Pay with TransferWise: A new way to pay and manage your bills

posted in Uncategorized

At Xero we know cashflow is not only a top priority for small businesses, but vital to the success of any business. Through Xero’s Small Business Insights we know that, on average, only 51% of UK small businesses are cashflow positive in any given month. Xero wants to see this number increase, so we are continuously looking for ways to help you better manage your cashflow and understand the health of your business. Whilst getting paid (accounts receivable) is key to generating cashflow, it’s just as important to control your cashflow. This can be achieved through the outgoing side of the ledger, your accounts payable.

At Xerocon London we announced the launch of Pay with TransferWise. This is a new domestic bill payment solution that helps UK customers pay and manage their bills more efficiently. It’s also the first bill payment solution from Xero which allows customers to pay bills using their preferred existing bank account, regardless of the bank. We’re delighted to allow customers to manage their bill payments through Xero – one of the most requested features by our customers. As Lauren Harvey from Full Stop Accounts recently said, “managing bill payments out of Xero would be the icing on the cake”.

A simple, fast and secure way to pay and manage bills

Whilst you have always been able to download batch payment files in Xero to pay bills, the process is manual, disjointed and time consuming. Files are to be uploaded separately to your bank, status of payments manually checked in the bank and bills manually marked as paid in Xero. Plus, there is no standardised way for small businesses to pay bills across the UK banking industry. This is because some banks accept batch payment files and some don’t. For those that don’t, businesses need to manually enter payment details for each individual bill in their online banking portal.

We think there’s a better, more efficient way to pay bills. That’s why we’ve launched Pay with TransferWise – a leading and trusted international payments provider. Together, we’ve created a seamless process that makes it simple to pay and reconcile multiple bills through Xero.

The integration is built on a secure API connection between the two companies. This makes it a more secure way to pay because you’re not manually handling payment files with sensitive payment details. Additionally, the integration allows for a digital audit trail of all payment activity and checks to detect fraudulent payments. TransferWise uses the Faster Payments scheme to process payments submitted using Pay with TransferWise, where payments often arrive in seconds.

Speaking to Stuart Gregory, MD TransferWise for Business, he shared his insights about the new solution, “Pay with TransferWise is setting a new standard for SME payments, empowering the business owner to

manage their money far more efficiently with real-time, accurate information. The UK’s entrepreneurs can now spend less time on financial admin and more on growing their businesses, safe in the knowledge that their bills are taken care of.

Pay and reconcile multiple bill payments using Pay with TransferWise

Are you ready to say goodbye to dealing with batch payment files? Now you can, because Pay with TransferWise lets you pay and reconcile multiple bills through Xero with just a few clicks. It’s a new standardised way to make bill payments regardless of your bank. You can now spend less time on business admin and more time on your business.

Inside Xero, you’ll be alerted to potential payment errors before they occur, reducing the risk of failed payments. You can also view payment status and automatically reconcile payments in just one click, through a single statement line.

Once the payment has been processed by TransferWise, you’ll see the status of the payment in almost real time in Xero, giving you confidence that your suppliers have been paid. You can also provide remittance to your suppliers. This visibility of your payments will help you understand the impact on your business cashflow.

Xero and TransferWise in partnership

TransferWise has been helping businesses with their payments for many years. Like Xero, TransferWise has a relentless focus on delivering beautiful experiences that help businesses manage their cashflow through payments. Their guiding principles are that payments should be low-cost, transparent, easy and fast. This makes them the perfect partner for Xero.

“Xero shares our vision for bringing fairness, convenience and transparency to small businesses all over the world, so from the beginning we knew this partnership would be a perfect fit,” said Stuart Gregory, MD TransferWise for Business.

When using Pay with TransferWise, TransferWise are responsible for processing the bill payments.

Customers start the process in Xero by submitting payment details, which are then sent to TransferWise. Once the customer has funded the payments from their bank account, TransferWise will process the payments to the suppliers’ bank accounts.

To use the solution, you’ll need to set up a TransferWise account (or use your existing business profile account), which acts as a clearing account for the payments. New TransferWise accounts can be set up during the onboarding process in Xero.

You’ll be able to purchase Pay with TransferWise as an add-on to your Xero subscription. You can then select a payment tier to suit the number of bills you pay each month.

The post Pay with TransferWise: A new way to pay and manage your bills appeared first on Xero Blog.