How Ingo Delivers Financial Innovation with Full-Service Embedded Finance

How Ingo Delivers Financial Innovation with Full-Service Embedded Finance

September 25, 2024 by Joseph Akintolayo

Financial institutions have long relied on antiquated, legacy core infrastructure, hindering their ability to innovate. Meanwhile, tech companies have struggled with complicated payments orchestration that lacks compliance and leaves them open to fraud. As embedded finance has emerged to address these challenges, one thing is clear: In today’s challenging regulatory environment, it’s critical for businesses to rely on purpose-built solutions that safely power financial innovation.  With Ingo’s acquisition of Deposits Inc., a modern banking software and infrastructure platform, we’ve developed a full-service embedded finance platform with minimal dependency on third-party providers. Our money mobility capabilities, combined with cutting-edge technology, deliver a “modern money stack” backed by Ingo’s deep history and focus on regulatory compliance. With Ingo Payments, our clients can confidently create feature-rich, account-based relationships that align with evolving consumer expectations. Key Features of Our Embedded Finance Platform Instant Money Movement: Leverage industry-leading instant payment capabilities for faster, more efficient transactions. Cloud-Native Banking Infrastructure: Utilize our modern, scalable banking platform to create and manage financial products with ease. Comprehensive Compliance: Benefit from our proven expertise with regulatory compliance, ensuring your operations meet the highest standards of security and legality. Advanced API Integration: Access our full suite of financial services through easy-to-implement APIs, allowing for seamless integration into your existing systems. What This Means for Our Clients Money Mobility + : By combining instant money movement with cloud-based banking and ledgering capabilities, we’re creating a powerhouse of financial technology. Broader Service Offering: Our clients will now have access to a more comprehensive suite of financial products and services, all through a single, integrated platform. Accelerated Innovation: Our no-code and low-code connectivity options lead to faster development and time to value.  Improved User Experience: Expect smoother, more intuitive interfaces and seamless integration of financial services into your existing products. Ingo Payments is at the forefront of the embedded finance revolution. We’re excited to work with you to explore new possibilities. Get Started Today Ready to experience the power of our platform? Contact our sales team to learn how we can transform your financial offerings.

Why Exceptional Customer Support Matters and How Ingo Payments Delivers

September 3, 2024 by Jessica Cole

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.

