How Cannabis Payments Have Evolved: A Guide to Frictionless Cannabis Transactions

Settling cannabis transactions and facilitating payments has often been tricky. For banks, there’s a great deal of risk involved due to evolving regulations, credit card network policies toward the industry, and the attitudes of other financial institutions toward cannabis transactions. For operators, this presented a challenge when it came to finding payment processing options, often leading to challenges making and receiving payments or serious delays in transferring funds. 

The emergence of new payment solutions heralds a new era for financial institutions and cannabis operators alike, providing effective, secure ways to handle cannabis payments that were previously unavailable. Thanks to these solutions, making payments and getting paid have never been easier for the cannabis industry.

Payments in the cannabis industry: a brief history

Historically, cannabis businesses had limited payment options between each other and their ancillary vendors. Major credit card networks like Visa and Mastercard refuse (and continue to refuse) to support cannabis transactions, while limited access used to leave many cannabis businesses without the ability to support ACH or wires.

Some workarounds have appeared to offer customers the ability to use debit cards in retail environments. Many of these payment processors are often unreliable and could be shut down at any time. Even when a business is working with a cannabis-friendly institution, these forms of transactions could be flagged by the recipient’s bank and suspended if identified as a cannabis transaction. 

But working in cash alone isn’t feasible. It slows down transactions, complicates accounting, and makes businesses susceptible to robbery. Fortunately, cannabis payment platforms have stepped up to meet the needs of businesses that need effective payment options. Thanks to these solutions, the world where cannabis businesses can only deal in cash is quickly disappearing.

How to send and receive cannabis payments

Compliant solutions like Green Check Direct by PayQwick provide payment processing support for everything from ACH payments to wire transfers to debit card transactions. For operators, these solutions offer more flexible payment options for day-to-day B2B payments. 

Here’s how it works! 

Green Check Direct’s dashboard gives you a complete overview of your account and funds. You can also review recent transactions, deposit or withdraw funds, pay bills, complete wire transfers, generate and manage invoices, and send payments to suppliers.

Green Check Direct offers a cannabis banking alternative

Green Check Direct offers a secure way for cannabis operators to store and send funds with no minimums and no caps.

As a money service business (MSB), Green Check Direct doesn’t have the traditional routing and account numbers of a conventional bank. That’s where the platform’s PayQwick feature comes in. With PayQwick, Green Check Direct account holders can send and receive instant payments between themselves and other account holders. Every Green Check Direct account also comes with a dedicated relationship manager who knows you and your business personally. When questions arise, you’ll have a direct point of contact to support you. 

Green Check Direct displays a complete history of your transactions and their status. 

Green Check Direct offers money transfer services

Green Check Direct by PayQwick offers straightforward money management and transfer services to cannabis operators. These include:

• QwickPay: When making a payment to a Green Check Direct account holder in-network, your transactions will be settled instantly, 365 days of the year. 

Qwick Payments between two Green Check Direct account holders are settled in real-time, providing for a seamless transfer of funds.

• Cash: Arrange a courier service to deposit large amounts of cash. Count your cash and fill out a deposit slip for the courier and provide it to them at your pickup location. They’ll take it to a secure location under surveillance and confirm the amount. Then, the cash is taken to the Federal Reserve, where it is digitized. Within two business days, the funds will appear in your account and will be available for all payment services.
  
• Physical and digital checking: Send physical checks on behalf of your business or email digital checks to the recipient. Either way, this feature works just like a traditional checkbook. You can also set up recurring payments with the checking option. 
• ACH transactions: Even though Green Check Direct accounts don’t include routing and account numbers, the platform can facilitate ACH payments by requesting funds from the sender’s bank. Those funds are then deposited into customer accounts, much like an invoice being paid.
  

• Wire transfers: Initiate domestic and international wire transfers. Create a creditor profile using the recipient’s legal business name or their DBA, along with remarks and instructions. When receiving funds via wire transfer, the recipient will get official letterhead with instructions on how to wire the funds.

Payment processing support

In addition to providing support for the payment methods above, Green Check Direct by PayQwick enables cannabis businesses to set up specialized ACH instructions with vetted merchant processors who work with the cannabis industry. Every business that works with Green Check Direct receives a dedicated account manager who sets up specialized ACH instructions with each merchant processor unique to that relationship. This specialized ACH instruction is used to settle payments with that merchant processor alone.

If a merchant processor shuts down, it won’t affect the cannabis business’s relationship with other merchant processors, since the ACH instructions are unique to each processor. These specialized ACH instructions can also be set up for payroll processing, utilities providers, government agencies for tax or license payments, and internet service providers. Payments sent using these specialized ACH instructions also incur no fees, since they’re the types of payments required to run a business. 

Cannabis payments have never been easier

Paying and getting paid has never been easier with Green Check Direct by PayQwick. The platform provides cannabis businesses with more flexibility when it comes to sending and receiving payments, increasing reliable and secure access to financial solutions. When payments aren’t suspended or delayed, cannabis businesses can focus on operations and grow. At Green Check, we support that growth by providing the financial services every business needs. Speak to an expert to learn how Green Check Direct by PayQwick can help your company grow.