Author: Ingo Payments

Ingo Payments, a trusted leader in account funding and disbursements solutions defined as Money Mobility, announced its acquisition of Deposits Inc., a provider of modern banking software tools and infrastructure. This acquisition accelerates the launch of its Modern Money Stack, which will enable banks, fintechs and brands to transform money flows into full, feature-rich accounts that foster new relationships, revenue streams, and utility, delivered in a modern, modular, compliant and cost-efficient way. In 2023, 85% of new accounts were opened with digital-only banks, and 75% of traditional banks sought capabilities beyond their legacy core systems. Meanwhile, non-financial companies and fintechs are striving to embed financial products into their customer experiences. The surge in demand for embedded financial services, coupled with a challenging regulatory environment, highlights the critical need for modernized banking and payments infrastructure, purpose-built to safely power financial innovation. Founded 23 years ago in partnership with a traditional bank, Ingo operated twelve bank branches serving the underserved Latino population in Atlanta. This history is part of Ingo’s long track record of enabling financial institutions to innovate in financial services, compliance, and risk management. Today, leveraging its Money Mobility platform, the company manages operational compliance and processes billions of dollars in money flows annually for some of the country’s largest enterprises and banks across highly regulated industries, including banking, fintech, lending, insurance, trucking, hospitality, and gaming – all enhanced by its innovative fraud risk, underwriting and guarantee services. With its acquisition of Deposits, Ingo has created a modern, modular, bank-grade, end-to-end platform that connects money in and money out through its Modern Money Stack. This stack includes a processor-agnostic side core and the tools necessary for banks to confidently meet regulatory obligations, reduce third- and fourth-party risk, and offer modern financial services to their customers. Underpinned by a bank-grade ledger, it provides banks with visibility into real-time account balances and provides control over customer onboarding workflows, issued accounts, payments orchestration, velocity and fraud controls, sanctions screening and customer relationship management. For financial services innovators, it reduces operational complexity and cost, and offers no code, low code, API, SDK, SSO and custom SaaS integrations supporting an array of account issuing, money mobility and user experience features. “With Deposits Inc.’s innovative software tools and banking infrastructure now integrated into Ingo’s platform, we are uniquely positioned to offer a vertically integrated solution that combines issuing, compliance, risk, and money mobility capabilities under one roof,” said Joseph Akintolayo, CEO of Deposits Inc. “This partnership is the next logical step in our vision of empowering institutions with the technology they need to not just manage transactions, but to create meaningful, lasting relationships with their customers.” “The future of payments is about turning transactions into relationships that impact overall economics, money flows and customer experiences. The launch of our Modern Money Stack enables banks and enterprises to manage complex, multilayered payment flows and, optionally, turn a payment into an account or wallet–powered by our proprietary money mobility capabilities–that becomes the basis for a relationship and a broader ecosystem, adding value to both the issuer and the account holder,” said Drew Edwards, CEO of Ingo. Ingo Payments’ acquisition of Deposits Inc. closed on August 30, 2024. Waller Helms Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to Deposits, Inc. About Ingo Payments Ingo Payments, an Ingo Money Inc. brand, enables banks, fintechs and brands to build, launch, and scale innovative financial experiences through its bank-grade, compliance-first end-to-end platform, complete with money mobility capabilities built on top of a modern money stack, that provides the foundation for account funding, mobile deposits, payouts, digital wallets, bank account creation, card issuing, PFM, and rewards solutions across a wide range of industries and use cases. By vertically integrating issuing, payment processing, and risk underwriting services, we help clients reduce third-party risk, operational complexity, and cost, while accelerating time to market. Learn more at ingopayments.com. About Deposits Inc. Deposits Inc., founded by Joseph Akintolayo in 2021, is a pioneering fintech company providing modern banking software and infrastructure. With a mission to democratize access to modern financial services, Deposits Inc. offers a suite of modular, API-driven solutions that enables banks and organizations of all sizes to rapidly build and deploy customized financial products and deliver exceptional financial experiences through its flexible, scalable technology platform. For more information, visit deposits.inc.