Payments Orchestration in the Era of Money Mobility

February 20, 2024 by Lisa McFarland

At Ingo, we care about payments orchestration. And that’s no surprise, considering orchestration is both a vital aspect of the payments landscape, and one that’s often overlooked. But what is payments orchestration, and why does it matter? At it’s most simple: payments orchestration involves the management and coordination of all the disparate parts of a payment—from start to finish, across external vendors, internal systems and financial institutions. Traditionally, this payments orchestration has referred to merchant acquisition or an inbound consumer payment and covers payment authorization, transaction routing and settlement. But the rise in popularity of increased money mobility and instant access, as well as an ever-evolving digital fraud landscape, has dramatically changed the dynamics of payments orchestration. The expectation that money can flow seamlessly into and out of any account a consumer chooses, instantly and safely, now requires payment orchestrators to manage both inbound and outbound money transfers. This is a level of orchestration that few third-party providers can reach and that fewer still have achieved successfully and at scale. Payments Orchestration 101 Payments orchestration is influenced by many factors and varying perspectives. It’s. more than a simple payments process—its function varies widely depending on the company, its industry, and the complexity of its payment operations. At its core, a payment relies on a processor to deliver funds to an account number. As the originator, a company issues a directive to “pay this account” and the processor obliges. But it would be wrong to assume that an organization can simply contract with a processor like Stripe and begin issuing payments. The value of a well thought-out payment orchestration system quickly becomes apparent when chargebacks start and losses mount—with poor visibility into what’s going on, and poor organization to keep everything running smoothly. This is because a processor does not handle all the many ancillary (yet vital) operations that go into making a payment. The processor does not confirm if an account number is valid and active, that an account is owned by the intended party, or that the account in question has been screened for sanctions. Nor do they tokenize the account for future payments, creating a redundancy in the system which can cause slower payments. These orchestration functions are normally performed by separate vendors or partners that are managed by the payments’ orchestrator. In the past, many companies have served as their own payments orchestrators. But rising complexity and the demands of money mobility are making this ever more challenging, as we have articulated. So, with mounting complexity and poor internal mechanism in place, what does a business do to ensure smooth payment orchestration at every step of the process? Well, that’s where we come in. Ingo Payments is the only external payments orchestrator handling both inbound and outbound money flows. Payments Orchestration for Money Mobility As the pioneer in push payments and the leader in money mobility solutions, Ingo Payments is practiced at the art of payments orchestration. Through a single API integration, we can handle every component of a payment on a client’s behalf and configure these services to meet a client’s business and digital workflow processes and desired customer experience. From the moment a company supplies payment instructions, we go to work. The Ingo system first verifies the account is valid, in good standing and passes account verification screenings. We then report back on this status and, if valid, tokenize the account so companies can send future payments without having to store personally identifiable customer account information, relieving them of PCI-level security burdens. Once the sender issues an actual payment process request using the token information and transaction amount, Ingo initiates all the required regulatory screening. These include all relevant anti-money laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) requirements to ensure recipients are not subject to sanctions or other concerns. If the recipient account clears all the checks, Ingo then issues the payment. If there is a hit on the screening, the platform escalates the concern to the Ingo Risk Center for further review. Ingo Payments also offers clients a unique guarantee against losses. Our add-on transaction risk underwriting and transaction guarantee services allow clients to breathe easy knowing they will enjoy exceptionally high approval rates without being on the hook for fraudulent payments or other risk-related issues. Saving Time and Money with Ingo Payments Ingo Payment’s end-to-end payments orchestration capability means clients can “fire and forget it.” We handle every facet of a payment in an in-line flow. Our platform can plug into external vendors, and even be customized to allow certain functions to be handled in-house (or by another trusted partner if preferred). Without Ingo, clients would have to either integrate separately to different vendors for account verification, sanctions screening, tokenization, processing and more, or integrate to a processor that might offer some of these third-party services. In both cases, a client would still need to build its own payments orchestration system and processes. This DIY approach means more vendors and agreements, more technical integration, more complex technical development, and, ultimately, more incremental expense. With Ingo, clients get the advantage of a simplified integration with third-party services configured and managed synchronously by Ingo behind a reduced API call set, significantly reducing development complexity. Our clients also benefit from the halo effect of our cumulative volume and pricing, as well as the redundancy necessary to protect against downtime due to third-party vendor technical issues and outages. Ultimately, the need for payments orchestration is taking on greater urgency and complexity in the era of Money Mobility. Ingo Money stands alone as a trusted, proven orchestration partner that can deliver on the promises of seamlessness and security at scale, providing companies with time and cost savings and—perhaps more importantly—total peace of mind.

More from the Ingo blog

Reinventing Account Funding with Ingo Payments & Sardine: From Slow and Risky to Instant and Safe

Reinventing Account Funding with Ingo Payments & Sardine: From Slow and Risky to Instant and Safe

