Many clients tell me that they are happy to simply give customers their direct banking information to receive payments. While it appears to be a quick and simple way to get paid it’s a serious security risk that many don’t understand.

Many will know the popular TV show Top Gear on the BBC. One of the actors on the show made a comment on Twitter saying “Nobody can do anything with my bank account it's safe for example here is mine XXXX”. Within minutes the post was taken down but it was too late.

People started signing up to services and donations such as Red Cross and World Vision and using his Bank details for the regular Direct Debit payments. Further others changed the Direct Debit Bank account on their utility bills such as Mobile Phone and Electricity to debit from his account.

As you can see giving out your Bank Account details is a huge mistake.

Further as a Business identifying the source of money deposited into your account is difficult. Another client of ours has spent over a year trying to work out what client paid for software by depositing money into their account. 2 clients claimed to have made payment for the same amount on the same day but only 1 payment appeared. Clearly 1 has been lost but the question that can’t be easily answered without paying the bank to do a trace.

And now BITCOIN and Digital currency.

As many have already discovered the Banks are considering Bitcoin trading as high risk of fraud and Money Laundering and not for legal reasons but for general policy closing the bank accounts of Bitcoin traders.

A recent client using the Bitcoin trading services of https://localbitcoins.com has now had 3 bank accounts closed by the banks for trading in Bitcoin. No matter how often he told clients NOT to put any reference to Bitcoin on the transfer description they did and this triggers an instant response from the banks to investigate all incoming payments to that account holder.

There is a solution!

Start by never giving out your actual Bank account information ever.

Clients switching to BPAY can receive money into their bank accounts and receive daily emails and online reports identifying the payments. This is safe and secure. The money is not only trackable as to who sent it but also arrives in your bank without any other information included.

Clients can’t add any additional information to the transaction. The only information passed along is the Transaction Reference number to identify the payments.

With a growing Aged Population in Australia more and more people are opting for in person payments rather than trusting unknown websites and people they don’t know with their Credit Card or Bank account information.

Businesses that have adopted such In Person payments such as BPAY gain a better level of trust from new and existing customers over businesses that don’t.

Australian Businesses with an ABN can join HowToPay for free on our website. Start sending Payment Requests with full BPAY details quickly and simply. No additional Application or Monthly fees is required to use our services.

Check out more information on how it works at:

https://support.howtopay.com/news/new-payment-requests