B2B’s OnlineCheckWriter Launches Credit Card Processing

B2B payments company OnlineCheckWriter.com has released a credit card payment facility for businesses, letting them pay any payee, even ones that don’t take credit cards.

As the Texas company said in a news release Sunday (Oct. 30), small businesses traditionally relied on time-consuming payment methods, with their vendors and suppliers paying transaction charges to accept credit card payments. This new feature removes transaction charges for receiving card payments, the release said.

Owned by the Zil Money Corporation, OnlineCheckWriter has more than 500,000 registered users and has processed more than $40 billion in transactions.

Sabeer Nelli, OnlineCheckWriter’s CEO, noted that the launch is happening at a time when businesses are dealing with rising interest rates and higher capital costs.

“Small businesses often find paying their vendors and suppliers difficult because their cash flow cycles haven’t been completed,” he said. “Being able to make flexible payments allows them to concentrate on their businesses without worrying about finances.”

Read more: Earnings Season Takes Main Street SMBs’ Pulse as Inflation Surges

And businesses are worried, as PYMNTS’ research has found. We reported earlier this month that 70% of Main Street SMBs said supplier costs have increased over the last year, with 57% of them raising prices as a result.

However, these actions have not been enough to keep margins intact, as a major percentage of firms are seeing their profits decline.

Only 54% of Main Street SMBs said they expect revenues to increase this year, compared to the 56% who felt upbeat in January. Nearly half of firms expect sales to stay the same or decrease, which in turn means that, with costs rising, profits will continue to fall. The pressure to fill in the gaps between the cash requirements of operating the business and the cash coming in will be substantial.

Meanwhile, approximately 12% of businesses generating less than $150,000 in sales annually said they are worried about whether they will survive to see 2024.