Bank-delivered vs. standalone business software
Small businesses can get invoicing and payment tools from a standalone app or from the bank or credit union they already use. The features can look similar on the surface, but the differences show up in where the money goes, whose name is on it and what it costs.
Four questions worth asking
Before choosing a tool, it helps to ask where your payments settle, whose brand your customers see, who owns the relationship and the data, and what you pay to accept a bank transfer. The answers usually depend less on the feature list and more on how the software is delivered.
How the two models differ
Where money settles
Standalone apps may route payments through their own balance or account before you move them to your bank. With Finli, 100% of the digital payments a business collects through Finli settle into its verified account at its own bank or credit union.
Whose brand customers see
A standalone app puts its own name in front of your customers and your business. Finli is white-labeled, so businesses and their customers see the bank or credit union's brand.
Who owns the relationship and data
With a standalone app, the app company holds the relationship and the activity data. With Finli, the relationship stays between the business and its institution, and the institution owns the data.
Cost of ACH
Some standalone tools charge a fee to accept bank transfers. With Finli, ACH payments are always free. Card payments carry a 3.5% fee that the business can pass on to its customer.
For banks and credit unions: don't settle for the settlement account
When a business runs its invoicing and payments through a standalone app, the institution often ends up holding the account where money eventually lands, without seeing the activity that produced it. Bank-delivered tools change that. Receivables settle into accounts in your routing number, and payments collected outside Finli can be tracked so you can see deposit leakage.
Finli launches as a standalone white-labeled page, which can give businesses ACH debit and card processing in five business days with no integration work. Finli also integrates with Q2 and Jack Henry digital banking for institutions that want single sign-on.
Common questions
Is a bank-delivered tool less capable than a standalone app?
Can I still use QuickBooks?
My bank doesn't offer Finli. What are my options?
Start with a 30-minute conversation
Bring your questions about deposits, launch or a specific industry. A first call is for answering them — a full walkthrough for your wider team comes after, whenever you want it.