The digital payments landscape is competitive. And while the industry standard is to boast about technological advances that set a company apart, customer support can be just as important when it comes to creating a positive client experience that enables customer success. Here at Ingo Payments, customer support is a central pillar of what we do. Our client service and strategic partnerships teams consistently work to deliver exceptional service that our clients rely on and appreciate, from implementation to account management and beyond. Here’s a closer look at a few reasons why. Quick Response Time One of the key strengths of Ingo’s customer support team is their quick-draw average response time. The team reports a response time for all support requests within an average of 32 minutes and 7 seconds, significantly outperforming our published Service Level Agreement (SLA) of a 2-hour response time. This swift response time is not just a statistic; it translates into real customer satisfaction. An impressive 62.96% of the time, client inquiries are resolved with the first response, underscoring the effectiveness of our support team’s initial engagement. Furthermore, the team maintains a first response SLA metric of 93.16%, showcasing their consistency in delivering timely support. Comprehensive Issue Resolution The range of issues handled by the Ingo support team is extensive, from straightforward proof of payment requests to complex payment recovery cases that can take up to 60 days. Despite the varied and sometimes intricate nature of these tasks, the team boasts an average resolution time of just over 24 hours. This efficiency in resolving issues, regardless of their complexity, speaks volumes about the team’s expertise and dedication to customer satisfaction. High-Level Collaboration and Integration Ingo’s support structure is uniquely integrated with our implementation team, ensuring seamless communication and knowledge transfer. In other words, the people who handle implementation also oversee support, so that our team is already familiar with a client’s specific use cases and needs when a support ticket comes in. This holistic approach guarantees that customers receive consistent and informed support from the integration phase through ongoing assistance. This model allows for a smooth transition and continued high-level support, reinforcing the strong relationships we build with our clients, and allowing for fluid communication between integration, support and account management. Differentiated Post-Implementation Support Ingo’s commitment to ongoing support is a significant differentiator in the market. Rather than limiting their engagement post-implementation, Ingo maintains a dedicated account management team that remains actively involved with clients, fostering long-term loyalty. To ensure continued engagement, the team sets monthly support calls and quarterly business reviews with clients to review operational issues, discuss business performance, and find new opportunities to improve our clients’ experiences. In Conclusion At Ingo Payments, our customer support team is not just about resolving issues; it’s about creating a seamless and positive experience for our clients. Through quick response times, operational efficiency, comprehensive issue resolution, high-level collaboration, quarterly business reviews, and a personalized approach, the team exemplifies what exceptional customer support should be. In an industry where customer satisfaction can make or break a business relationship, Ingo’s support team consistently proves that they are a cut above the rest, making us a trusted partner for our clients.

