Does anyone have time for checks anymore?
If your insured’s car has just been totaled or a tree limb put a hole in their roof, time is of the essence. Most likely, they can’t be without a car for more than a day or two and who knows when the next storm will come and drop even more rain on their newly damaged roof. Waiting a week for a check to come in the mail just doesn’t cut it.
The time for checks has passed.
Insurance companies have been paying claims with paper checks for most of modern history. But given today’s technology, it’s hard to think of a good reason why anyone would prefer a check to a faster, more secure option. Indeed, the drawbacks to paying and receiving claims payments by checks are many, including:
- Checks are slow to mail out and can take a week or longer to be delivered.
- Checks can get lost in the mail.
- Insureds must deposit their check and wait for the funds to be available.
- Insurers must pay for supplies (or a service) to print and mail checks.
- Insurers must dedicate staff to processing and mailing checks – time that could be used more efficiently elsewhere.
- Younger generations are used to mobile/digital payments.
Plus, checks can cost insurance carriers up to $12 or more* to issue. When you consider that a single claim might require multiple checks, it’s easy to see the fees and processingcosts quickly add up.
The future is now.
Insureds need their payments as soon as possible to keep the impact of their loss to a minimum. Fortunately, there is an answer for insurance carriers. Solutions like CommercePayments® PreferPay® give insureds a choice of how to receive their payments. Other main benefits include:
- Convenient payment options.
Insureds get paid the way they want: Push-to-debit, direct deposit or traditional check. - Faster payment.
No waiting on the mail. No trips to the bank. Push-to-debit disbursements can happen in as little as 30 minutes. - Improved experience.
An automated, mobile-friendly portal fits the on-the-go lifestyle of more and more consumers.
Finally, PreferPay® doesn’t require adjusters to do much differently than what they’re doing now. Once an insurer is set up on the portal, adjusters work with their insureds to provide a secure, one-time-use login to access the payment portal. Insureds select how they want to be paid and customer data is securely housed at the financial institution. Plus, it comes white-labeled – allowing insurers to customize design elements to fit their brand.
As our world becomes more digitally focused, insurers need to keep pace with growing trends and not get left behind. The good news is, as insurance companies put their customers first by providing more payment options, they help themselves by reducing costs and increasing client satisfaction.
Read more about leaving paper checks behind and giving your customers the convenience they’re craving.
Also See:
- Vendors want you to say goodbye to checks.
- Claims payment portals: Do you know who's touching your money?
