How Broker RK Tongue Uses Finance Connect

by Client Spotlight Series
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Insurance brokers are finding innovative ways to boost efficiency and client satisfaction in an industry where every percentage point of margin can mean the difference between profitability or missing revenue goals.

RK Tongue has significantly streamlined its operations by leveraging Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services and integrating advanced payment solutions. 

Why Buy Now, Pay Later for Insurance Premiums?

The Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) model, originally popularized in retail, is now making significant inroads into the insurance sector. This innovative payment solution offers several compelling benefits for managing insurance premiums, making it an attractive option for many policyholders.

  • Convenience: With 45% of users choosing BNPL for its ease of payment, it simplifies the process of managing insurance premiums by breaking them into smaller, more manageable installments.

  • Adaptability: 44% of BNPL users appreciate the flexibility it offers. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for insurance premiums, allowing policyholders to align payments with their cash flow and financial planning.

  • Cost-Effectiveness: BNPL services often come with lower interest rates compared to traditional credit options. With 36% of users favoring BNPL for this reason, policyholders can benefit from more affordable financing options for their insurance needs.

  • Accessibility: The straightforward approval process of BNPL services appeals to 33% of users. This ease of access means more people can secure the insurance coverage they need without the stringent requirements of traditional financing.

Embracing Digital Payments for Insurance

RK Tongue has a history of embracing digital payment solutions to enhance operational efficiency and client satisfaction. The company’s journey with digital payments began during the Covid-19 pandemic, prompting a reevaluation of policies and procedures to adapt to the rapidly changing digital landscape.

RK Tongue started working with ePayPolicy as part of a strategy to streamline processes and increase efficiency. This transition allowed the company to make payment procedures more compatible with the new digital environment that emerged during the pandemic. 

RK Tongue’s decision to implement Finance Connect was driven by the dual goals of enhancing client experience and increasing internal efficiencies. 

“We were extremely interested in adopting Finance Connect for both internal and external reasons,” said Sarah Goldbach, Director of Operations at RK Tongue. “We are finding that more and more of our clients appreciate the ability to handle their payments and paperwork in more of a self-service function at their own discretion. By implementing Finance Connect, clients can choose their payment option or choose to finance at their own discretion.”

What Concerns Did They Have Implementing Finance Connect?

Initially, RK Tongue had concerns regarding the accuracy and seamlessness of data mapping from their agency management system to ePay. Ensuring that client agreements would correctly reflect all necessary information was crucial to maintaining high standards of service. However, these concerns were addressed through careful planning and testing, ensuring a smooth transition to the new system.

The existing integration between AMS360 and ePay was a major factor in the decision to implement Finance Connect. This integration ensured that clients could continue to finance as usual while significantly improving internal efficiencies. By leveraging this integration, RK Tongue was able to streamline the renewal billing process, eliminating the need for manual finance agreement quotes and reducing the steps involved in managing client payments. This not only enhanced operational workflow but also provided clients with a more efficient and user-friendly payment experience.

Results of Finance Connect Implementation

The implementation of Finance Connect at RK Tongue has yielded significant positive results, enhancing both operational efficiency and client satisfaction. Since the transition, the company has experienced a substantial improvement in its renewal billing process, particularly during the busiest seasons.

“Changing over to Finance Connect via ePay has allowed for a large lift in our efficiencies just in time for our heavy season where we tend to fall behind our billing goals,” said Goldbach. “This was a game changer for our billing team to manage our volume without the need to add any staff or support where in the past we have usually needed to pull in extra resources.”

To read more about RK Tongue’s Finance Connect experience, read the full case study here.

About RK Tongue

R.K. Tongue is an insurance broker that has been serving the Baltimore area since 1911.  We are a full service broker that specializes in complex risk profiles, especially in professional and management liability for healthcare, professional services, tech, government contracting, and nonprofits.  In addition to P&C, we also provide L&H products that go beyond typical benefits distribution.  We partner with certain groups within the federal, state, and municipal employee sector to provide voluntary benefits through payroll deduction.   We strive to be a trusted advisor to our clients to educate and empower them to make the right decisions to protect their businesses or families.