It seems like these days every transactional business is looking for a way to simplify and accelerate payouts and disbursements. Many companies are turning to payout orchestration providers like Ingo Payments, to handle every facet of a disbursement, so they can essentially “fire and forget it”.  While Ingo Payments offers a host of embedded payments technologies, we pride ourselves on the comprehensive scale of our DigitalPay SaaS platform. Simply put, our DigitalPay SaaS platform is an end-to-end payments platform that seamlessly manages customer digital engagement and payouts orchestration across the disbursements lifecycle, from initiation to settlement, while ensuring security, compliance, and risk management, in a custom-branded experience. But what are the components of our DigitalPay SaaS solution? And what makes it a superior choice for a company looking to implement digital disbursements without the hassles of building internal infrastructure or managing risk and compliance?  This article will walk you through the benefits of a full-scale solution and discuss what makes Ingo Payments a top choice that can make payouts easier for your business, no matter what industry you operate in. (For more information on how Ingo can work to create a bespoke payment solution for your specific industry needs, check this out.) What Do We Mean By “Full-Scale”?  Launched in 2019, Ingo’s full-scale platform supports both single- and multi-party ad hoc and recurring disbursements and P2P payments. It offers configurable, dynamic workflows, as well as comprehensive risk and compliance management.  All this comes with a customizable look, tone, feel, and voice for your unique business. Our platform can be configured for both small-scale individual clients and large, enterprise payment systems. In other words, whatever your needs, the DigitalPay SaaS platform will fit your business.  But let’s break down our platform’s key features and how they might help a business scale.   A Customizable Digital Payment Center platform  Building out an interface for a digital payments disbursement center is no small task: it involves extensive development work as well as UX design to support a wide array of workflows and user journeys. It also requires complex back-end integrations with both existing payment rails and external partners. Ingo makes the whole process simple by offering a proprietary digital payouts solution that is easily configured and fully brandable, incorporating your existing website or mobile app interface’s look, tone, and feel and your brand voice.  Robust Payments Processing Our SaaS platform offers broad payment choice and reaches over 4.5B accounts, including bank accounts by debit card, RTP and ACH, credit cards, digital wallets, even instant digital accounts and cards providing disbursements recipients with unmatched choice—which leads to increased customer satisfaction.  That’s the Ingo difference. Our proprietary payments network is designed to provide redundancy, automated failover, and least-cost routing. This network was created based on decades of experience and long-established integrations with payment networks and top-tier financial institutions. Our clients can rely on these direct integrations to ensure that their money reliably goes to the right place at the least cost, every time.  Risk Management/Compliance: User Authentication and Account Verification When it comes to payment processing, risk management, and compliance are vital aspects of ensuring that money ends up in the right place. Good risk management begins with user authentication. Ingo provides a variety of authentication capabilities, including knowledge-based, multi-factor, one-time authorization and single sign-on integration options. Authentication methods may vary by use case and according to custom risk rules. Ingo’s DigitalPay SaaS solution boasts multiple customer payment options, which means that behind the scenes verification (name, address, account number, codes and routing numbers, etc.) and comparison of data sets between client and customer is a vital aspect of keeping money secure.  The Ingo solution also includes counter-verification through payment network or third-party services which matches up data and ensures that an account is in good standing in terms of ownership as well as status before money is moved, reducing payment failures and transactional risk.  Different companies have different needs associated with risk, often depending on the amount of funds involved in day-to-day transactions. The Ingo solution allows individual clients to determine what they want their risk rules to be, and how robust their risk management engine is. We then configure the platform to balance seamless/frictionless transactions with tighter, more customer-intensive verification.  Payment Reconciliation Our payment orchestration system keeps track of all transactions to ensure that the amounts settled match the amounts processed. Discrepancies are flagged for further inspection in our reconciliation platform, which works to ensure accuracy in every transaction. Ingo also provides daily line-item reconciliation reporting and aggregated treasury account settlement to ensure maximum security and clear visibility into your numbers.  Reporting and Analytics Speaking of data, Ingo’s SaaS solution boasts comprehensive reporting and analytics tools that provide insights into transaction volume, metrics associated with your customer journey and behavior (from risk screening to payment type mix), and other key performance indicators. This data helps businesses optimize payment strategies and identify areas for improvement, ultimately upping client satisfaction and reducing friction.  In addition, SaaS clients not only get financial business performance, but also trend reporting and industry benchmarks to get you the insights you need to guide business decision-making. Data Security Ingo maintains data security and integrity meeting data encryption standards for non-public personal information and financial data. This means maintaining compliance with SSAE SOC 1, Type 2, SOC 2, Type 2, and PCI DSS Level 1 security standards, which is considered the most robust in each category. Unparalleled Client Servicing and Support Throughout the entire process, our DigitalPay SaaS platform prioritizes a seamless and frictionless client experience, minimizing payment errors, delays, and disruptions. We provide our clients with end-to-end operational support for payment disputes, including proof of payment evidence and clawback requests.  Ingo also conducts quarterly business reviews to optimize your disbursements program, receive feedback and inform future product offerings. In Conclusion Ingo Payments’ full-scale, DigitalPay SaaS platform is a best-in-class all-in-one solution for building and scaling digital disbursements capabilities for companies across a wide spectrum of payout needs. Ingo provides infrastructure and support to make adding disbursements a breeze for businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to enterprise-level businesses.  To learn more about how the Ingo SaaS platform might work for your specific business needs, contact a specialist here.

