Lighthouse Payment Services to exhibit at APEX 2024 24 Oct 2024, 12:55 pm

Lighthouse Payment Services, Inc is excited to sponsor and exhibit at APEX 2024, an event held at Mohegan Sun by the Cooperative Credit Union Association! We are looking forward connecting with credit union professionals from across the northeast. If you are considering adding lockbox processing to augment your Treasury Management program, please stop by our booth to say hello and enter for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card!

APEX 2024 Logo

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Wholesale Lockbox Invoice Matching 23 Jan 2023, 8:57 pm

Before the advent of receivables invoice matching, within the lockbox industry the old way of thinking went that only retail lockbox clients could automate their receivables processing, while wholesale lockbox clients were relegated to more manual cash application methods.   Fortunately, wholesale lockbox clients can now post their payments automatically while minimizing posting mistakes attributed to stale, missing or incorrect invoices.

Clients enrolled in our invoice matching service would simply periodically upload an open invoice file.  As Lighthouse processes payments in the lockbox and captures invoice numbers, we would match those invoice numbers to the uploaded file.  Matched payments are accepted, while unmatched payments get routed to exceptions for the client to repair.

With Lighthouse Payment Services receivables invoice matching, we can match payments to a single data point (example: invoice number), to multiple data points (such as member number, payment type, and share suffix) and even match on mutually exclusive data points (invoice number OR account number).  Below are some of the ways our clients are using our receivables invoice matching service:

• Consistently ensure the bill-payer supplied invoice number on the payment matches an open and valid invoice number, cutting down on posting file import issues
• Route payments to multiple deposit accounts in the same lockbox all without a scanline or the need to issue dedicated remit addresses for each departmental unit.
• Determine if a payment is an overpayment / underpayment or determine if a payment is late and by how much and automatically route to exceptions any out of tolerance transactions for future review – even without a payment coupon
• Integrate trade credits in the underpay/overpay formula (example: 2/10 Net 30) and route to exceptions any payors attempting to take advantage of trade credits despite paying outside of the discount period
• Augment the outbound posting file to include data points not inherent in the payment (client name/address, order info, account info, etc) drastically cutting down on data entry costs
• For non-profit organizations running acquisition campaigns, pass back a file of new donor respondents for import into the donor database without the need for the N-P to key all the information
• Automatically convert old account numbers to new account numbers prior to writing to the posting file for billers who have renumbered bill payer account numbers

Receivables invoice matching increases posting accuracy and robustness of the posting file.  It saves the wholesale lockbox client time and effort normally attributed to payment reconciliation and enables wholesale client to leverage exception item processing to boot.  Retail clients can use it also as an additional means of payment validation.

We can design a solution to fit any client’s needs.  If you’re a bank searching for ways to attract deposits, offering lockbox with receivables invoice matching to your cash management customers may be the answer  Give us a call!

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A Better Lockbox Process Discovered While Updating Machinery 14 Sep 2021, 4:30 pm

Sometimes when you look to solve a problem you end up reinventing the entire lockbox process.  That’s exactly what happened when Lighthouse set about the monumental task of replacing its ITran check transports.  Let’s face it; scanning and sorting checks is an unfashionable business, but one that is still crucial for many businesses’ processing their accounts receivables.  It has not gone away and does not appear to be going away any time soon.  Despite this, the machines that handled these tasks in their heyday are rapidly becoming antiquated and have effectively reached their end of life.  As parts were becoming more scarce, this meant that repairing and maintaining these machines became more expensive with each passing year. Ultimately it became necessary for us to find an alternative.  In the process, we discovered a much better solution to the old check transports most often used in the industry.

