Why Carriers Are Switching to Real-Time, Low-Fee Payments

Real-time payments aren't just a speed upgrade - they're reshaping how carriers manage liquidity, claims, premiums, and commissions. 

As customer expectations shift and operational costs rise, more insurers are modernizing payment rails to improve cash flow, reduce fees, and eliminate back-office friction.

If you're evaluating where real-time, low-fee payments could improve your organization's financial performance, Paycile can walk you through how leading carriers are adopting instant rails across the payment lifecycle.  Book a call with Paycile

Why Real-Time, Low-Fee Payments Are Becoming the Industry Standard

1. Faster Claims = Lower Costs + Higher Satisfaction

Real-time payouts close claims faster, which directly reduces downstream costs like rentals, lodging, and extended repair times.
Faster disbursement improves customer trust and lowers overall claim-handling expenses across auto and P&C.

2. Lower Fees Through More Efficient Payment Rails

Legacy rails such as card networks and wires are not only slow; they're expensive.
Bank-to-bank rails (RTP, open banking, A2A) allow carriers to move money with lower transaction fees while reducing failures and exceptions that inflate operational overhead.

3. Consumers Expect Instant Options

Insurance is competing with the "instant economy."
Millennials now prefer real-time payments for financial services, including insurance.
Offering instant payouts signals credibility, transparency, and responsiveness, especially in a moment of loss or stress.

4. Better Fraud Control and Account Verification

Real-time A2A payments allow instant account validation, reducing fraud associated with checks, manual entry, and insufficiently verified bank details.
This improves both compliance accuracy and customer experience.

5. Modern Core Systems Are Enabling Rapid Adoption

Upgrades to claims, billing, and policy platforms, or partnerships with fintechs, let carriers deploy real-time payments in weeks instead of quarters.
The industry is moving quickly: more carriers report shifting to instant rails as they refresh their finance stack and replace brittle legacy workflows.

 

The Barriers Holding Some Carriers Back

Despite the acceleration, many insurers still delay adoption.
Here�s why:

• Implementation cost concerns, especially for smaller carriers
  
  
• Fraud misconceptions (despite strong evidence that instant verification reduces fraud risk)
  
  
• Limited transparency in aged systems that struggle with real-time reconciliation
  
  
• Consumer fee sensitivity, with a large segment unwilling to pay extra for instant disbursements
  
  

The gap is widening between carriers adopting real-time rails and those still operating on slow, expensive, manual workflows.

 

What Leading Carriers Gain from Real-Time Payments

Carriers using modern, low-fee rails are seeing improvements in:

• Cash Flow Predictability
  Less float, fewer delays, and faster settlement.
  
  
• Operational Efficiency
  Reduced exception handling, manual reconciliation, and payment chasing.
  
  
• Liquidity Management
  Real-time visibility into inflows and outflows across the organization.
  
  
• Customer Loyalty & NPS
  Faster, more transparent payments at moments that matter.
  
  

In a market where experience is part of the product, real-time matters.

 

Ready to Modernize Your Payment Flows?

With Paycile, insurers, MGAs, and TPAs can:

• Move to real-time, low-fee bank-to-bank payments
  
  
• Consolidate all rails into a single integration
  
  
• Reduce operational and payment-processing costs
  
  
• Improve liquidity with real-time reconciliation
  
  
• Deliver instant payouts and on-time premium collection

 

Want to see how real-time could reduce your fees and accelerate cash flow? Book a call with Paycile and get a payment modernization assessment based on your current volumes.