Any business requires managing finances, but it can be challenging. With the complexities involving accounts payable and receivable, keeping up with the payments is often difficult. Thankfully, there are solutions that you can try to streamline your finances and take control of your cash flow. Consider looking into Melio Payments, a platform that offers a comprehensive range of features, from making bill payments to invoicing and payment processing.
In this review, we will explore the platform’s features, benefits, and workings. Read on to determine whether it is what you need to optimize your business’s financial operations.
Contents
- What is Melio Payments?
- Melio Payments Key Features and Functionalities
- The Benefits of Using Melio Payments for Your Business
- How Melio Payments Works
- Accounting Software Integration
- How Much Does Melio Cost?
- User Experience and Reviews
- Conclusion
What is Melio Payments?
Melio Payments is a platform created by a financial technology company with the same name. This platform is designed for businesses to manage their accounts payable and receivable processes. If you utilize the platform, you can take advantage of various features to help you manage your finances more efficiently.
Melio Payments Key Features and Functionalities
When you sign up for Melio Payments, you can get a suite of financial tools and services that make your accounts payable and receivable processes much more straightforward.
For example, Melio allows you to pay your bills electronically. You can accomplish this task using bank transfers or debit cards. The best part about this feature is that it does not require the merchant or vendor to accept electronic payments. You can pay through the payment method you choose without actually using it. This means you do not have to write and mail physical checks, which can save a lot of time and even decrease administrative overhead.
Here are other key features that you can get out of Melio Payments:
Invoicing: You can use Melio to create and send professional invoices directly to your customers using the platform itself. To do this, log in to your Melio account and go to the Invoices tab in the dashboard. From there, you can access the existing invoicing features, which include creating a new invoice. You can then fill in the invoice details, including the recipient’s contact information, date, and number. You can also add line items in the dashboard with their own costs and quantities. You can then set the payment terms for the invoice, including the payment method and due date. Before sending, make sure to review and confirm.
Scheduling of Payments Including Recurring Payments: Melio allows you to set up recurring and one-time payment schedules in advance conveniently. That way, you can ensure all your bills are paid on time. This feature also helps manage cash flow, as you can plan and be sure that the funds will be readily available when the due date comes. You can set up recurring payments, such as rent and utilities, on the platform. They will automatically be paid on a weekly or monthly basis.
Accounting Software Integration: You can use Melio together with your favorite accounting software platform. It is popular with Xero and QuickBooks, two of today’s most used accounting solutions. Melio allows you to sync your financial data between the accounting software platform and the payment platform. That way, these platforms can automatically update the payment information and invoices. This saves you time as you no longer have to enter financial data manually. The integration with Xero or QuickBooks and other accounting software will be further explained later in this blog.
Management of Your Vendor Transactions: Melio has tools that allow you to manage vendor transactions easily. These tools are designed to help you gain better control and visibility of your accounts payable. For example, you can use Melio to centralize vendor information on the platform. This means you can manage and track transactions when dealing with different vendors, as you can quickly add new vendors and update vendor details, among many other features.
Payment Tracking: A crucial feature that you can find on the Melio platform is payment tracking, which gives you a real-time glimpse of the status of the payments you have made. You can also look at your payment history in the dashboard, which has detailed records of your past payments, including payment dates, recipients, and amounts. Tracking of payment involves not just the past but also the future. You can have Melio give you payment reminders to stay on top of your payment obligations, helping you avoid penalties and late fees.
Melio is excellent for businesses with more than one department or user who may oversee the payment processes. The platform has customizable approval workflows where you can create custom approval chains that outline the approval sequence for your payments. It makes it easier for your departments or users to determine who should approve payments in the correct order to complete the process.
The Benefits of Using Melio Payments for Your Business
The primary purpose of Melio is to simplify accounts payable processes. It provides robust tools enabling users like you to create invoices, schedule payments, and manage vendors in just one simple and easy-to-use platform.
Here are the other advantages of using Melio for your business:
The ability to set up payment schedules helps improve your business’s cash flow management. By maintaining control over the timing of your payments, you can be sure that your bills are paid on time.
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The same feature as above also helps extend payment terms with contractors, vendors, or suppliers. That’s why payment scheduling is beneficial for your business: You can have more time to pay your bills while preserving working capital.
