The days of sitting at the kitchen table writing checks to pay bills are long gone for most people. In fact, research shows that 80% of people prefer to use credit or debit cards for their transactions. ¹Yet, law firms have been slow to adopt these methods. In a recent article, The American Bar Association website points out that long-established electronic forms of payments like debit and credit card processing, ACH and eChecks, are only offered as options by 62 percent of large and midsized firms. ²Smaller firms and sole practitioners are even further behind. So why is there so much resistance considering that the ABA has approved credit cards as acceptable payment for fees since 1974—over 40 years ago?!

Perhaps you may think that adding electronic payment options require a lot of downtime to install or that your staff will need hours of training. That’s hardly the case. With many credit card processors, set up is fast and easy. Your law practice will be ready to process credit card payments within a day or two.

Or you may think working with a third-party processor adds more red tape and will delay your payments even more than waiting for paper checks to clear. Not true. Electronic payments will actually accelerate your cash flow. Instead of waiting for checks to clear or waiting 30 to 90 days for invoices to be paid, processing companies deposit funds from credit or debit card transactions directly into your law firms’ bank account, in many cases within 48 hours, enabling faster payment cycles.

Another common objection that keeps law firms stuck in the 20th century is that maintaining electronic processing is expensive. While fees vary based on operating systems and functionality, you can expect on-going savings if you choose a respected company. By depositing payments directly into your law firms’ bank account, your staff is freed up from hours of tedious bookkeeping and managing receivables. By streamlining accounts receivables and cutting down on overhead and collections, you’ll end up lowering costs and adding to your bottom line.

Going electronic is a great way to make payments easy for your clients and a  faster way to get funds available for your firm. With electronic processing, you can collect client payments in person, over the phone, or mobile. Some processors may have limitations on the types of payments accepted, while industry leaders, provide their clients the flexibility to accept all kinds of credit cards, debit cards, and ACH(e-check) processing. With leading merchant processors,  your law firm can accept Visa®, MasterCard®, American Express®, Discover®, Diners Club®, JCB, Debit/ATM, and private label cards as well as PIN Debit and Signature Debit transactions.

At LexActum, set up time is quick and easy. Merchant account applications are processed immediately, and your law practice is ready to process credit card sales within 24 to 48 hours. For a free statement audit, or to get started, Call us at 321-972-9838.

Sources:
¹ TSYS – “US Consumer Payment Study” – 2018
² American Bar Association – “Does your law firm accept only cash and checks? You’re losing money.” – 2018