Technology within the travel and tourism industry is evolving rapidly, driven by innovations that enhance customer experience and operational efficiency. One area that still faces significant challenges is the speed and transparency of financial transactions. From customer refunds to employee payouts and vendor payments, the traditional methods in place, such as cash tips, ACH transfers, and even paper checks, are slow and inefficient. This creates a need for better, more instant payout solutions, and an opportunity for the industry to transform its financial operations with cutting-edge technology. The Challenges of Traditional Payment Methods: Popular Use Cases Before diving into ways in which digital payouts can level-up a businesses’ approach to payments, let’s walk through some of the most popular use cases in which outdated payment methods are creating bottlenecks or inefficiencies. Customer Refunds Travel industry customers often need to be refunded for charges or reservation holds on their accounts. Currently, the refund process uses an ACH transfer and can take anywhere from 5-7 business days, and in some cases, up to two weeks, leading to customer frustration and lowering overall satisfaction. This delay is exacerbated if the customer’s card on file has expired, necessitating a manual check to be mailed, which is both time-consuming and risky. Employee Tip Payouts The reliance on ACH payments and scheduled payroll dates for employee tip payouts is another frustrating bottleneck. As customers are opting for cashless tipping and can now pre-pay tips, tip on site, or send a tip from a targeted follow up email, these electronic methods can lead to payout delays, especially for tipped employees who once relied on day-of cash payments. Vendor Payments It is not uncommon for tour operators to manually deliver checks to hotels to pay commissions. When reservation platforms handle these transfers, they often charge facilitation fees as high as 20% of the ticket price. Instant payment solutions can automate and expedite these transactions, reducing costs and eliminating unnecessary delays. The Opportunity of Instant Payments Considering the delays and inefficiencies of traditional payment methods, instant payments present a real opportunity revitalize and revolutionize payments within the hospitality space, leading to a variety of benefits and applications: Enhanced Customer Experience By integrating instant payout solutions, businesses industry-wide can significantly improve the customer experience, whether they’re working with tipped employees, customers, or vendors. Across all these cases, payments can be processed and delivered in minutes rather than days, alleviating frustration and enhancing loyalty. Improved Operational Efficiency For employees, instant tip payouts mean they receive their earnings immediately, which is especially beneficial for those who live paycheck to paycheck. This not only improves employee satisfaction but also streamlines payroll operations. In fact, companies like Kickfin, in the tipping space, have already implemented instant payouts. Cost-Effective Vendor Payments Automating vendor payments through instant payout solutions can save time and reduce costs. Ingo Payments, for example, facilitates instant, automated payments directly to vendors, eliminating the need for manual check delivery and high facilitation fees. This results in more efficient financial operations and better relationships with vendors. Streamlined Travel Insurance Payouts Travel insurance payouts can also benefit from instant disbursement services. Quick, reliable payouts mean customers receive their insurance funds without unnecessary delays, enhancing their overall experience and trust in the service and creating more opportunities to grow customer loyalty. Boosting Customer Incentives and Rewards Programs Instant payments can boost the effectiveness of loyalty programs and promotional incentives, such as: Loyalty Programs: Funds for loyalty programs or customer rewards can be disbursed instantly, making them readily available for future bookings and enhancing customer engagement. Promotional Incentives: Instant promotional incentives or cashback offers can be credited directly to customers’ accounts, encouraging repeat bookings and increasing customer satisfaction. For the above use cases and more, Ingo Payments offers a PCI-compliant iFrame solution to securely capture and process the payment information, all within a travel operator’s own digital experience. Ingo also offers a fully outsourced payment experience with our white-labeled customer engagement platform. In the full-service scenario, Ingo handles customer notifications on the client’s behalf when a disbursement is ready. The recipient is brought into a secure portal to authenticate, provide their current payment information and choose to receive funds instantly to any account they choose. These integration options ensure