epayments and ebilling

Transcription

1 epayments and ebilling Gordon Holley, CA, CPB BeanKeepers Professional Bookkeeping And David J. Bilinsky, BSc LLB MBA, Esq. The Law Society of British Columbia epayments for Lawyers and Law Firms Which Lawyers And Law Firms Should Be Accepting Epayments 1

2 Criteria for epayments Who s Using Electronic Payments? 96% of Canadians aged 18+ have an account to pay bills or transfer money. 94% of Canadians have a debit card. 85% of Canadian households have at least one major credit card. 46% of Canadians use online bill payment as their primary tool for paying bills. PayPal has more than 4 million users in Canada Trends Paper: Global Total Noncash Trends Estimates that Debit and Credit card transactions will exceed checks by a factor of about 10 to 1 by

3 Electronic Payment Benefits for Clients Credit cards Access to unsecured credit Interest free payment from time of purchase to the end of the billing period. 24/7 access. Fraud protectionwith zero liability to the consumer Rewards and benefits, such as air travel points, car insurance, damage and loss insurance and extended warranty programs. Debit cards 24/7 access. Low cost No credit required Electronic Payment Benefits for Law firms Fast, guaranteed payment significantly reduces collection costs other collection issues interest charges and bad debts Credit and debit cards: no worry about the creditworthiness of customers or insufficient funds Better customer experiences, More satisfied customers, and Increased sales So: Why Don t All Lawyers Accept epayments? Three possible reasons: Costs of accepting epayments Complexity of selecting epayment options and vendors Unfamiliarity with epayment options 3

4 Costs of Accepting epayments Costs vary: Can be paid by the client ($0 cost to law firm) Can be paid by the law firm ($0.10/transaction to 5 6%) Compare to overhead cost of cheques/cash $5 $25 per cheque received Factor in bad debts and slow collections Complexity of epayment Options and Vendors Start the process now You have to fill out an application Shop around. It s all about the rate! You may have better luck starting with a non bank vendor Then move back to a bank vendor when you have negotiating power. You will likely pay a higher rate at first Be careful with minimum contract terms. Unfamiliarity with epayment Options Three types of solutions: epayment costs paid for by customer (no cost to recipient) epayment costs paid for by recipient (little or no cost to customer) einvoice and epayment endto end solutions 4

5 epayment Options for Lawyers and Law Firms Banks and Credit Unions Direct Deposits from Businesses No Cost to Recipient (mostly) Interac epayment ( (e mail money transfer) No Cost to Recipient (mostly) 5

6 Non bank epayment providers (no cost to recipient) Costs Paid by Recipient Innovative and Popular Services 6

7 Innovative and Popular Services Innovative and Popular Services Alert.pay was acquired and merged into Payza. Innovative and Popular Services 7

8 Banks and Credit Unions Pay Employees and Vendors Wire (in Canada)/Swift (International) Transfers Merchant Services Accounts Moneris (RBC & BMO) TD Merchant Services (TD Canada Trust) ChasePaymentech (Scotiabank) Versapay PayPlus Monex Global Payments Canada (CIBC, National Bank) Dejardin Merchant Services (Coast Capital, VanCity) Recurring Payments ( EFT or ACH ) 8

9 Non bank epayment Solutions paid for by Recipient Full Featured Cloud based Online Electronic Invoicing and Payment Systems Legal Specific GoClio ( HoudiniESQ ( Integrates with QuickBooks Free for solo practitioners ii MyCase ( billing software) TimeSolv Legal ( ActionStep ( Integrates with Xero Rules to Consider 9

10 Rule 3 59 Accounting Records (2) A lawyer must maintain accounting records in.. (c) an electronic form that can readily be transferred to printed dform on demand. d (3) A lawyer must record transactions in accounting records in chronological order and in an easily traceable form. Trust Account Records s A lawyer must maintain at least the following trust account records: (a) a book of entry or data source showing all trust transactions, including the following: (i) the date and amount of receipt or disbursements of all funds; (ii) the source and form of the funds received; (iii) the identity of the client on whose behalf trust funds are received or disbursed Difficulties of e Payments They may obscure the identity of someone transmitting funds to a lawyer, particularly trust funds. 10

11 Recording Transactions 3 63 (2) A lawyer must record in his or her general account records all funds (a) received by the lawyer expressly on account of fees earned and billed or disbursements made by the day the funds are received, (3) A lawyer who receives funds to which subrule (2) applies must immediately deliver a bill or issue to the client a receipt for the funds received, containing sufficient particulars to identify the services performed and disbursements incurred. LSBC ebilling/epayment If the lawyer is rendering legal services over the web [the virtual practice of law] then it is most likely that they will also be receiving gpayments electronically. Accordingly a lawyer must comply with section (3) above regarding delivering a bill or receipt to the client if the delivery of the legal services is concurrent with payment Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) PCI DSS requires all merchants that collect, process, transmit or store cardholder data to uphold and maintain the data security standards set and managed by the PCI Security Standards Council You are not allowed to store Card Security Numbers unless you can meet safety criteria Very difficult to meet for all but the largest companies. 11

12 Conclusions Some solutions are more costly that others, But that is not the only criteria to use Selecting a solution or vendor can be quite complicated Difficult to compare vendors or solutions. Most legal practice management systems vendors are not very far down this path. If you want the right solution for your firm: Someone will invest significant time and energy figuring out the best solution for you Conclusions Legal practice management systems starting to integrate with merchant service account providers. Fine for accepting credit card payments by phone Doesn t tk take epayments to its logical conclusion. Better to be able to send an electronic invoice with a link to make an e-payment using the card of their choice. Hopefully, some practice management vendors will start to offer this ideal solution soon. Questions and Thanks! Gord Holly CA Certified Professional Bookkeeper Director beankeepers.com President of the Institute of ProfessionalBookkeepers of Canada ( IPBC ) [email protected] David J. Bilinsky BSc LLB MBA Practice Management Consultant & Staff Lawyer Law Society of British Columbia m [email protected] 2013 Holly & Bilinsky 12