Virtual Account: a Simple Payment Method for Your Business

A virtual account in the payment industry is a type of payment method to pay your invoice through a series of unique numbers. This kind of payment offers various advantages for both business owners and customers. Practical and easy usage make this payment method popular in Indonesia.

You’ve got a glimpse of this payment from the first paragraph. Let’s dig deeper into virtual account payment through this article including how it works and several benefits you could get.

About Virtual Account

There is some critical information you might need to know to comprehend this payment method beforehand. Because it is virtual, this account does not have a regular bank account number as we often find. Business owners just need to send customers the virtual account (VA) number according to their invoices instead of sending the business owner’s bank account details.

Based on The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu), there are 2 types of virtual accounts used in the country. They are fixed and non-fixed VA. Fixed VA is usually connected directly to the user's cellphone number, so it is permanent. Meanwhile, non-fixed VA is usually a random number created by the system and is only used for one transaction.

How Does It Work?

You might wonder, if the VA does not require a regular bank account to make customers pay their invoices, then where is the money sent to?  

VA contains customer identification numbers based on the company’s needs to carry out transactions with their customers or merchants. This allows customers to pay without writing down the bank account number of the company again.

At certain VAs, customers don't even need to write down the nominal and payment information because it has been generated automatically by the system through invoice detail information. This system also allows payment confirmation to take place automatically without the need to send the payment receipt.

The customer payment fund then goes to the VA system created by the bank partner and then settled to the business owners’ bank account after 2 days. Since VA is created by banks, every bank has its system. Business owners need to connect their business to every bank partner needed if they want to have several types of VA to fulfill their customers' needs.

An appropriate solution to simplify VA integration is by using payment gateway services. One-stop integration to connect to various virtual accounts from different bank partners. For instance, VA BCA, VA BRI, VA Mandiri, VA BNI, and so on. Business owners do not need to manually connect to various banks, one effective integration and ready to accept payment via VA.

Virtual Account Benefit

As mentioned briefly at the beginning, VA benefits both parties, customers and business owners. Here are several benefits that they could get:

Benefits for Customers

• The payment process can be done easily without typing the bank code and destination account number.
• Transactions can be carried out anywhere and at any time without having to meet directly.
• There is no need to send payment receipts because the data is automatically recorded in the system.
• Customers feel secure when making payments because it does not transfer directly to a personal account.

Benefits for Sellers

• Makes financial reporting easier because all data is recorded automatically without the need to check multiple mutations back and forth.
• Suitable for various types of business transactions and can be adjusted to suit your needs.
• Can accept customer payments 24 hours without having to check payments manually.

An Essential Payment in Indonesia

Based on InsightAsia research in 2023, bank transfer is 2nd most used cashless payment in Indonesia after digital wallet. Indonesian users still prefer bank-based payment for their daily transactions. On the other hand, Indonesian banks do not share transaction identity based on invoices so business owners have to reconcile each transaction one by one.

The virtual account is an advanced innovation from manual bank transfer payment. VA is a new payment trend to simplify the cumbersome process of manual bank transfer. Reconciliation reports are made automatically which minimizes human errors and increases time efficiency.

Advancing Virtual Account Payment with iFortepay

Level up your business payment using iFortepay virtual account payment services. We provide integration and non-integration payment processes based on your needs. iFortepay is an official partner of more than 6 largest banks to provide VAs.

1. Non-Integration

Accept your payment easily without any integration process using payment links from Instapay by iFortepay. Download Instapay Indonesia app in Play Store or App Store to register and verify your account. You can also access Instapay Web App to maximize the bulk invoice feature from a desktop view. Learn more >>

2. Integration

a. Checkout Page

Maximize customer experience on your website. Connect your website with our various VA payments to support transactions on your website. We provide an official plug-in that supports payment pages. Email us at sales@ifortepay.id for further discussions.

b. API

Provide a checkout page tailored to your business with API integration. Get access to all of our payment methods using standardized API integrations. Do not hesitate to reach us by email sales@ifortepay.id.