X-Press Legal Services has added Open Banking to its online banking system – X-Press Pay – enabling consumers to pay for disbursements directly, via industry leading provider Ordo.
X-Press is the first company within the legal sector to partner with UK based Ordo which uses Open Banking technology to initiate payments and enable the direct transfer of funds from clients’ bank accounts to fund disbursement products.
Whilst account to account payments have existed for a while, these have been largely reliant on BACs transfers. Such types of payments can be slow and require manual data entry to set up transfers, making them prone to error and creating risk of fraud through the sharing of bank details.
Such has been the success of the integration of Ordo that X-Press has already generated over £10,000 of secure payments to clients. Legal firms including Gloucestershire based rural and agricultural specialists, Loxley, are reaping the rewards of the enhanced online banking system:
“X-Press Pay has been a significant help to our cash flow, by eradicating a large number of disbursements and placing the onus on clients to pay directly for property searches,” commented Andrew Baskerville, director at Loxley. “Prior to X-Press Pay we incurred thousands of pounds per month in disbursements, some of which we carried for a long time until completion and a small amount that we never recovered due to aborted transactions. Now we use X-Press Pay as a means of avoiding that, and it gives a clear indication of a client’s commitment at the earliest stage of a transaction.
“The reduction in administration and workload burden on our account department has also significantly reduced since we introduced X-Press Pay. The system is incredibly easy to use and even more so with the introduction of Ordo. It has eased our cash flow and reduced the risk we carry as a business, meaning we have far better control over our financial position.”
With Ordo now fully integrated into X-Press Pay, consumers have the option of paying by credit / debit card or Open Banking. Open Banking offers a safe, easy way for consumers to make payments to law firms. Ordo uses account to account payments directly from consumers online banking app, so they can transfer funds securely without the need to enter bank or card details.
The system offers numerous advantages to law firms. X-Press Pay enables conveyancing solicitors to avoid the complication of adding VAT to disbursements on their own invoices, following the 2017 Brabners ruling. It also cuts down on significant administration, enabling initial ID checks to be processed and funded before client accounts are created and added to case management systems. Enabling clients to directly order and pay for conveyancing searches through X-Press Pay, further reduces the burden on conveyancers and allows clients increased visibility of their transactions progress.
“We are delighted to have added Ordo to our payment options within X-Press Pay,” commented Lynne Lister, managing director of X-Press Legal Services. “The UK is the most active country worldwide in Open Banking and with many consumers having already embraced the technology, it was a natural step for us to include it as an option when paying for our services. Take-up so far has been very swift and we fully expect that over the coming years, Open Banking will become the preferred option for consumers”.
Ordo CEO Craig Tillotson added: “Our partnership with X-Press Legal Services, integrating Ordo, brings innovation, speed, and efficiency to legal disbursements by eliminating the inefficiencies of traditional payment methods. With thousands of pounds of secure payments already processed with X-Press Pay, we’re proud to lead this innovation with our white-labelable solutions. This benefits legal firms and empowers clients to take control of their transactions. We believe Open Banking will become the preferred choice for consumers seeking transparency, convenience, and security when paying for legal services.”
With 28 offices in England & Wales, X-Press Legal Services is the largest independent property search network. It provides a wraparound service including residential & commercial searches, pre & post completion services, cyber security, and compliance products. The company delivers thousands of searches and reports to the conveyancing sector annually. Discover more at www.xpresslegal.co.uk
This article was submitted to be published by X-Press Legal Services as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Conveyancer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Conveyancer.
