Freedom in Motion requires and prefers ACH payments for our weekly membership dues. ACH stands for Automatic Clearing House and is when a payment is done directly with a bank's account and routing numbers. Read more about ACH here on Consumerfinance.gov
What is an ACH payment?
An ACH payment is a type of electronic bank-to-bank payment. The ACH system is a way to transfer money between bank accounts, rather than going through card networks or using wire transfers, paper checks, or cash.
Why does Freedom in Motion require ACH for membership payments?
There are a couple of reasons why we require and prefer ACH for the weekly membership dues.
- Cost Savings for members and the gym.
Charging via ACH is significantly cheaper for small businesses as we don't have Visa or master card playing a middleman with 3% upcharges on every transaction. This helps the gym keep prices where they are and not 5% higher like what visa recommends. - Security
Your ACH data is held by our 3rd party payment vendors. One is Check commerce. See their security protocols here. ACH Vendors can partner directly with your bank security and help keep your data quite safe. There is a reason why you don't often hear about major ACH leaks like you would hear about major Debit card leads like what happened to sony or target. Freedom in Motion can only ever see your bank name and the last 4 digits of your account, the same as what we can see regarding debit cards. this is the industry standard. - Convenience
The FiM office team doesn't need to bother members every time their debit card expires. this saves you time and again saves us on payroll and helps us focus on creating awesome memories for our families.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. We're always here to assist you.