About ePayPolicy

ePayPolicy offers easier payment tools, built just for insurance. ePayPolicy’s products bring insurance payments up to speed for agencies, carriers, MGAs and PFCs, with secure online payment pages, automated check processing, payables reconciliation and more. ePayPolicy is built for integration with the insurance industry’s most popular systems, and 8,000+ insurance companies trust ePayPolicy and their expert, live support team to handle their payments every day.

Gartner Recognizes ePayPolicy as 2024 Payments Category Leader

by Industry News & Company Updates

ePayPolicy has been recognized as a top-rated payments platform in 2024 reports from Gartner Digital Markets, receiving accolades on Capterra’s Shortlist, SoftwareAdvice’s FrontRunners, and GetApp’s Category Leaders, based on customer reviews. ePayPolicy joins other popular tools like Venmo, PayPal, Stripe and Square, as the only insurance-centric payments platform on the list. 

Gartner Digital Markets evaluates products using various criteria: user ratings and popularity for Capterra’s Shortlist, usability and customer satisfaction for SoftwareAdvice’s FrontRunners, and ease of use, value, functionality, customer support, and recommendation likelihood for GetApp’s Category Leaders. With a 4.9/5 user rating, ePayPolicy was also the highest customer-rated member of the list. 

Here’s what one customer had to say about the speed and savings ePayPolicy helped provide:

“The amount of time we save equals more than 150 hours per year. Not to mention the savings of cc fees charged by the banks and card companies of approximately 5k per year.”

“We’re extremely honored to earn our place on the list among so many great companies,” said ePayPolicy CEO Mark Engels. “We want to make payments the easiest thing that insurance companies do, and this is great validation that we’re on the right track.”

 

About ePayPolicy

ePayPolicy offers easier payment tools, built just for insurance. ePayPolicy’s products bring insurance payments up to speed for agencies, carriers, MGAs and PFCs, with secure online payment pages, automated check processing, payables reconciliation and more. ePayPolicy is built for integration with the insurance industry’s most popular systems, and 8,000+ insurance companies trust ePayPolicy and their expert, live support team to handle their payments every day. Learn more: ePayPolicy.com

About Gartner Digital Markets

Gartner Digital Markets is the world’s largest platform for finding software and services. More than 100 million people visit Capterra, GetApp, Software Advice, and UpCity across over 70 localized sites every year to read objective research and verified customer reviews that help them confidently choose the right software and services. Thousands of B2B companies work with Gartner Digital Markets to build their brand, capture buyer demand, and grow their business. For more information, visit gartner.com/en/digital-markets

Finance Connect: “Buy Now, Pay Later” for Insurance

by Uncategorized

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce customers have grown increasingly familiar with “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) options at checkout – the modern equivalent of installment plans. Companies like Affirm and Klarna have become globally recognized brands, as a surge in online shopping coupled with low interest rates helped the top 5 lenders in the space grow 970% from 2019 to 2021 (source – CFPB).
 
For the insurance industry, the use of outside financing to help amortize large annual premium payments is nothing new. Most carriers require upfront payment of the premium, especially with more expensive policies. Most commonly referred to as “premium financing,” Premium Finance Companies (“PFCs”) have been working with agencies and brokers for decades to create payment flexibility and additional revenue opportunities.
 
“We believe that the ability to finance premiums not only helps the insured with more attainable coverage and payment terms, but it’s also a core function of our business model,” said Dani Harris, Chief Administrative Officer at Treaty Oak.
 
“Our insureds always finance,” Harris added. “Since we’ve been in business, we’ve only had 2 (customers) pay up front.”
 
Recent inflation-driven economic changes have further underscored the value PFCs bring to their insurance payments ecosystem. Many consumers and businesses have noticed their monthly insurance payments going up. Average auto insurance premiums rose nearly 14% in the last year, according to a Bankrate study (source), and sharp increases have been felt industry-wide.
 
ePayPolicy believes the collision of these three trends – inflation-driven premium increases, customer preference for payment flexibility, and ongoing utilization of premium finance – will drive rapid adoption of their newest product, Finance Connect.
 
“We’re so fortunate to have many insurance customers that regularly tell us what would make their life easier,” said CEO Mark Engels. “The relationship between PFCs and their agency partners is an essential one, and we’re building something that makes it even easier for them to work together.”
 
Finance Connect enables insurance companies to offer premium financing options – with their existing premium finance partners – at the point of online payment for their insured customers.
 