that travel tech companies have the flexibility they need to leverage the power of instant payouts. Conclusion The travel and tourism industries stand to gain significantly from the adoption of a suite of instant payout solutions. By addressing the inefficiencies of current payment methods, the industry can enhance financial transparency and speed, benefiting customers, employees, and vendors alike. Many companies throughout the hospitality industry, including companies like 7Shifts, are leading the charge by offering digital payout solutions. Ingo Payments offers the technology and expertise to facilitate these changes, providing a streamlined, efficient solution for the industry’s financial operations, proving that integrating instant payments is not just an upgrade—it’s a transformation that can lead to greater efficiency, lower costs, and higher satisfaction across all stakeholders. As the travel and tourism industries continue to evolve, embracing instant payouts will be a key to staying competitive and delivering superior service across the board.

The number of US consumers using instant disbursements is increasing as we recognize the incredible speed and convenience of digital payment options. Our report “Measuring Consumers’ Growing Interest in Instant Payouts,” built in collaboration with PYMNTS Intelligence, sheds light on this trend, leveraging insights gathered from a survey of over 3,800 U.S. consumers to provide insights that we hope will help guide companies towards making adoption of instant a reality. Here are our top five takeaways from the report on meeting consumer demand for money mobility with instant, digital disbursements, and download the whole report here. 1. Consumers prefer Instant Payments Nearly 60% of United States consumers received disbursements from corporate and/or government agencies in the last 12 months. While this figure is marginally lower than it was at this time last year (due to a modest decline in government-issued disbursements) consumers are receiving more disbursements overall—especially instant disbursements, and the trend up is continuing as we get farther into 2024. 2. Lack of Availability Limits Adoption When provided with the option, consumers favor instant digital payments over slower alternatives. The data backs this up: 77% of consumers expressed a distinct preference for instant payments when given the option. However, a lack of widespread availability was cited as a significant hurdle in the widespread adoption of instant payment methods. More availability equals more adoption, which means that the quicker businesses are on the draw, the more likely they are to gain or satisfy customers through an instant payment offering. 3. Willingness to Pay for Instant Payments is Trending Up Convenience and speed are important to consumers and represent a lucrative financial possibility. Our study shows that consumers are increasingly willing to pay a fee for instant payment capability—29% of consumers would be willing to pay a fee to receive payment instantly, up from 26% in the previous year. Millennials, Generation Z and higher-income earners are some of the demographics most inclined to pay for instant payouts, which means this number is likely to grow as younger consumers gain a larger percentage of market share. 4. Security Concerns Are Lessening Security concerns have historically posed a significant barrier to the widespread adoption of instant payments. Historically, though quick and convenient, these types of payments have had a reputation for being susceptible to fraud and identity theft. However, as market technology around security becomes more sophisticated, and more of an emphasis is put on secure transactions, the data suggests a positive shift in consumer sentiment. Specifically, there has been a decrease in the number of consumers expressing data security apprehensions, with 17% fewer individuals citing security risk as a top reason for not choosing instant payouts compared to the peak in 2021. This trend suggests growing confidence in the safety and security of instant payment methods. Conclusion: Digital Payment Adoption is One the Rise As consumer preferences continue to evolve, businesses and financial institutions must adapt to meet the growing chorus of demand for instant payments. Understanding the trends and insights outlined in the report can help inform the why behind this transition to instant, as well as allow for real-time tracking of adoption across different industries. But the bottom line is simple: staying competitive in today’s dynamic market landscape increasingly requires instant payment options. By aligning efforts to match consumer expectations, issuers can enhance customer satisfaction, retain existing customers, and attract new ones. To delve deeper into the findings, find the full report here to explore solutions for meeting consumer demand for instant payouts, connect with an Ingo Payments expert.

