Tech-savvy Alpha Direct Agency Gets Digital Payment Processing Right

by Client Spotlight Series

Alpha Direct Agency doesn’t just embrace InsurTech. Technology is one of their core values: “Driven to Win with Technology”.

The 17-year-old agency even offers (among other specialty lines) technology services insurance and drone liability. Licensed in 17 states, Alpha Direct Agency has offices in New York City, Raleigh and Miami, plus international presence in the Dominican Republic and soon in Ecuador. Clearly, technology is critical to the agency’s revenue, as well as connecting its producers to each other and to the flagship office in upper Manhattan.

Asked about his agency’s use of InsurTech solutions, Principal Emmanuel Osuyah chuckles. “We are the earliest of adopters! People look to me before they buy new software. They know if I’ve used it and recommend it, it’s going to work.” 

It’s not surprising, then, that Alpha Direct Agency started offering digital payment processing way back in 2006. Notwithstanding his agency’s international footprint, Emmanuel describes his agency as locally focused. “Customers would literally take the elevator up with baby carriage in tow to find our suite.” Most paid in cash or by money order. But carrying large amounts of cash around is a hassle. And, says Emmanuel, “the cashless world has forced change on all of us.” About the decision to offer online payment, he notes: “There was a time when if you could process ACH (check) payments, you were king. We had to go there.” As for credit cards, Alpha Direct Agency is “all plastic all day long.”

He tried out a series of payment processors over the years before becoming an early adopter of ePayPolicy (which he fondly refers to as “ePay3”). As one of ePayPolicy’s first clients, Emmanuel is clear about why he made the move: batching and fees.

None of his previous vendors had the capability to separate transaction fees as ePayPolicy does. He had to reconcile their fees monthly, decidedly “batch unfriendly.”

Prior to Insurance, Emmanuel worked as a banker, where he had to triple count cash for verification (those were the days before the desktop teller machines). When he founded his agency, he was no stranger to triple counting cash late into the night; and that’s when he knew there had to be a better way. With other merchant services vendors, he would take a month-and-a-half to reconcile credit card payments. Some vendors have two separate portals for credit cards and ACH transactions; which necessitates two different logins. In contrast, with ePayPolicy, mid-month and at the end of the month, his bookkeeper would run the reports, and “the transactions are right there. Both credit cards and ACH in the same transaction summary. With another click you hop into the batches. It’s so smooth, with easily searchable fields, which gives us more time in the month to focus on other things.”

Agent Reaction to ePayPolicy

His agents like the payment portal also. He says, “I lean on my 15 employees for feedback. My people were complaining about the old platform.” The Agents particularly like that refunds to customers are easy with ePayPolicy. Confirmation of the refund can be sent to the customer from the platform within minutes of processing, saving them from having to take follow-up calls about the refund’s status.

The ePayPolicy Experience

The transition from the previous payment processor vendor was smooth. ePayPolicy integrated easily with Alpha Direct Agency’s website. Emmanuel shares that, “right off the bat, I was impressed with the seamlessness of it all. My logo was in the portal, access to reports was painless and payments were hitting my bank account in the expected time frames.”

Emmanuel also gives thumbs up for:

  • Ease of payment (a big plus in redirecting customers away from cash payments)
  • Speed of payment (frees up agents to spend more time on sales)
  •  Web 2.0 friendly (it offers a clean look without a lot of “gibberish” on the screen)

Alpha Direct Agency hasn’t had to lean on ePayPolicy’s Customer Service often, but they’ve been very responsive when called or emailed. He cites this example: “Our customers know immediately when a transaction fee shows up in their account. Disputes are rare. But one customer contested a fee, even though he knew he was in the wrong. ePayPolicy shut it right down once we provided supporting documents.”

The “fees” theme continued throughout the interview. Emmanuel finds ePayPolicy’s flat fees for ACH transactions ($3 per) a major benefit. He recently had another vendor pitch him, but they charge a percentage of the ACH transaction. Needless to say, that company will not be getting the Emmanuel Osuyah stamp of approval.

Next Steps for Alpha Direct

Alpha Direct does not currently use the invoicing function, but Emmanuel looks forward to implementing it. In addition, he’s excited to know that ePayPolicy’s platform has plans to integrate with his agency management system (Hawksoft).

Advice to Other Insurance Agencies

To any agencies out there researching digital payment processors or dissatisfied with their current vendor, Emmanuel Osuyah does not mince words:

“Sign up with ePayPolicy. Go straight to where the future’s at.” 

Finding The Perfect Payment Processor For Your Agency

by Digital Payment Processing
“It’s not us, it’s you.” Several insurance agents that use large payment processors (operate in multiple verticals) have reported being kicked off their payment processor, with no other explanation than “our product is not a good fit for your industry.” Well, their loss is potentially your gain. We can’t tell you exactly why these companies are rejecting business from the insurance industry. But we have some educated guesses. Even better, we have a solution! First and foremost, the insurance industry is highly regulated and involves a lot of tracking funds for compliance purposes. Some payment processors are designed for straight sales transactions. They simply can’t handle the additional levels of accounting and code compliance the insurance industry demands, in other words, they don’t speak insurance. “Not a good fit” is their way of admitting they’re not set up for a complex, regulation-driven industry like insurance. Here are some likely reasons why they might be rejecting business from insurance agencies:

