Consumer and Business bill pay users now have the option to pay vendors by card in addition to paying directly from their bank account. When a user selects pay by card, they add a Visa or Mastercard through a secure tokenized flow. Card data is handled by our payments partner and is never stored by Autobooks or your institution.
A convenience fee applies to each card payment and is disclosed to the customer before they confirm the payment at setup. No additional risk is added to the financial institution, and no configuration is required.
What customers see
When a customer schedules a payment, they see an option to pay by card alongside their existing bank accounts.
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Customers can manage stored cards from the "I want to" menu or directly from the payment screen. Visa and MasterCard are accepted at this time. Card details are entered into a secure form, and no card numbers are stored within your system or within Autobooks (card data is stored at the payment processor level).
A 3% convenience fee is added to each card payment. The customer is presented with this fee at the time of payment setup, at the payment confirmation screen, and noted in the pending payments lists. The customer must check a fee acknowledgement box prior to finalizing payment setup.
Benefits for your financial institution
Autobooks absorbs all risk. If a card payment results in a chargeback, Autobooks covers it. Your settlement account is never debited for card transactions.
More flexibility for customers. Customers can make a payment now even when their checking account balance is tight, which can reduce missed or late payments.
Keeps activity inside digital banking. Customers pay by card inside of bill pay instead of going to the biller's site to make a payment. Less drop-off, more transaction data, and more engagement the financial institution gets to keep.
Full visibility. Card-funded transactions still appear in Payment Admin. Filter by card under the Origin to see all card payments.
Support. If a customer contacts you about a card payment issue, open a ticket with Autobooks. We handle all card-related support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does the financial institution need to configure anything?
A: No. Autobooks handles all configuration. Pay by Card activates automatically.
Q: Which cards are accepted?
A: Visa and Mastercard at this time.
Q: Is card data stored by Autobooks or the financial institution?
A: Neither. Card details are entered through a secure hosted form managed by our payments partner. Autobooks receives only a tokenized reference. No card numbers are stored by Autobooks or by the financial institution.
Q: Who pays the convenience fee?
A: The customer. A 3% fee is disclosed before the payment is confirmed, and nothing is charged without the customer's acknowledgement and approval of the fee.
Q: Does the financial institution carry any card processing risk?
A: No. All card payments are processed through Autobooks and our payments partner. If a card payment results in a chargeback, Autobooks absorbs the risk. The institution’s settlement account is never debited for card transactions.
Q: Does the financial institution earn anything when a customer pays by card?
A: When the customer pays with a card issued by your institution, the institution earns interchange revenue. When the customer pays with a card issued elsewhere, the institution still benefits from the payment activity staying inside digital banking.
Q: How is the card validated?
A: When a customer submits a card payment the card-issuing bank performs standard authorization checks, verifying the card is valid, that funds or credit are available, and approving or declining the transaction. This is the same standard validation process used across all merchant solutions/card payments.
Q: What support can we provide if a customer calls with a card payment issue?
A: Open a ticket with Autobooks. We handle all card-related support. Your team does not need visibility into the card processing side. Transactions still flow through Payment Admin as they do today. The only change is the funding source.
Q: Can reporting distinguish between an external card and a card issued by our institution?
A: Not currently.
Q: Will I see card transactions in Payment Admin?
A: Yes. Card-funded transactions still appear in Payment Admin as they do today. The only thing changing is the funding source.
Q: How is Pay by Card compliant with card brand regulations that restrict credit card payments toward loans?
A: The card programs used to process payments explicitly permit debt repayment transactions. To address the concern around using credit to pay down debt, category restrictions prompt customers to confirm their payment purpose. Customers also see the message: “Select an expense category above to pay with this card, or choose a different account to make this payment,” giving them a clear prompt to consider whether a credit card is the right payment method.