November 6, 2024 By Ingo Payments

In today’s highly competitive financial landscape, acquiring new customers is no longer the only hurdle for account issuers. The real challenge lies in making newly opened accounts useful and accessible from the moment of acquisition.   While customer onboarding is often instantaneous, funding remains a bottleneck, with slow and risky methods like checks and ACH causing days-long delays in funds availability. As a result, a large percentage of accounts are opened but never funded, significantly driving up acquisition costs without delivering value. This disconnect between account creation and funding leaves issuers struggling to activate and engage new customers, ultimately missing opportunities to maximize the potential of newly acquired accounts.  However, a broader transformation of account funding is underway. Innovations like digital transfers from bank accounts, debit card transactions, and check deposits are shifting the process from slow and risky to instant and risk-managed, making account funding faster, safer, and more reliable for both issuers and their customers.  Instant Access: Innovations in Digital Account Funding  The modern fintech era has introduced instant account funding, enabling customers to move money into their accounts in real time, using digital payment rails to provide immediate access to deposited funds. Customers can now instantly fund their accounts via digital transfers from bank accounts, cards, or check transactions, making account creation not only fast but immediately useful.   Among the newer innovations is instant card funding using Account Funding Transactions (AFT). These transactions, initiated by the cardholder’s bank via Visa Direct or Mastercard Send, allow customers to pull funds directly from a debit or credit card into a new or existing account. Although AFT is still relatively new, its growing adoption is transforming how funds move between accounts, offering faster, more efficient transfers for both issuers and customers.  The Challenges: Fraud Risks in Digital Account Funding  While digital account funding brings significant benefits, it also comes with risks—most notably fraud. Instant transactions provide less time for issuers to review and mitigate risks, while ACH transfers impose risks due to lengthy return cycles. Types of fraud associated with digital account funding include:  Friendly Fraud: This occurs when a consumer initiates a legitimate transaction to fund their account—such as using a debit or credit card to transfer money into their fintech or bank account—but later disputes the transaction with their card issuer, claiming it was unauthorized or a mistake.  Account Takeover Fraud: Hackers gain access to a consumer’s account and initiate unauthorized transactions.  Card-not-present (CNP) Fraud: In digital card transactions where the physical card isn’t presented, fraudsters use stolen card details to fund accounts instantly.  In the U.S., consumers may have up to 90 days to dispute an unauthorized electronic funds transfer. This consumer protection, while crucial, adds significant risk for issuers. Even after funds have been made available instantly, consumers can file a dispute, forcing issuers to investigate the claim and potentially refund the money. This can lead to losses for account issuers, especially in cases of friendly fraud where the transaction was initially authorized by the consumer.  The Impact of Fraud on Account Issuers  Due to the heightened risk of fraud, many issuers have scaled back or discontinued their offerings of instant funding. The potential for significant losses, coupled with regulatory obligations to address disputes, has made it a risky endeavor. As a result, despite strong consumer demand for fast and accessible funds, some issuers have been cautious in adopting or expanding their instant funding solutions.  Ingo & Sardine’s Risk-Managed Solutions for Instant Card & ACH Funding  To address the challenges posed by account funding fraud, Ingo has partnered with Sardine to offer instant account funding via card and ACH, jointly providing the technology, processing, and protection necessary to drive account usage. This unique offering leverages our collective expertise and databases to manage risk across our network of clients and customers.  Our solution combines the power of Ingo’s and Sardine’s extensive network-wide fraud data and AI-driven analysis to generate real-time risk scores. These scores empower issuers to make fast, informed decisions on funding eligibility, while minimizing exposure to fraudulent transactions. Together, our advanced risk models continuously evaluate transactions for fraud indicators, providing issuers with immediate insights into the risk profile of each transaction.  Additionally, Ingo’s dedicated support team monitors all transactions in real time, adding another layer of protection against instant fraud. This live risk management allows us to catch fraudulent activities as they happen, further safeguarding businesses from potential threats.  By identifying fraud risks, protecting against them, and locking out bad actors, Ingo and Sardine ensure a safer, more efficient account funding process that benefits both issuers and customers.  Zero-Liability Fraud Guarantee  Beyond fraud detection and risk scoring, our offering includes an optional zero-liability fraud guarantee. Account issuers who choose this guarantee option are fully protected from any financial losses caused by fraudulent chargebacks or disputes. This means that if a fraudulent transaction bypasses our detection systems, we take full responsibility for the chargeback, relieving issuers of any liability. This level of protection is rare in the market and offers peace of mind for issuers looking to offer account funding without the risk.  With Ingo Payments and Sardine, account issuers can offer faster, safer, and more secure account funding options. For Fintechs, our solutions mitigate risk while enabling exceptional customer experiences. For traditional banks, they provide seamless onboarding and instant funding, keeping them relevant in the digital landscape. These innovations enhance services and protect issuers’ bottom line in a competitive market. Learn More   Looking for account funding solutions with comprehensive risk management and guaranteed fraud protection across all funding sources—card transfers, bank transfers, and checks? Ingo Payments can help.
Ingo Payments and Sardine Launch Risk-Managed Instant Account Funding, Backed by Zero-Liability Fraud Guarantee

