Christian Westerlind Wigstrom, CEO, Monoova
Pay advance company WagePay has switched on the mandate payment service PayTo for customer payments, making it one of the first to offer the New Payments Platform add-on service to consumers.
WagePay is providing the service in partnership with payments automation company Monoova.
PayTo was developed by NPP Australia, a subsidiary of Australian Payments Plus. Initially envisaged as an up-to-date and more user-friendly version of consumer direct debits, it may also play a role in a range of corporate payments.
Monoova is one of several payments service providers offering merchants access. Others include Azupay, Ezypay, Paypa Plane, Zai and Zepto.
A number of banks have enabled payer customer accounts to use PayTo, including Commonwealth Bank, but the other big banks are not yet offering it.
WagePay previously made payment arrangement through direct debits but it is now encouraging customers to set up a PayTo mandate.
Monoova chief executive Christian Westerlind Wigstrom said one of big advantages of PayTo is that debits are actioned and cleared instantly.
Westerlind Wigstrom said: “Merchants do not have to wait days before money arrives, as is currently the case with direct debits. The immediacy and transparency of the process gives confidence to consumers that they have paid their bills in the right amount at the right time.”
PayTo gives consumers a high level of visibility and control over their payment arrangements, with the ability to view, authorise, pause or cancel payment agreements.
Merchants are also being promised benefits, such as being able to get upfront validation that the customer’s account details are correct. And when a payment is initiated PayTo will check that adequate funds are available.
Westerlind Wigstrom said PayTo, which was launched in June last year, is still in its rollout phase, with ANZ, NAB and Westpac yet to enable customer PayTo arrangements.
The customer’s bank has to enable PayTo for a mandate payment service to be set up.