AccessPay vs ClearDebit

AccessPay connects business finance and back-office systems to banks for payments, collections, and bank statement retrieval. It supports Bacs, Faster Payments, CHAPS, SWIFT, SEPA, and Direct Debit collections, and says it connects finance applications with more than 11,000 banks worldwide. ERP, payroll, and other back-office systems can connect through SWIFT, Host-to-Host, EBICS, sFTP, or API. Its file transformation engine handles formats including CSV, Standard18, and PAIN, as well as less common formats. Fraud and error controls include payment screening, beneficiary checking, sanctions screening, and Confirmation of Payee capabilities. Security measures listed include masked and encrypted transaction data, MFA or SSO login, user access controls, segregation of duties, and audit trails. The platform does not cap transaction count or value, though payment schemes may set their own value limits. Pricing is on request and depends on estimated annual transaction volumes, users, and required configurations and workflows. Initial setup carries a one-time professional services fee of 25%; bank fees are separate.

ClearDebit provides Direct Debit processing services, software, and training for businesses collecting payments through Bacs. Its Mosaic options address different levels of involvement: Mosaic Submit sends files to Bacs and returns reports with an audit trail, while Mosaic Managed supports the wider Direct Debit cycle, including advance notice letters and transaction codes before processing. Businesses can collect one-off, regular, or variable payments and manage payment timing and changes in the software. Mosaic reporting includes payer and payment details, customer and Bacs reports, historical data, and automatically applied Bacs messages. ClearDebit says its Bureau, Mosaic software, and training are Bacs Approved, and that its Bureau and software follow data-protection rules set out by the FCA and Bacs. For in-house software users, processed collections go directly to the business’s bank account; ClearDebit says it does not hold funds. Bureau integrations can use SFTP or an API to submit files and retrieve reports. The service requires a Service User Number (SUN), and ClearDebit says it cannot support businesses without one. Pricing is on request.