Pay bills by card

Pay Bills by Card (PBC) is a new program that converts eligible payment orders and payees from ACHAutomated Clearing House/check or wire to a virtual card. Designed to integrate seamlessly into your current workflow, USD payments sent to payees who accept card payments can be issued as virtual card payments. Payees will process the virtual card just like any other card.

This means you’ll receive cashback for card payments. Plus, you can benefit from zero transaction fees and no effort.

Why are payment methods changing for some payees?

Once we pre-qualify eligible payees or bills, Tipalti converts the payee payment method to ‘Tipalti Card’. This has many benefits for both the payer and payee, including:

• Zero transaction fees: When payments are switched to a card, you’ll pay none of the transaction fees typically associated with other payment methods.

• Effortless: No need to change any of your existing workflows; it’s handled for you.

• Cashback: You’ll be eligible for an automatic cashback on every card transaction.

• Quicker payments: Card transactions are often credited to your supplier faster than other payment methods.

• Rich remittance data: Card transactions carry rich remittance data, making reconciliation easier for your supplier.

How are eligible payees or invoices identified?

Invoices are automatically scanned for explicit signals or details, such as pay links (e.g., a web link that can be paid without login credentials) or QR codes that suggest they can be paid by card. Once identified, the Tipalti Ops team qualifies, confirms, and switches the relevant payee’s payment method to a virtual card and then pays the bill on the payer’s behalf.

How regularly is the PBC team sweeping customer's instances for eligible invoices/payees to switch over to PBC program?

Tipalti automatically searches, scans, validates, and qualifies eligible payees and relevant bills on a daily basis, which are then verified manually by the Tipalti Ops team to ensure accuracy.

When hovering over the updated payment method, you’ll see a tooltip providing more info on Pay by Card, as seen below.

How payees receive card payments

Payees can receive payments by card in a few delivery methods, including:

• Paysites — a website containing a card checkout screen

• Email — some payees can accept card payments via their email (see below)

• Phone — some payees have a human or automated phone line that collects card info

The payee receives a payment from a single-use virtual card, which they need to accept and process just as they would any other card. The payment must be processed for the exact amount of the bill; otherwise, it will be declined. The virtual card has an expiration date, and the payee is prompted to process the payment before the card expires.

Tipalti Card does not support grouping multiple bills for the same payee in a single payment. Each bill is submitted as a single payment using its own payment method.

Pay bills by card in the Supplier Hub

All payees can view their payment details and history and submit an invoice in the Tipalti Supplier Hub.

After eligible payees log into the Supplier Hub, they’ll see that their payment method was changed to Tipalti card, and if needed, they can change it back to the previous method, such as ACH/ wire, via the dropdown.

Tracking pay bills by card transactions

To check if a payee’s payment method was changed to ‘Tipalti Card’, the payer needs to check the Payment section on the payee profile. Additionally, on the payee’s Activity tab, you can see when and who performed the change in payment method. On the payee’s Activity tab, the Source column shows Tipalti Backoffice and the Performed by column shows System Admin.

After a payment is processed, Tipalti Card appears as the payment method. These payments will sync to your ERP like any other bill payment processed via Tipalti.

The payment method is also shown on the Payment history page, as shown below.

Receiving cashback

You’ll be eligible for an automatic cashback on every card transaction. Cashback emails with details are sent every month on the 10th, and cashback is transferred directly into your Tipalti virtual account.

Cashback transactions are shown on the Account Statement page. Cashbacks are paid in an aggregated amount for all earnings from the previous month.

Cashbacks are not synced to your ERP, but you could add these manually. Cashbacks are only added to the virtual account and shown on the Account Statement page.

Auto PO resubmission

If a Payment OrderA single payment instruction for a payee (PO) can’t be completed using the Tipalti card, the system will automatically revert the PO’s payment method to the supplier’s previously used method—such as ACH, check, or wire—and the payment will be sent out automatically.

This ensures payments are completed seamlessly, with no effort required from your side. It simplifies operations and keeps processing smooth and uninterrupted.

This feature is not applicable to payers using the Business Center ERP system. These users will still see deferred internal POs.

Syncing with ERPs

Rest assured, all payments made by the virtual card are synced automatically with your ERP.

For more info on the Pay Bills by Card program, read our FAQs.