Insurance Code Mandates and Trust Account Management

Most vendors who use a large multi-vertical payment processor have a simple business model: receive payment in exchange for goods or services provided. It’s straightforward. No fancy accounting required. Think coffee shops, digital storefronts, hotdog guy at the block party. But not the insurance industry. As you know, premium payments in some states are subject to insurance code regulations. When you receive premiums you are operating in a “fiduciary” capacity. You are not the “owner” of the premiums paid but are acting as a fiduciary of those funds.  As such, you must keep premiums in separate trust accounts that are segregated from the agency’s business operating funds. This is to protect premium funds from agency creditors. And you can’t take them out of the trust account without proper documentation of the commission earned and an audit trail, either. Truth be told, general payment processors are not set up for this level of sophistication. Volume, yes. Sophisticated accounting, no. Trust account (TA) management is a huge responsibility with potentially heavy consequences. You need a payment processor that understands the “ins and outs” — which, for insurance agents, involves more than simply depositing money from the client into your agency account, or even passing it directly through to the carrier! Terms like net funding and premium funds should sound familiar. 

State Compliance and Regulations 

Each state has its own set of regulations for selling insurance. The requirements in Ohio may be different from those in New York, California or Florida. That’s one reason why the trusted choice / BIG I associations are so valuable. They keep you on track to maintain compliance with any and all state-specific mandates. Needless to say, the big global payment processing companies are not operating at this micro (state regulations) level.  But you are. And so are we at ePayPolicy. We maintain close relationships with the Big I / Trusted Choice state insurance associations nationwide and are in the process of getting all 50 states endorsements. Their stamp of approval is their way of saying, “This vendor gets it. We trust them. You should, too.”

An insurance Industry-Specific Solution

I’ve kind of hinted at the solution in the “issues/problems with general payment processors” sections above. Yes.  I am talking about ePayPolicy — the insurance payment processing platform built specifically for independent insurance agents. We are not a general-purpose payment processor. We are a payment processor that was built by insurance professionals for insurance. We work exclusively with and for the insurance industry. By focusing on your business needs, as well as the highly regulated nature of insurance, we have created an ecosystem that streamlines your operations while ensuring compliance across the board. Check out ePayPolicy. We make collecting credit card and ACH payments as easy as possible and to get started takes only 5 minutes. 

Insurors of Tennessee Prefers ePayPolicy Payment Processing

by Industry News & Company Updates

ePayPolicy Joins Insurors of Tennesse’s List of Endorsed Providers
AUSTIN, Texas, September 12, 2019 – Insurors of Tennessee (Insurors) has added ePayPolicy to its exclusive list of endorsed product/service providers in the agency management tools and discounts category. ePayPolicy was developed by insurance professionals specifically for the insurance industry. The platform enables independent insurance agencies and their staff to accept payments via credit card or automatic ACH from the payor’s bank account.

Insurors’ Chief Executive Officer Ashley Gold, J.D., announced the news by saying: “Insurors of Tennessee’s endorsed products program offers curated products and services for our members and their clients. Our members know my plan as CEO is to foster growth in the evolving insurance industry.  InsurTech is a major driver of that evolution. And ePayPolicy is a perfect example of an innovative solution that offers benefits to both member agencies/agents and directly to their clients.” 

 ePayPolicy co-founder Todd Sorrel concurred: “We share Insurors’ goal of helping independent agents succeed in a changing industry. Accepting credit card and ACH payments pleases your policyholders. It also speeds up receivables and lets you bind policies faster. With ePayPolicy it’s a breeze to deploy and integrate with your AMS. In other words, better client service is also smart business.”

Endorsement by Insurors of Tennessee will expose ePayPolicy to some 450 agencies and more than 4,000 licensed agents statewide.

Concluded Sorrell: “When a state association like Insurors endorses us, it signals to their members that they can trust us. Being accepted into this exclusive endorsement program is a true honor. Tennessee’s independent insurance agents will find a helpful, business-boosting resource in ePayPolicy.”

About Insurors of Tennessee
Insurors of Tennessee is a professional association of independent insurance agents. Their purpose is to offer support to member agencies so that they can better serve the public. Insurors accomplishes this in several ways: through lobbying efforts, offering insurance products that fill agency needs, providing a continuing education source for agents, and making sure agents have the information and resources they need  – when they need it – through their publications. 
The mission of The Insurors of Tennessee is to be unrelenting advocates of the independent agents and brokers to fulfill their political, educational, and business needs, while working in the public’s best interest.

Representing over 450 independent insurance agencies and more than 4,000 licensed agents, Insurors of Tennessee is the largest independent agent group in the state and one of the largest in the entire Southeast.  

For more information visit https://www.insurors.org/

About ePayPolicy
ePayPolicy is the simplest way to collect digital insurance payments. Austin, Texas-based ePayPolicy is the nation’s foremost provider of payment processing developed exclusively for independent agencies, brokers/MGAs and premium finance agencies.  The company’s  innovative electronic payment processing portal enables clients to accept credit card or ACH without messy merchant accounts or hidden fees.  ePayPolicy sets up quickly, integrates seamlessly with leading management systems, and is endorsed by independent insurance associations nationwide. 

To learn more visit https://epaypolicy.com

The company’s annual InsurTech Agency Award recognizes independent insurance agencies/brokerages for leveraging technology to enhance their sales, marketing, and customer service. Details and call for entry are at https://www.insurtechaward.com/

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