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Cross River Bank and Paymints.io Corp., a software-as-a-service platform provider for real estate payments, are teaming up to enable real-estate payments through the automated clearing house. The service will utilize the ACH rails, including same-day ACH payments, as well as wire transfers, to facilitate such payments as earnest money, cash to close for refinances, and client and vendor disbursements.
The new service enables stakeholders in a transaction, such as buyers, sellers, agents, and escrow holders, to move funds between stakeholders’ bank accounts and escrow accounts.
Stakeholders using the Paymints.io platform can track funds in real time and verify transactions. The service is expected to reduce check payments and their related handling costs, as well as attack fraud related to real-estate transactions. One of the biggest threats to the real-estate and title-insurance industry is manipulation of bank-wiring information, according to the Paymints.io Web site.
Some 76% of title agents reported wire-fraud attempts stayed constant or increased in 2021, adding that 71% of funds lost to fraud were not recovered, according to a survey by the American Land Title Association. ACH transfers shield the user from exposing personal bank information that can be used to hack into their bank accounts, according to Paymints.io.
“The innovation of digital payments for real estate is still at the early stages,” says Paymints.io chief executive Jason Doshi, in a statement. “Our partnership with Cross River enables us to continue to build the modern payment experience the real-estate industry so desperately needs to make the transfer of funds as safe, convenient, and secure as possible.”
Keith Vander Leest, head of payments for Cross River, adds that niche payments verticals such as real estate have outdated payment processes that are ripe for innovation. “These verticals are where Cross River works with partners, like Paymints.io, to drive better, more efficient payment experiences,” Leest says in a statement.