“The financing offer and terms are presented right at the time of payment,” said CTO Nish Modi. “We’ll then leverage our existing integrations to streamline recurring payments and payment reminders. Finance Connect is going to help insureds pay faster and bind policies sooner.”
 
Traditional BNPL options have been estimated to increase conversion rates by 20-30%, as well as increasing cart value by 30-50% (source). But unlike new BNPL entrants, many PFCs have long standing existing relationships with their partners, and need no justification for the value they bring. 
 
“Central to the creation of Finance Connect was our intent to preserve existing partnerships with PFCs,” added Engels. “We didn’t want to try and take business from them, or create a marketplace. We want to help both sides work together faster, for the convenience of the insured.”
 
“We’ve signed up several PFCs on the platform, with more on the way,” added Engels.
 
The emphasis on removing manual chokepoints in insurance payments has been central to ePayPolicy’s product roadmap. Finance Connect is the latest integrated product for an industry in need of greater digital efficiency and automated back-office operations. ePayPolicy recently introduced CheckMate, an automated check acceptance and reconciliation solution that utilizes machine learning, and announced the Payables Connect tools for automating the reconciliation, creation, and payment of market payables.
“Insurance companies of all sizes are dealing with some tough market conditions, looking for ways they can add to the bottom line,” said Engels. “We’re going to give them more control of their revenue stream, from receivables to payables, with as little disruption for them and their payers as possible.”

​​Built In Honors ePayPolicy in 2024 Best Places To Work Awards

by Uncategorized

Built In today announced that ePayPolicy was honored in its 2024 Best Places To Work Awards. ePayPolicy earned a place on 3 award lists in Austin – Best Startups to Work For (U.S), Best Startups to Work For (Austin), and Best Places to Work (Austin). This was ePayPolicy’s 3rd consecutive year on the list.

The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to those in the enterprise, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in large tech markets across the U.S.

“Awards like Built In mean so much because you can’t just apply for them. You earn them,” said CEO Mark Engels. “We can feel it inside the company – we’re building something special, and I’m proud of our entire organization for their contribution in making ePay an incredible place to work.”

Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work based on an algorithm, using company data about compensation and benefits. To reflect the benefits candidates are searching for more frequently on Built In, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings. 

ePayPolicy recently won awards for Best CEO and Best Culture from workplace survey company Comparably, as well as two consecutive Inc. 5000 awards. 

“I’d like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 2024 Best Places to Work winners,” says Maria Christopoulos Katris. “I am truly inspired by these companies that have risen to the challenge of fostering a positive work environment, maintaining a strong brand, and ensuring employee satisfaction. The future is filled with promise and we are so excited to see what lies ahead.”

About Built In’ Best Places to Work

Built In’s annual Best Places to Work program honors companies with the best total rewards packages across the U.S. and in the following tech hubs: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. Best Places to Work is distinct because its algorithm selects tech companies that build their offerings specifically around what tech professionals value in a workplace. 

About ePayPolicy ePayPolicy offers easier payment tools, built just for insurance. ePayPolicy’s products bring insurance payments up to speed for agencies, carriers, MGAs and PFCs, with secure online payment pages, automated check processing, payables reconciliation and more. 7,500+ insurance companies trust ePayPolicy and their expert, live support team to handle their payments every day. Learn more: ePayPolicy.com

ePayPolicy Wins Two Company Culture Comparably Awards in 2023

by Uncategorized

AUSTIN, TX – ePayPolicy, the insurance industry’s most popular payments platform, announced today two awards that highlight company culture and leadership. The recognition comes from the workplace site Comparably, where ePayPolicy was selected from tens of thousands of companies, winning awards for Best Company Culture and Best CEO.

Comparably Awards are derived from sentiment ratings anonymously provided by employees about their workplaces in multiple categories on Comparably.com during a 12-month period. Winners are then determined based on 20 core culture metrics, ranging from work-life balance and environment to compensation and career growth.

ePayPolicy joins other respected companies winning Comparably awards such as Netflix, HubSpot and Adobe.

“We’re honored to be selected for these awards based on direct and anonymous feedback from our team members,” said Allyson Hoffman, Director, People Operations. “Comparably helps us get a sense of what’s working and what we can improve, and we’re thankful to make this list for another year.”