“Our change was precipitated by the fact that we needed to get our organization on Windows 10, and the iTran devices were not supported.  It was a security issue,” said Tom Drunsic, Lighthouse‘s CEO. “We have to be vetted by security ­firms, and by various banks, in order to do business with them, and running an unsupported operating system wasn’t going to work. In order to get there [to Windows 10], we would have had to pay the manufacturer for custom programming, and the price for that was exorbitant. It made no sense for an end-of-life machine, so I started looking for alternatives.”  Through that exhaustive search, we found Digital Check and their Quantum DS machine.  The Lighthouse team discovered that they can simultaneously run two Quantums together, which is actually faster than running the single older ITran.

“We arranged two Quantum DS machines in an L shape at each location, with one operator in the corner running both,” Drunsic said. “Because of the ease of operation, we got more documents per minute out of them.  Because there are fewer jams and quicker jam resolution with the Quantum DS, our effective throughput is equal to the 300e with just one machine. With two running at once, it’s even greater. We’d never be able to effectively run two of the 300e’s with one operator – there’s too much attention required.”  There’s no doubt about it, this change has made the maintenance process faster and much more cost effective as well as improving our overall lockbox process.  Read the attached full case study: An Alternative for Your Old Check Transports published by Digital Check.

L Shaped Quantum DS digital check scanner congfiguration

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Social Distance Receivables from the Office 9 Feb 2021, 11:12 am

While originally positioned as a temporary measure in the early days of COVID-19, by March many businesses will have operated and thrived in a remote-only capacity for a full year, proving that the unplanned social experiment works and is sustainable.  As such, many businesses are starting to see the merits of making this shift permanent for millions of workers across the country, and employees are viewing work from home policies as a bona fide benefit that will likely influence where (and for whom) they want to work for.  In short, ‘work from home’ will be a tough bell to unring.

As nice as this workplace shift might sound, there are various logistical hurdles to consider for businesses who want to make remote-working permanent.  One of the biggest is figuring out how to intercept and deposit all the checks currently being mailed to the office so as not to disrupt cash flow.  Thankfully, that is exactly what establishing a lockbox can accomplish.

By migrating the payment remittance address out of the corporate office and outsourcing mail-based payment processing to a lockbox processor, businesses permanently and effectively neutralize risk by solving the problem of figuring out what to do if employees can’t get into the office, and remove a very real stumbling block to transitioning to a permanent work from home arrangement.

With a lockbox, all payments are picked up, all checks are deposited, all documents are imaged, and all information needed to reconcile receivables payments are automatically sent to the appropriate stakeholders regardless of who or where they may be.  Access to data and images can be added, removed, or transitioned, so the ability to deposit and post payments becomes completely insensitive to employee turnover (or unanticipated extended absences which have been all too common during the pandemic).  Lockbox can also function as a document imaging service, scanning mail-based correspondence that isn’t check payment, making us a one stop shop for all mail that used to come through the office door.

Contact us if you would like to learn how to effectively social distance your receivables from the office, and for anyone wishing to set up lockbox service, we would be happy to put you in touch with any of our partner banks to help facilitate its establishment.  While gathering around the water cooler to discuss the latest Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones episode may be a thing of the past for many workers, getting mail-based receivables processed on time doesn’t have to be.

Lighthouse Payment Services is a third-party lockbox service provider who can help maximize the synergy of your cash management offerings and social distance your receivables.  Come and see what we can do for you.

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Lighthouse Payment Services to exhibit at ICBA Live 2020 11 Feb 2020, 4:49 pm

Lighthouse Payment Services will be exhibiting at ICBA Live 2020 in sunny Orlando March 8-12.  ICBA is the largest gathering of community bankers in the world and showcases the latest trends in the marketplace.  If you are attending and looking to streamline your banking operations with lockbox services come stop by and talk with us.  See you There!

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Lighthouse Exhibits at 25th Annual Bankworld Conference 29 Jan 2020, 3:20 pm

As we kick off the new year, Lighthouse exhibited once again at Bankworld in January, which celebrated its 25th anniversary!  Over 1600 bankers from around New England came to network and learn about the latest offerings from Fintech vendors.  It was an excellent show as always and thank you to all those who stopped by the booth to chat with us.  We look forward to exhibiting again next year!

