to expect. According to Visa, 88 percent of consumers prefer to have a real-time payments option, with 68 percent of them reporting they would use their accounts more if instant payments were available. 40 percent of consumers reported frustration with the speed of funds availability, with even more frustration among the 18-39 year-old demographic.

So to answer the questions above, the answer is yes, and right now. While instant payments may not replace all your other payment methods, offering it as an option for instances where instant payments may be necessary or advantageous will help set your business apart and match your customer’s needs. 

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Synctera Instant Payments

With Synctera, FinTechs have two options for instant transfers and payments: Synctera Instant Account Funding and Synctera Instant Push to Card.

To provide these services, Synctera is proud to partner with TabaPay, the market leader in instant payments. TabaPay enables secure, reliable, and lower-cost instant payments for FinTech innovators, and is trusted by more than 2,000 FinTechs and financial institutions processing over a million transactions a day. 

Through this partnership, your customers can use their debit cards to make instant transfers, leveraging the infrastructure that card networks originally developed to process returns. 

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Synctera Instant Account Funding

With Synctera’s Instant Account Funding, supported by TabaPay, customers can instantly “pull” funds from their debit card to fund accounts. This is particularly useful if they have just opened an account with your FinTech and would like to start using their account right away.

With this feature, Synctera allows new customers to start using their accounts immediately by providing instant access to secured funds. This feature also allows for immediate payouts to employees (for example, by first pulling from a business debit card to then push to an employee card), and enables making recurring purchases or payments just-in-time.

Synctera supports domestic transfers from Visa or Mastercard-branded consumer or commercial debit cards that are enabled for instant transfer services. (Thankfully, this is the vast majority of debit cards!) Synctera supports me-to-me funding only, and adheres to card network limits — or allows you to set your own within those limits. 

Synctera also supports 3D Secure (3DS) authentication, which provides additional protection from fraud and helps to prevent chargebacks.

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Synctera Instant Push to Card

Also supported by TabaPay, Synctera’s Instant Push to Card services allows your customers to instantly “push” funds from your account to any payment card.

The most common example of an Instant Push to Card transaction is a P2P transfer, which pushes money from your bank account to another consumer’s payment card, or payroll direct deposits. Instant Push to Card payments can also be used for funds disbursements, such as insurance claims or tax refunds, and for instant bill payments.

Much like Instant Account Funding, Synctera supports domestic transfers to Visa or Mastercard-branded consumer or commercial debit cards that are enabled for instant transfer services, with both me-to-me and me-to-you use cases available. Card network limits, as well as limits you’re able to set yourself, also apply here.

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By partnering with TabaPay for both Instant Account Funding and Instant Push to Card services, Synctera is also able to offer these features through our single set of APIs — no need to integrate with TabaPay directly. 

This single set of APIs gives your FinTech app and embedded banking product not only the ability to offer instant transfers and payments, but also provides all the other services your product needs, including ledger, account linking, KYC, fraud, anti-money laundering, debit card services, and much more. 

All of this with just one set of APIs? You’ve got it. Imagine the time, effort and money you will save.

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