NMBS says its members will now find it even easier to pay their monthly accounts via Direct Debit, thanks to recent upgrades to the buying society’s account facilities.
NMBS members have been able to settle their monthly accounts via Direct Debit for a number of years, but after the system’s initial trial proved successful, the buying society has been working behind the scenes to make the process more intuitive and straightforward.
Julie Langford, NMBS’ Finance & Operations Director, explains: “We began offering Direct Debit facilities several years ago as a trial to see whether our members wanted that option, and very quickly more than 10% of our membership embraced the system.”
Previously, making a payment by Direct Debit involved a significant amount of manual processing, with NMBS generating a month-end statement which the member would then have to compare with their records and advise of any withheld items by phone or email. With two separate collection dates each month, this resulted in significant time and admin resources on behalf of both NMBS and the independent merchant.
The system has now been upgraded to make this process automatic, a project managed by NMBS’ Finance & Systems Manager, Christina Walker. Going forward, NMBS members will receive an email from NMBS, which includes a direct link to take them straight through to their account on the member portal. From there, they can see all the invoices, pre-ticked ready for payment to be taken at the next collection date.
If the member has a query with any invoice, they can simply untick it and supply a reason for the query, which will then be shared with NMBS and the relevant supplier for further investigation.
Langford concludes: “We’re delighted to have this latest upgrade up and running, on time and to plan. It will streamline the administration time required both for NMBS and for our members, freeing up everyone’s time to work on other projects that can benefit the independent merchant sector and our members’ businesses.”