Ingo Payments and Sardine Launch Risk-Managed Instant Account Funding, Backed by Zero-Liability Fraud Guarantee 

October 23, 2024 By Ingo Payments

ALPHARETTA, Ga.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Ingo Payments, a trusted leader in account funding and disbursement solutions defined as money mobility, and Sardine, the leader in real-time fraud prevention, today announced a new partnership to offer instant, risk-managed account funding via card and ACH, backed by an optional zero-liability fraud guarantee. This, combined with Ingo’s industry-leading inbound check funding solution, provides issuers with a complete solution for fast, secure account funding across all three critical form factors: check, card, and ACH.  In today’s financial landscape, issuers face the dual challenge of preventing fraud while ensuring that new accounts are funded and valuable from the start. Despite streamlined onboarding, traditional funding methods such as ACH are slow and prone to risk, often resulting in unfunded accounts and higher acquisition costs. Card funding, while faster, has been found to be highly vulnerable to fraud, causing many issuers to scale back or discontinue these options.  The Ingo Payments and Sardine partnership addresses these issues by offering instant card and ACH funding, supported by real-time risk management that detects and prevents fraud before it impacts issuers. By combining Ingo’s and Sardine’s extensive network-wide fraud data and AI-driven analysis, the solution generates real-time risk scores, empowering issuers to make fast, informed decisions on funding eligibility while minimizing exposure to fraudulent transactions. The optional zero-liability fraud guarantee ensures issuers are fully protected from any fraud-related losses.  “With this partnership, we’re offering issuers more than just fast funding,” said Drew Edwards, CEO of Ingo Payments. “By combining our collective expertise, fraud data, and technology, we’re integrating real-time risk management with a zero-liability fraud guarantee, delivering a secure solution that enables issuers to engage customers instantly, mitigating concerns over fraud-related losses.”   “At Sardine, we make sure fraud prevention happens before a transaction is even completed, using real-time data and machine learning to stay ahead of the game. This partnership gives issuers a solution that not only speeds up funding but adapts intelligently to new fraud tactics, so they can move fast without worrying about risk,” said Soups Ranjan, CEO of Sardine.  Ingo Payments and Sardine help issuers overcome the challenge of unfunded accounts, reduce acquisition costs, and drive greater customer engagement by offering instant, secure, and risk-managed funding options from day one. The solution is now commercially available.  About Ingo Payments  Ingo Payments enables banks, fintechs, and enterprise brands to deliver innovative financial experiences through its bank-grade, compliance-first embedded finance platform. Complete with money mobility capabilities, built on top of a modern money stack, the platform provides the foundation for account funding, transfers, 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 costs, while accelerating time to market. Learn more at ingopayments.com.  About Sardine  Sardine’s real-time fraud prevention and compliance platform is trusted by leading companies in financial services and ecommerce. We apply device intelligence, behavior biometrics, and machine learning to protect every step of the customer journey – from onboarding to payments and logins. Sardine enables hundreds of organizations worldwide to rapidly detect and stop identity fraud, payment fraud, account takeovers, social engineering scams, fraud rings, money laundering and advanced bot attacks. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Visa, Experian, FIS, and Google Ventures, Sardine is a proven leader in the fight against financial crime. Learn more at sardine.ai.  Contact Sarah Higginssarah@ingopayments.com
The Ongoing Battle Against Check Fraud: How Ingo is Staying Ahead