Ad hoc payments, which are defined as any payment outside of regular invoicing and payroll processes, have long been a strain for enterprise companies to execute for the small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that rely on them. But if your business is interested in cutting the costs of paper checks and delivering a better customer experience, look no further. The rise of real-time payment methods has created an opportunity to streamline and expedite the delivery of ad hoc transactions like never before. Key findings from “Meeting the Demand for Instant Ad Hoc Payments,” our comprehensive report written in partnership with PYMNTS Intelligence, sheds light on this evolving trend towards instant and disbursement choice for ad hoc payments, exploring the use of instant payments for disbursements to SMBs and consumers across five industry segments: hospitality, gaming, trucking/transportation, gig economy and property management. Read on to learn some key stats and takeaways from the report and download the full report here. The Big Picture: Ad Hoc Payments are on the Rise As the market evolves and the demand for gig/ad hoc work continues to expand across industries, senders report that ad hoc accounts payable (AP) payments represent 35% of their overall ad hoc payment transactions. This represents an overall increase from past years. Speaking to specific industries: gig economy companies (such as DoorDash, Instacart, and Uber) make an above-average share of these payments, at 39%, with gaming companies following closely behind, at 37%. The takeaway here is clear: keep your eyes peeled for a further increase in demand for instant in the ad hoc payments space. Instant Payment Offerings Make a Difference to Consumers Instant is on the rise: according to our survey, payers utilized instant rails for over one-third of payments, marking a significant 28% increase in the last quarter alone. Moreover, the share of senders offering instant payment options has increased, with 32% providing instant payments alongside other options, and 12% exclusively utilizing instant methods. Instant methods utilized for ad hoc payments vary by firm size. Among all enterprise senders, push-to-card stands out as the most popular method, with 19% of enterprises opting to send ad hoc payments via debit card transactions to bank accounts. Zelle ranks second, at 8.9%, followed by payment to a bank account via the RTP Network at 4.7%. Larger payers show a preference for real-time payments, indicating a measurable shift in instant payment preferences as sender size increases. But no matter what size the company is, the trend is towards increased offerings of instant payment options across the market, and these increases being met with enthusiasm by consumers. Cost Concerns Are Diminishing While costs have historically been a barrier to instant payment adoption amount senders, these concerns appear to be dwindling. Only 9.4% of senders cite cost as their top challenge in ad hoc instant payment adoption, down from 22% in the previous quarter. Instead, factors like difficulty correcting payment errors, money security concerns, and legacy IT infrastructure have come to pose greater challenges. These factors are likely to become less of a concern as enhanced security features and updated software make their way into the market. Automation Drives Adoption in Instant Businesses like making money movement easy. As such, there is a clear correlation between the automation of ad hoc processes and the adoption of instant payment methods, with gaming and gig economy senders, at 73% and 62%, respectively, the most likely to have automated processes for ad hoc payment systems. As more enterprises automate their ad hoc workflows, reducing the barrier to entry and capitalizing on a lesser need for increased headcount and processes, interest in offering instant payment options is expected to rise. Ad Hoc Payments Are Growing, Grow with Them The ad hoc payment landscape is evolving and trending upward, with more enterprise senders embracing instant payments to tackle the issue of delayed paper check payments and strengthen business ties with vendors. This has real market consequence: with that growth it will become more and more apparent that senders who fail to adopt instant payments run the risk of losing business relationships with SMBs. In fact, our report shows that nearly half of them would only do business in future with senders who offer instant payments. To dive deeper into the insights of the study and explore strategies for meeting the demand for ad hoc payments, download our full report today, or contact an Ingo Payments representative to learn how we can revolutionize your ad hoc payment solution.