According to an article in Bank Technology News, the United Kingdom may stop clearing checks by 2018.  A number of large retailers in the UK have already stopped taking checks or are phasing them out with only three percent of retail spending by check in the UK in 2008, a decline of by about 66 percent over the past two decades.

The trend toward cards and electronic payments has become strong enough that the largest banks in the UK have arranged a vote to stop clearing checks.  Estimates of check clearing cost are roughly $1.66, or about four times as much as electronic payments and would lead to substantial savings for banks.

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Vote to Abolish Check Clearing

Vantage has launched a new web site at http://vantageb2b.com focused on addressing the specific payment needs of small and mid-sized (SMB) business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) enterprises. VantageB2B.com offers payment acceptance policies, strategies and best practices to lower cost, increase productivity and enhance security.

Today’s most successful SMB are using a mix of technology and best practices to effectively manage their accounts receivables to increase cash flow and working capital. Managing credit risks, using lockbox services to automate paper-based processes and following AR best practice invoice tracking and follow up are being viewed as smart strategic decisions, giving SMB a competitive advantage once reserved only for big business.

Likewise, companies are finding that not every buyer or every invoice is best suited for trade credit. Commercial credit cards are being used to replace inefficient and expensive paper purchase order processes by businesses, corporations and government agencies. Accepting Corporate, Business, Purchasing and GSA Purchasing cards are an important component of a company’s payment policies. Establishing a merchant account to accept commercial card payments is different that setting up a retail-style business to consumer (B2C) merchant account. This has resulted in SMB paying expensive non-qualified surcharges. VantageB2B.com helps SMB understand card payment best practices including the cost saving of moving to a Level 3 merchant services provider.

Marrying card payment and AR trade credit best practices, Vantage delivers a single source, comprehensive approach to B2B payments. To help meet client demand, we have openings for Commercial Payment Analyst with B2B consulting experience. We will be holding weekly training seminars every Tuesday at 2 pm EST. Please visit http://vantageb2b.com/now-hiring for more on this career opportunity.

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Vantage launches new site dedicated to B2B payments

Two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit social networking or blogging sites, according to a new Nielsen report. Social Media is changing how we interact with each other and is shifting the power to the community.

One of the most powerful social network tools are peer comparisons. New financial web portals like Mint, Geezeo and ING’s CompareMe allow consumers to see how similar people are managing their finances and investments. These online anonymous peer comparisons are demonstrating that there is strength in numbers.

Now business owners can use myRealRate.com to anonymously compare payment card processing expenses with what others are paying for merchant services within their industry. myRealRate is a rich internet application delivering peer-to-peer knowledge sharing with a nationwide database of the real costs to accept credit and debit cards.

New businesses can use myRealRate to gain insight about the average costs of card acceptance based on their projected sales volume and transaction size within a specific industry category. Existing businesses now have an authoritative resource for comparing their rate and to find out if their merchant card processing fees are higher or low than the industry average. Previously the sources of information about merchant rates were those selling merchant services. Sharing with your peers is one of the keys to lower cost of accepting credit and debit card payments.

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The growing power of peer comparisons in finance