The Ongoing Battle Against Check Fraud: How Ingo is Staying Ahead

October 4, 2024 By Bill Roese

In an age dominated by digital payments, check fraud may seem like a relic of the past. But check fraud continues to plague both businesses and consumers alike. In 2023 alone, check fraud amounted to approximately $20 billion in losses—with the numbers expected to surpass $25 billion this year, signaling a growing, not diminishing, challenge for the industry. The Nationwide Surge in Check Fraud The COVID-19 pandemic reignited interest in check fraud as a lucrative crime, when U.S. federal and state governments issued roughly 76 million stimulus relief checks to eligible Americans. While checks made up only a small percentage of total stimulus payments, it was enough to signal the untapped potential for paper check fraud. According to the Federal Reserve, since that time, check fraud has increased by an astonishing 385%. Even more concerning, a recent study conducted by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) revealed that of the 15,417 Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) filed over the past six months, an alarming $688 million were linked to mail theft. Fraudsters have even begun to exploit social media platforms such as TikTok, with users posting videos that claimed to reveal a “glitch” in Chase Bank’s ATM system—only to discover it was a classic case of check fraud involving the deposit of fake checks. Ingo Mobile Check Cashing – Guaranteed Protection for Clients and Consumers For over 23 years, Ingo Money has been at the forefront of check deposit risk management, providing turn-key check-cashing solutions for leading financial brands such as Regions Bank, ADP, GreenDot, and Incomm, as well as directly through our proprietary Ingo Money App. Since launching our mobile check-cashing solutions 11 years ago, we’ve remained committed to providing a non-revocable funds guarantee. This means that once a check is accepted and cashed using our service, the money stays with the check casher, even if the check is returned or later found to be fraudulent. Despite the nationwide surge in check fraud, Ingo has kept its check fraud losses stable. Even during the peak of the pandemic, when fraudulent activity surged across industries, Ingo did not experience an increase in losses. While fraud attempts grew by 145% in 2021, we continued to confidently approve more transactions. In fact, since 2021 Ingo has increased its first-time check casher approval rates by 25%. This is significant considering that first-time check cashers carry considerably higher risk, with losses five times higher than repeat customers. Yet, due to our proactive fraud detection systems and risk management strategies, we’ve been able to consistently mitigate these risks, while driving revenue growth for our clients. A Hybrid Defense: Merging AI and Human Expertise Today, the check risk management industry touts the power of AI and machine learning, but at Ingo, we believe it’s the combination of human expertise and cutting-edge technology that sets us apart. Our AI-powered tools, including advanced data sources, device identification, and behavior analytics, are invaluable to our success. But these systems are only as good as the people behind them. Fraudsters are constantly evolving their tactics, and while AI and machine learning models must learn from new data to adapt, waiting for these systems to catch up and teach themselves can be costly. This is where our team of seasoned analysts, each with an average tenure of 12 years, comes into play. Our experienced team detects and mitigates fraudulent transactions in real-time, often manually reviewing transactions and performing visual inspections of check images, identifying early signs of fraud before it can escalate. For instance, a 10-second review of a suspicious check image might reveal the beginnings of a larger fraud ring, allowing us to act quickly and prevent further damage. We then feed this information back into our AI models to ensure they stay updated with the latest trends. Our Investigations team consistently analyzes data and monitors fraud trends, identifying emerging patterns as they arise. These daily reports are shared across teams, creating feedback loops that improve detection skills and strengthen our defenses. When new fraud tactics bypass existing systems, our teams collaborate to devise both temporary and long-term solutions—an agile approach that allows us to adapt to new threats swiftly, minimizing the risk while permanent technology-based solutions are developed. Finally, our team of Customer Experience Specialists provide customer service that goes beyond industry standards. Through these interactions, we gain invaluable insights into consumer behavior and preferences, which we feed back into our fraud prevention strategy. Looking Ahead Despite technological advancements, check fraud isn’t going away anytime soon. As fraudsters evolve their tactics, businesses and consumers must remain vigilant. At Ingo, we believe that while technology is an indispensable tool in the fight against fraud, it’s our people—their experience, expertise, and adaptability—that set us apart. Looking ahead, we will continue to evolve by combining human intelligence with cutting-edge AI to stay ahead of emerging threats, safeguarding financial transactions and protecting our clients.
How Ingo Delivers Financial Innovation with Full-Service Embedded Finance

