Technology is becoming more simple and more widespread. The generation of children who grew up learning technology from a young age are becoming adults and are accustomed to an electronic way to handle everything, even making payments. Sixty-nine percent of customers ages 18-35 won’t even shop at a business that doesn’t accept electronic payments. Their parents, coworkers, and friends (even those who haven’t completely rid themselves of their checkbooks) are catching onto this as well. Learning and understanding how to use electronic payment technology is so easy – the average online payment takes less than 5 minutes. The median age of homebuyers in the U.S. in 2016 was 32 years, meaning the majority of homebuyers were likely to expect electronic earnest money payment to be an option.
Keying numbers into a entry field on a website has become the new norm when looking to make a secure transaction. Each and every day, technology becomes more secure and more people learn to spot and trust accredited web payment sites. Checkbooks and paper checks can be lost and easily forged if fallen into the wrong hands. Not to mention that a paper check clearly lists your bank routing and account numbers for anyone to see, while an online payment initiated by the consumer keeps bank account information locked and hidden from others.
Companies that wait to offer online, secure payment of earnest money will be seen as antiquated by their customers. Now is the time to deliver what they expect.