How do you handle ACH payments in a CRM?
Most CRMs don't handle ACH payments directly—they connect you to payment processors that do. You'll need a processor integrated with your CRM to accept direct bank transfers, which cuts your payment fees and gets money into your account faster than credit cards. Here's how it actually works.
What ACH payments mean for your bottom line
ACH is a direct bank-to-bank transfer. When a customer pays you this way, you avoid the 2.9% + 30-cent fee of credit card processing. On a $5,000 invoice, that's $175 saved per transaction. ACH fees run 50 cents to $1.50, sometimes free. The tradeoff: ACH takes 3-5 business days to land in your account instead of 1-2 days for cards. For cash flow, this matters. If you invoice on Monday and need funds Friday, ACH won't work. If you can wait until the following week, it's the better move financially.
How your CRM connects to ACH processors
Your CRM doesn't process ACH itself. Instead, it integrates with payment processors—Stripe, Square, PayPal, or industry-specific ones like Coify or Foundation. The integration works like this: you create an invoice in your CRM, the customer gets a payment link via email or text, they choose ACH at checkout, and the processor handles the bank connection. The payment status updates in your CRM automatically. You don't touch banking details. The processor stores customer bank information securely and handles disputes. Look for CRMs that offer multiple processor options so you're not locked into one platform's fees.
Setup requirements and customer experience
To accept ACH, your CRM + processor combination needs to support it. Not all do. Verify this before signing up. On the customer side, they enter their routing and account number once—the processor tokenizes it for security. Repeat customers see saved bank accounts and can pay faster next time. For contractors, the setup is straightforward: connect your processor account to your CRM, enable ACH as a payment method on invoices, and you're live. The first ACH transaction takes longer because the customer is new to the processor. After that, their bank info is stored and future payments are instant. No customer friction, no extra steps for you.
When ACH makes sense for your business
Use ACH for jobs with larger invoices where the fee savings outweigh the wait time. A $500 residential job probably doesn't justify tracking an ACH payment for five days. A $15,000 commercial contract absolutely does. Some contractors offer a small discount for ACH to encourage it—2% off if paid by bank transfer instead of card. You recover the fee difference and the customer saves money. This works especially well with repeat commercial clients who understand payment terms. For quick-turnaround residential work, keep credit cards as the main option but offer ACH as an alternative.
Bottom line
Set up your CRM with a processor that supports ACH, then offer it on invoices. You'll cut fees by 95% and keep more cash on larger jobs—the timing is your only constraint.