What is Faster Payments?
Faster Payments is a credit-transfer service that allows people to make same-day payments by phone, Internet or standing order within a few hours. The service enables banks to process these payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
APACS launched Faster Payments in May 2008 and it is now run by CHAPS. However, the service is separate from Bacs and CHAPS credits.
What is Faster Payments Direct Corporate Access?
Direct Corporate Access (DCA) is part of the Faster Payments service. Essentially, it's Faster Payments for businesses.
Businesses submit files containing multiple Faster Payments over Secure-IP to Vocalink, which then separates and processes the payments.
DCA accepts files submitted between 6am and 4pm between Monday and Friday. The limit for individual payments is £10,000.
How can Direct Corporate Access help you?
Businesses that use DCA can pay their employees, suppliers and customers faster. It takes 30 minutes to process a payment and banks credit payments to recipients within two hours. Common uses of DCA include:
- Contingency
- Weekly payroll
- Staff expenses
- Customer service refunds
How do you start using Direct Corporate Access?
Before you start using the service, you'll need to:
- Check your bank offers the service
- Gain sponsorship from your bank to use the service
- Implement software to access the Secure-IP service
PayCentre® is a Bacs-approved software package that will manage your Faster Payments transactions and allow you to submit files over Secure-IP.
If you want to know more about PayCentre® or Faster Payments, contact one of our payments experts today on +44 (0)20 8408 7888.
