Service turns invoices into virtual credit machines

“Consumers are cash-strapped and this creates cash flow issues for businesses,” says Leonard Shenker, joint CEO of wallet doc. “By allowing consumers to pay accounts online and instantly by credit and debit cards, our merchants have noticed a dramatic increase in the speed and volume of payments, which has improved their cash flow.

“In addition, there is a rise in invoice fraud in South Africa, where an invoice is altered to get a customer to pay for goods or services into a fraudster’s account. Using walletdoc eliminates invoice fraud risk.”

In association with EasyPay, walletdoc to date has been integrated with 400 of South Africa’s largest billers for services like monthly subscriptions and utilities.

“Our network of payable billers is now growing exponentially, with our offering for all businesses that seek a smart solution to collect more money by offering online card payments,” says Shenker.

Businesses are able to sign up with walletdoc business in minutes. No system integration is required and walletdoc is compatible with any accounting system.

Businesses send their bills to wallet doc, which immediately on-sends the bills to customers, with embedded debit and credit card payment functionality. In this way, the invoice is turned into a virtual card machine, offering card as a payment option to clients. Clients will still be able to pay the bill via EFT if preferred.

Bill recipients do not need to download walletdoc nor be existing users of walletdoc to be able to pay with Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club or American Express cards and benefit from their credit card reward programmes.

Businesses will also benefit from detailed bill payment management information, which indicates which bills have been received, opened and paid. Each payment is automatically referenced to an account or invoice number, so there are no unallocated payments, reducing the administrative burden often associated with incorrectly referenced EFTs. Customers are also sent reminders for payment prior to the due date.

Businesses are settled every working day for the prior day’s payments.  Merchants pay a small fee for payments received: there are no upfront nor monthly fees to use walletdoc business. Merchants may no longer need a POS device.

Lior Solomons of Morningside Plumbers was an early user and said: “walletdoc has given our customers a convenient payment option and allowed us to eliminate our traditional speed point in the process. On the first day of implementation of walletdoc, we received multiple payments through the walletdoc system within two hours.”

The walletdoc app has had hundreds of thousands of downloads from Google Play and the App Store and is processing billions of Rands in payments each year, says Shenker.

The company partnered with Absa when it launched and developed a comprehensive and robust suite of information-protection measures. Anyone, no matter who they bank with, can use walletdoc.  Data is fully encrypted and mobile transactions use either fingerprint or PIN authentication, making it safe for users to pay their bills anytime, anywhere.

walletdoc is a gold member of AlphaCode, a club for fintech startup entrepreneurs, under the umbrella of Rand Merchant Investments.

Head of AlphaCode, Dominique Collett, says: “walletdoc has experienced dramatic growth due to understanding and elegantly solving a customer pain point. The founders are expanding their winning concept so that any business can increase cashflow and consumers can further reduce bill payment hassles.”