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Lighthouse Payment Services will exhibit at COCC’s Strategic Partner Expo 7 Jun 2019, 3:11 pm

Lighthouse Payment Services will be exhibiting as a preferred strategic partner at COCC’s 2019 Annual conference.  The Partners Expo will take place June 12th-14th at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT.  The conference will feature the latest innovations in the payments space as well as exciting breakout sessions.  Come and learn and network and enjoy some live music and excellent dining too.  See you there!

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Lighthouse Payment Services at CS Week 2019 12 Mar 2019, 7:37 pm

Lighthouse Payment Services will be exhibiting in booth 128 at CS Week 2019 on April 8th-12th at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix Arizona.  CS Week is the premier educational and customer service conference serving electric, gas and water/wastewater utility professionals across North America and around the world.  The conference provides learning and networking opportunities and showcases the latest technology and services available to Utilites in the Billing and Payments field as well as credit and collections and Strategies and Management.  We’ll see you there!

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Lighthouse Payment Services at Great New England Credit Union Show 2019 5 Mar 2019, 2:03 pm

Lighthouse Payment Services will exhibit at the annual Great New England Credit Union Show.  The show is on Friday March 29th 2019 at the new MGM Springfield Massachusetts.  This conference will once again showcase the latest products and technology available to credit unions.  Come visit us in booth 720, we’ll see you there!

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Selling Lockbox Can Expand a Bank’s Geographical Footprint 4 Feb 2019, 12:30 pm

I was talking with one of our financial institution clients the other day.  The bank at which he works boasts only a handful of branches situated in a very localized footprint.  Despite this, the banker was at our facility to meet a Tax Collector for a city well outside this footprint for a tour.  In fact, this particular bank was aggressively – and successfully – going after municipal relationships all over the state.  When I remarked to the banker that their marketing efforts had not gone unnoticed, the banker replied that lockbox has enabled the bank to greatly expand their deposit gathering efforts.   It stands to reason, if you sell a suite of cash management products that aren’t limited by geography, then why should you as a bank limit yourself to geography when attracting customers and deposits?

As customer usage patterns have evolved over the past ten or fifteen years, banks are starting to think differently about how and where to market.  Before Check21, the conventional manner in which deposits were made (over the counter at a branch or at a bank-branded ATM) necessitated that customers remain in geographical proximity to a brick and mortar branch.  Banks, keenly aware of this correlation, would focus their marketing efforts within their branch footprint to maximize effectiveness.  Marketing operated this way for many years.

With the advent of newer technologies such as Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) and mobile banking, businesses have realized that proximity to a branch is no longer as mission-critical as it used to be.  Internet only banks are further promoting the mindset that brick and mortar branch banking isn’t absolutely necessary in order to effectively manage cash flow.

Banks are capitalizing on this mindset by developing specialties within industries with robust cash flows from operations, such as property managers (rent), municipalities (taxes), or healthcare then leveraging that specialty by expanding their marketing efforts well beyond their geographical branch footprint.  The value proposition in this situation is self-evident: Go with a bona-fide expert, not simply with whoever is closest.

Unhindered by geography, this allows banks to focus their marketing efforts on areas with the most opportunity.  Thanks to search and the Internet, it doesn’t take a colossal budget to market your services nationwide.  A fully search engine optimized online presence and some effective keywords associated with your online ad campaign is all it takes to market effectively. In this way banks are becoming more potent pushing for deposits well beyond their own backyards.  With interest rates ticking upward for the foreseeable future, banks must think more creatively when trying to attract lower cost deposits.

If you’re a bank searching for new ways to attract deposits, offering lockbox may be an answer.  Lighthouse Payment Services would be happy to show how we can add value both to the bank, and to your cash management customers.  Give us a call!

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