Why Coverage Is the Currency of Trust in Payments

In the world of payments, trust isn’t just about compliance or credentials—it’s about coverage. The ability to see more, know more, and act faster across a wide range of financial institutions and account types is what separates reactive risk management from proactive decisioning.

And in today’s environment, coverage is currency.

 

The Challenge: Rich Data vs. Real-World Friction

For years, the gold standard in account validation has been user-authorized access to banking portals—asking users to log in to their bank accounts to retrieve data. While this method provides rich insights, it introduces high friction into the user experience, often leading to drop-off, abandonment, or outright refusal.

At ValidiFI, we champion adaptive friction—a smarter approach that balances trust, security, and user experience. By leading with permissionless, non-credentialed access to verified bank data, we enable faster, frictionless onboarding, lending, and payments. When risk signals arise, such as multiple SSNs or unusual transaction patterns, we seamlessly introduce step-up verification to maintain trust without disrupting the flow.

Why Coverage Matters More Than Ever

According to Nacha, the ACH Network processed more than 662 million Same Day ACH payments totaling $1.9 trillion in the first half of 2025—a 15% increase in volume and 22% increase in value over the same period in 2024. As payment velocity increases, so does the risk of fraud, returns, and failed transactions.

This growing complexity is reflected in ValidiFI’s Bank Intelligence Report, Real-Time Payments, Real-Time Risk, which revealed:

• Accounts flagged with “Debit Return Likely” codes experienced Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) return rates 5X higher than the average
• High-risk routing numbers showed NSF rates 2.5X higher than average and 4X higher than low-risk routing numbers
• Accounts with low-pattern matches had a 36% invalid account rate compared to just 0.68% for high-pattern match accounts
• High-risk routing numbers demonstrated payment success rates of only 61%, well below the 81% average

These insights are only possible with broad and deep coverage—across traditional banks, credit unions, and emerging fintech institutions.

Coverage Enables Smarter Decisions Across the Lifecycle

Whether you’re onboarding a new customer, disbursing funds, or managing collections, coverage empowers you to:

• Validate account status instantly—up to 80% of accounts*
• Authenticate ownership without introducing friction—up to 80% of validated accounts (confirm account owner on open/valid accounts)*
• Predict payment success using behavioral and institutional data—Accounts identified as High-risk, had 4.5x higher return rate
• Reduce fraud and returns by identifying high-risk accounts before the first transaction—3+ SSN’s for a provided bank account in the past 90 days resulted in 59.5% increase in risk
• Stay compliant with confidence—as a Nacha Preferred Partner, ValidiFI helps you meet Nacha rules and internal risk policies with trusted data and tools

The Cost of Blind Spots

According to the Association for Financial Professionals, 65% of U.S. organizations experienced payment fraud in 2024, with business email compromise (BEC) and account takeover among the top threats. (Read ValidiFI’s blog post about Baltimore’s $800K fraud attack.) Yet many organizations still lack visibility into business account validation—a critical gap in the fight against fraud.

Business account validation has long been underserved in the market. ValidiFI is bridging that gap with adaptive, low-friction solutions that work seamlessly across both consumer and commercial accounts.

From Signals to Strategy

Coverage isn’t just about seeing more—it’s about doing more. ValidiFI’s payment intelligence platform transforms more than 167 million payment records, 1.4 billion inquiries, and 81 million+ bank accounts into actionable insights across the credit spectrum—from prime to subprime. Enriched with exclusive third-party sources, this unmatched depth helps you:

• Prioritize accounts based on risk
• Reduce manual reviews
• Improve payment success rates
• Make real-time decisions with confidence
  
  

Let’s Talk Coverage

If you’re looking to reduce fraud, improve payment outcomes, and build trust at every step of the payment journey, it starts with coverage. Let’s talk about how ValidiFI can help. www.Validifi.com

 

*Based on internal ValidiFI studies, 2025. Outcomes may vary depending on customer use case, implementation strategy, and other variables.