“I’m really proud of the work environment we’ve created and the company that we’re building together,” added CEO Mark Engels.

ePayPolicy was previously honored this year as an Inc. 5000 award winner, as well as one of BuiltIn Austin’s Best Places to Work.

Headquartered in Austin, TX, ePayPolicy is currently hiring for a number of positions. Learn more at epaypolicy.com/careers.

About ePayPolicyBuilt by insurance professionals for the insurance industry, ePayPolicy is the fastest, easiest and most secure way to move money for insurance. ePayPolicy’s products bring insurance payments up to speed for agencies, carriers, MGAs and PFCs, with secure online payment pages and automated check processing, with CheckMate. 6,000+ insurance companies trust ePayPolicy to handle their payments every day. Learn more: ePayPolicy.com

CheckMate Changes Checks for BSR

by Client Spotlight Series
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Microplastics. The smell in the break room when someone microwaves salmon. Paper checks. 

Some things linger, despite our hopes otherwise.

And so, we adapt.

The inefficiencies of paper check payments drove ePayPolicy’s founders to create their core platform for online payments 8 years ago. They saw how most other industries took payments, and knew they could help insurance organizations like theirs make the leap.

And now, agencies, MGAs, PFCs and carriers get paid faster. Problem, meet solution – right?

The Persistence and Pain of Checks

“There are still people out there who feel that a paper check is more secure,” says Vickie Harmon of Bailey Special Risk. “That’s their preconceived notion. And then there are others who tell us their owners don’t allow them to pay online.”

The combination of digital payment preferences in the 18-34 age bracket and the surge in online payments driven by the pandemic has proven to be lasting. B2C consumer preferences for fast, flexible and secure payments have bled into B2B transactions. And paper checks are anything but fast, flexible and secure.

“Just getting checks to the office is a pain,” said Harmon. “Someone could send a check from 2-3 hours up the road, and a week later, it might get to us. Then someone has to open it, scan it, and reconcile it back to (Vertafore’s) AIM.”

A 2022 McKinsey study affirmed what most already know – 9 out of 10 Americans utilize digital payments. Online payments are faster, more secure, and commonplace. But compared to most industries, the insurance space has an above average amount of holdouts still using checks. 

“We look at the amount on the check. If there’s a comma, we might take it to the bank today,” joked Harmon. “If not, maybe we’ll wait until the end of the week and see if another one comes in.”

“We know that our customers love the ease of online payments,” said ePayPolicy CTO Nish Modi. “But they’re still getting these checks – in some cases, despite their best efforts. We started thinking, could we make check payments as easy as their online payments?” 

More than a lockbox

Some large insurance organizations utilize generic bank lockbox solutions to offload the administration associated with check handling at the offices, especially with multi-location companies. But not all lockboxes are created equal, and many come with high and fluctuating fee schedules, long-term contracts and insufficient integration with insurance management and accounting software.

“We could have had a lockbox at any point, but then it would just be a matter of them emailing us the information,” said Harmon. “We’d still have to spend the time to manually enter all of that.”

Feedback like this led to the development of CheckMate – the first integrated, secure lockbox solution built just for the insurance industry. When it came to rethinking the lockbox concept, Modi’s team was adamant that CheckMate would be built to integrate with the actual management and accounting systems being used today.

“A lockbox without the (Vertafore) AIM integration doesn’t save me anything, other than maybe it gets to the bank a little quicker.” Harmon added. “But with CheckMate, there’s no manual entry.”

As an integrated insurance solution, CheckMate works in 3 simple steps:

Secure, Daily Collection – Checks are routed to the closest CheckMate lockbox location for daily collecting, batching and processing.

Dashboard Details – Check images and remittance details are viewable in the ePayPolicy dashboards, so there’s just one dashboard for all your payment types. No additional software required. 

Magic Invoice Matching – Customers that connect their accounting systems can utilize CheckMate’s intelligent scanning to match payments with open invoices, eliminating double work and repetitive data entry.

“With CheckMate, the deposits get to the bank faster – by at least 1-2 days, and what used to be 2-3 minutes per check to process has become 2-3 minutes per batch,” said Harmon. “We don’t want to have to spend our time processing checks, we’d rather spend it servicing our customers.”

CheckMate is now available for insurance organizations looking for an integrated solution for modern check payments and accounting.