Transfer Funds in Near Real Time with Push-to-Debit

Timing is everything for a business sending and receiving payments.

You want to receive payments quickly and send funds when it works best to manage your cash flow. When we talk about faster payments, most notable is same day ACH and real-time payments. But an often overlooked faster payment method involves debit card rails — combining the speed of a card transaction with the affordability and control of an account-to-account transaction. And while you may think you know how to get the most out of account-to-account payments, have you considered how implementing push-to-debit could bolster your business’ existing payment processes, not to mention the user experience?

Push-to-Debit is just one of several account-to-account transaction types we offer to help businesses manage complex payment flows and transaction timing. Rather than contract with a card provider or bank, you can easily integrate the full range of account-to-account payments — including push-to-debit. With one API, Dwolla can offer your business a one-stop shop for account-to-account payments.

Send Funds 24/7/365

Consumers have an increased appetite for debit cards and faster payments, which has only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the ways Dwolla has responded to this need is by offering push-to-debit through our API.

This functionality allows clients to send funds directly to a customer’s bank account using the debit card number attached to that account — 24/7/365. Once an end user attaches a debit card to a platform or application, you can use their debit card number to issue a disbursement in near real time.

Push-to-debit is particularly helpful for business-to-consumer payments. Businesses and workers operating within the gig economy specifically find this technology useful because an end user can receive the money they earned — whether by driving, delivering or performing a myriad of on-demand services — near instantaneously, even on the weekend. Dwolla’s Push-to-Debit feature enables funds to flow from a business’ bank account to their Dwolla Balance and the end user’s bank account in near real time.

But it’s not just the gig economy that benefits from a push-to-debit disbursement. Any business that needs to make payments to consumers can use push-to-debit. Insurance companies can use Dwolla’s API to pay out claims to policyholders, while retailers and manufacturers can issue rebates or refunds using reloadable cards.

These are just a few examples of how organizations can use push-to-debit functionality to achieve faster and more efficient account-to-account transactions.

Consumer Interest in Debit Cards Rise

Consumer behavior suggests they want to avoid borrowing money. The pandemic is seen as an accelerant for debit card usage, with Visa and Mastercard reporting a 23 percent YOY increase in debit card payment and purchase volume in Q3 of 2020 compared to 2019.

Credit card usage declined by 8 percent during the same period. A study of U.S. consumers by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in 2020 showed consumers averaging 68 payments per month. Debit cards accounted for 23 of those payments, followed by credit cards (18) and cash (14). Unlike credit cards, debit cards are an access device to a checking or bank account.

Dwolla’s account-to-account payment solution helps you innovate to meet your consumers’ desire to avoid debt.

Easily Integrate a Secure Solution

Our push-to-debit solution is tokenized and PCI DSS Level 1 compliant.

Enabling push-to-debit functionality with Dwolla as your payment service provider is as simple as embedding a form within your application to collect the card information. From there, your end users can attach their own debit card and start receiving funds. Funds are sent over debit card rails and arrive near instantaneously.

From the dashboard, easily manage debit card and ACH transfers, along with real-time payments (if your business chooses to offer RTP transactions).

Whether your business is initiating a near instant payout to a debit card or an ACH transaction, the same great support comes with either transfer type. That means being able to schedule and create MassPay jobs inclusive of card destinations via our payment API. You also can set and charge fees for this feature and report on it through a generated monthly statement.

With the addition of push-to-debit on the Dwolla Platform, support your payment needs 24/7/365. Control your cash flow, simplify treasury management and get funds to your end users faster.