How Ingo Delivers Financial Innovation with Full-Service Embedded Finance

September 25, 2024 By Joseph Akintolayo

Financial institutions have long relied on antiquated, legacy core infrastructure, hindering their ability to innovate. Meanwhile, tech companies have struggled with complicated payments orchestration that lacks compliance and leaves them open to fraud. As embedded finance has emerged to address these challenges, one thing is clear: In today’s challenging regulatory environment, it’s critical for businesses to rely on purpose-built solutions that safely power financial innovation.  With Ingo’s acquisition of Deposits Inc., a modern banking software and infrastructure platform, we’ve developed a full-service embedded finance platform with minimal dependency on third-party providers. Our money mobility capabilities, combined with cutting-edge technology, deliver a “modern money stack” backed by Ingo’s deep history and focus on regulatory compliance. With Ingo Payments, our clients can confidently create feature-rich, account-based relationships that align with evolving consumer expectations. Key Features of Our Embedded Finance Platform Instant Money Movement: Leverage industry-leading instant payment capabilities for faster, more efficient transactions. Cloud-Native Banking Infrastructure: Utilize our modern, scalable banking platform to create and manage financial products with ease. Comprehensive Compliance: Benefit from our proven expertise with regulatory compliance, ensuring your operations meet the highest standards of security and legality. Advanced API Integration: Access our full suite of financial services through easy-to-implement APIs, allowing for seamless integration into your existing systems. What This Means for Our Clients Money Mobility + : By combining instant money movement with cloud-based banking and ledgering capabilities, we’re creating a powerhouse of financial technology. Broader Service Offering: Our clients will now have access to a more comprehensive suite of financial products and services, all through a single, integrated platform. Accelerated Innovation: Our no-code and low-code connectivity options lead to faster development and time to value.  Improved User Experience: Expect smoother, more intuitive interfaces and seamless integration of financial services into your existing products. Ingo Payments is at the forefront of the embedded finance revolution. We’re excited to work with you to explore new possibilities. Get Started Today Ready to experience the power of our platform? Contact our sales team to learn how we can transform your financial offerings.
Ingo Payments + Deposits

Ingo Payments Acquires Deposits Inc., Redefining Money Mobility for Banks and Corporates with the Launch of Its Modern Money Stack

September 5, 2024 By 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.

Why Exceptional Customer Support Matters and How Ingo Payments Delivers

September 3, 2024 By Jessica Cole

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.

Explainer series from Ingo

What Is An Electronic Disbursement?

What Is An Electronic Disbursement?