Unlike other platforms or methods of payment, you do not have to worry about paying your dues early. Early payment discounts from vendors may be available, and you can take advantage of them. These discounts can save money on your expenses, which is useful for improving cash flow.
Repetitive tasks are time-consuming. Eliminating them and relying on Melio for invoice creation and payment reminders can free up your employees’ time to focus on other strategic activities that can help drive business growth.
Melio makes invoice management easy. The platform allows you to create and customize invoice templates and include line items. You can also use Melio to specify payment terms, which makes it an excellent solution for your business and customers.
Apart from the benefits mentioned above, Melio Payments can lead to significant cost-saving benefits and improvements in efficiency for your business. For instance, you can save on administrative overhead by automating repetitive tasks.
Processes that may use paper can also be eliminated since Melio promotes the digitization of your accounts payable and receivable procedures. That means you no longer have to deal with paper-based checks, receipts, and invoices, should you choose to do so.
Late payments are a no-no for businesses, especially those wanting to save money. You can preserve your working funds by avoiding late fees and penalties due to missed or delayed payments.
Every business needs good relationships with vendors and customers to thrive. When you have streamlined accounts payable and receivable processes, you can forge stronger working relationships. That’s mainly due to your professionalism, which involves prompt payments and efficient invoicing. These can help improve communication and trust with other parties. It is one of the keys to building long-term partnerships.
Finally, the updated platform allows users to pay using bill-by-ACH bank transfer or card. Vendors are also no longer required to sign up, meaning you can pay them however they want with Melio.
How Melio Payments Works
Just like with any other payment platform, you must first sign up for an account here: https://app.meliopayments.com/register. Signing up is easy and takes only a few minutes. It only asks for your email address and password. You can also use your Google or Intuit account (for QuickBooks users).
After verifying your email address and logging in to your account, the platform will ask you to provide your business information, including whether you are a small business that wants to use the platform to pay vendor invoices or an accounting firm.
Aside from your email address, Melio also requires a phone number for verification and business information like business name, address, and industry. You can schedule a payment once you’re all set.
Before you can begin paying, you will be greeted with an empty dashboard.
One of the first things you must do is go to Settings and then the Payments and Billings section.
Click Payment Methods, where you can manage all your linked accounts and add a new payment method. You can then customize your payment preferences and select your preferred payment method. Your dashboard is also where you can add vendors and customers, create invoices, and schedule and track payments.
Melio supports different payment options, accommodating almost every business need and preference. You can use it to pay merchants or get paid via:
- Bank transfer (ACH
- Debit card
- Credit card
- Check
- Wire transfer
Accounting Software Integration
In the platform settings, you may want to link your accounting software to Melio.
Doing so allows automatic financial data syncing between Melio and the accounting software, QuickBooks, Xero, or others. When you create invoices, they are recorded in the accounting software so you have updated and consistent financial records. The same applies to payments made through Melio, simplifying the process and guaranteeing all payments are documented automatically.
How Much Does Melio Cost?
Melio is free with no subscription cost. Here is an overview of the fees and prices you must be aware of:
- Free standard payments via ACH bank transfer
- $1.50 per check for a paper check
- 1.5% (maximum of $50) for each instant payment made
- $20 per transaction for international payments in US dollars
- 2.9% processing fee for credit and debit card payments
- International payments using Mastercard credit cards will carry a 2.9% fee on top of the $20 fixed fee.
User Experience and Reviews
Melio has a fairly good amount of satisfied and positive testimonials on many review sites:
GetApp: 4.2/5
TrustRadius: 3.9/5
Capterra: 4.2/5
Trustpilot: 4.3/5
All in all, Melio has great reviews, mostly commending its customer service, bill pay with QuickBooks and convenience. The platform is easy to use and understand. Plus, you can talk to Melio’s support team via email, phone, or live chat. You can also speak to a dedicated account manager or read more about Melio through FAQs and the Knowledge Base.
Conclusion
Melio Payments is a comprehensive financial management platform for optimizing and simplifying tasks in managing and processing invoices and payments. It is a secure, user-friendly business solution with an intuitive interface and several useful features. With responsive customer support, multiple payment support, and integration with accounting software, Melio is certainly one of the top platforms for making financial management tasks easier.