April 4, 2024 By Ingo Payments

In the digital age, traditional methods of receiving payments, such as paper checks, are gradually being replaced by more efficient and convenient electronic or digital disbursements. But what exactly is an electronic disbursement, and how does it work? Let’s break it down. An electronic disbursement, also known as an e-disbursement or digital disbursement, refers to the transfer of funds from one party to another using electronic means, typically through online banking systems or digital payment platforms. Instead of physical checks or cash transactions, electronic disbursements rely on digital channels to facilitate the movement of funds quickly and securely. How Do Electronic Disbursements Work? Electronic disbursements leverage various electronic payment methods to transfer funds seamlessly. Some popular methods include: ACH Transfers: Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers offer a reliable and cost-effective way to transfer funds electronically. ACH transfers can be used for various types of payments, including direct deposits, bill payments, business-to-business transactions, and person-to-person transfers. Direct Deposit: Employers, government agencies, and financial institutions often use direct deposit to electronically deposit funds directly into recipients’ bank accounts. This method eliminates the need for physical checks and enables quick access to funds, with a turnaround time of only 1-3 days. Digital Wallets: Digital wallet platforms, such as PayPal, Venmo, or Apple Pay, allow users to send and receive money electronically using their mobile devices. Users can link their bank accounts or debit/credit cards to these wallets, making it easy to transfer funds digitally. Push-To-Card: Push-to-card is a method of electronically transferring funds directly onto a prepaid or to a bank account via a debit card associated with a recipient. Funds are pushed from the sender’s account or payment platform directly onto the recipient’s card, typically using the card network’s infrastructure. Push-to-card is an electronic disbursement method that allows instant access to funds. Benefits of Electronic Disbursements: Speed: Electronic disbursements offer rapid fund transfer, often providing recipients with immediate access to funds compared to traditional methods like paper checks. Convenience: Recipients can receive funds electronically without the hassle of visiting a bank or waiting for a physical check to arrive in the mail. This convenience enhances the overall user experience. Security: Electronic disbursements employ encryption and other security measures to protect sensitive financial information, reducing the risk of fraud or theft associated with paper-based transactions. Cost-Effectiveness: Digital/electronic disbursements can be more cost-effective for businesses, as they eliminate expenses related to paper, printing, and postage associated with physical checks. Electronic Disbursements: A Growth Opportunity Electronic disbursements represent a fundamental shift away from old-school payment methods and the time they take to process. These newer, digital disbursements have many benefits, including speed, convenience, security, and cost-effectiveness for both businesses and the clients they serve. While electronic payments are already becoming the norm, as financial technology continues to advance, electronic disbursements are expected to play an even more integral role in the financial transactions landscape—providing individuals and businesses with a seamless payment solution for today and into the future. Want to learn more about electronic disbursements, and how the right payments orchestrater can help you get your digital payments and disbursements in order? Talk to one of our experts at Ingo Payments.
How Long After Disbursement Will I Get My Money?

How Long After Digital Disbursement Will I Get My Money?

March 26, 2024 By Ingo Payments

The breakneck pace of modern business has created a true need for swift and efficient funds disbursement. When every minute of every transaction counts to your customers, delays in accessing funds can impede handling financial obligations or operations. This is where digital disbursements come into play. Digital disbursements offer a fast and secure alternative to traditional paper check. But just how quickly can a company’s funds be accessed after a digital disbursement? Digital disbursements have emerged as a game-changer for companies looking to streamline their payment processes, decrease the cost of paper checks and increase the real-time mobility of their money. These electronic alternatives to sluggish, paper-based methods are on track to ubiquity. Why? Because digital disbursements prioritize speed, security, and convenience. Unlike the cumbersome process of waiting for a physical check to arrive in the mail, digital disbursements expedite the transfer of funds, ensuring recipients can access their money promptly. One of the primary advantages of digital disbursements revolves around choice: there are various electronic payment methods available, each with its own timeline for funds availability. Let’s delve into some of these methods and their respective timelines (and check out our article explaining the different types of digital disbursements here. Quick access to funds ACH Transfers: Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers are a tried-and-true staple in digital disbursements, offering a reliable and cost-effective way to transfer funds electronically. Money moves between bank accounts through the ACH network. ACH transfers can be used for various types of payments, including direct deposits, bill payments, business-to-business transactions, and person-to-person transfers. Typically, ACH transfers take 1-3 business days to process, providing recipients with relatively swift access to their funds. Wire Transfers: Wire transfers are electronic transfers of funds between banks or financial institutions. While they are usually faster than ACH transfers, they may still take a few hours to complete, especially for international transfers. Instant Access to Funds Push-to-card: Push-to-card refers to the process of electronically transferring funds directly onto a prepaid or to a bank account via a debit card associated with the recipient. Funds are pushed from the sender’s account or payment platform directly onto the recipient’s card, typically using the card network’s infrastructure. Recipients can then access the funds immediately for purchases, withdrawals, or other transactions. Digital Wallets: Platforms such as PayPal and Venmo enable instant transfers, with recipients often able to access their funds within minutes of the disbursement being initiated. Real-Time Payments (RTP) & FedNow: These modern payment systems enable instantaneous transfers between participating financial institutions. RTP transactions are processed instantly, with funds transferred directly between the sender’s and recipient’s accounts in real-time. Recipients can access the funds immediately upon receipt, making it suitable for time-sensitive transactions. Digital Disbursements: Fast, Secure Money Mobility To run effectively, businesses with a need to provide customers access to funds need to carefully consider the optimal method for their disbursements. They must weigh factors such as speed, cost, and convenience. While traditional paper checks may still have their place in certain types of transactions, the advantages of digital disbursements are undeniable, especially in terms of their speed. By embracing electronic payment methods, businesses can streamline their operations, enhance cash flow, and deliver a superior experience for recipients. They can cut the arrival time for a customer’s funds down from waiting a week for a check in the mail, to just one to three days with ACH. Or they can join the instant payments revolution and give their clients instant access to the funds they need through push to card, digital wallets, RTP and FedNow. While the timeline for accessing funds after a digital disbursement varies depending on the chosen payment method, there’s no doubt that going digital speeds up the timeline for customers interested in accessing their money. At any rate, by leveraging the efficiency of digital disbursements, businesses can position themselves for success in today’s fast-paced business landscape and get money into their customer’s pockets quicker and more efficiently.
What is an example of a digital disbursement?

Demystifying Disbursements: What is an Example of a Digital Disbursement?

March 13, 2024 By Ingo Payments

We’ve already defined what a digital disbursement is, and how they play a crucial role in facilitating seamless transactions and empowering businesses to manage their finances efficiently. But how does a digital disbursement work, and what is a clear example of one? Understanding Disbursements: A Refresher First, a quick refresher: a digital disbursement is an online financial transaction that involves the quick and secure distribution or payout of funds from one party to another. This can take many forms—salary payments, vendor payments, refunds, or any other outgoing funds disbursed by an organization and orchestrated electronically. Essentially, disbursements encompass the movement of money from a source to single or multi-party recipients, making them a fundamental aspect of financial operations. Digital disbursements are those that take place in an online space, for example, without the use of a paper check. Examples of a Disbursement: Consider a scenario where a large ecommerce platform needs to disburse payments to its network of sellers. These disbursements may include the revenue generated from product sales, refunds, or even incentives for high-performing sellers. In this case, the ecommerce platform acts as the disburser, while individual sellers represent the recipients of the disbursed funds. To execute this process seamlessly, a payment orchestrator comes into play. The payment orchestrator streamlines and automates the disbursement process, ensuring that funds are transferred accurately and promptly. It integrates with various financial institutions, payment gateways, and other relevant systems to orchestrate a smooth flow of funds from the ecommerce platform to the sellers. Digital Disbursements in Action Let’s delve deeper: here’s another real-world example of a digital disbursement. Imagine an online marketplace processing vendor payments digitally. Upon the completion of a successful sale, the marketplace triggers an automated disbursement process through its integrated payment orchestrator. Again, we move to a payment orchestrator, which validates the transaction details, ensuring accuracy and compliance. Subsequently, the payment orchestrator communicates with the seller’s bank via secure APIs, initiating a direct fund transfer to the seller’s account. This digital disbursement not only minimizes the processing time but also provides a transparent audit trail. This entire workflow showcases how technology-driven digital disbursements streamline financial operations, offering just a quick glimpse into the streamlined efficiency of modern digital financial transactions. Benefits of Automated Digital Disbursements Those examples of digital disbursements may have helped you get a feel for the types of transactions and companies they may benefit. But why should a business consider moving toward a digital disbursement system for payouts? Here are just some of the benefits of going digital with disbursements. Efficiency: Automation reduces manual intervention, minimizing the risk of errors and enhancing the overall efficiency of the disbursement process. Speed: Automated disbursements enable swift fund transfers, allowing businesses to meet their financial obligations in a timely manner. Accuracy: By leveraging technology, payment orchestrators ensure that disbursed amounts are accurate, avoiding discrepancies that may arise through manual processing. Cost-effectiveness: Automation not only saves time but also reduces operational costs associated with manual disbursement processes. Given the immense benefits, digital disbursements facilitate the movement of funds in various sectors. As businesses continue to embrace digital transformation, understanding and optimizing disbursement workflows become essential for fostering financial agility and success.