Send ACH Payments Out of QuickBooks Online

Approve a bill, send the ACH, and let the completed payment post itself back to QuickBooks Online as a bill payment. Standard, fast, and same-day options, priced per payment rather than as a cut of the amount.

Book a DemoSee how the sync works

Two-way sync with QuickBooks Online. Standard ACH settles in 3 to 5 business days.

A paid vendor invoice in Cleo Pay with its QuickBooks sync status showing the bill and the bill payment it created, each with the date it posted

The rails

Sending money out is a different job from taking it in

Searches for QuickBooks payments cover two opposite things. QuickBooks Payments is Intuit's own service and it points inward: it is how your customers pay you. This page is about the other direction, the vendors and contractors who invoice you, and the rails their money leaves on.

MethodSettles inWhen you use it
Standard ACH3 to 5 business daysThe default. Scheduled bills with a due date you already know, at no charge beyond the per-payment cost in your plan.
Fast ACH1 to 2 business daysA vendor who cannot wait. It carries a per-payment fee, and you choose it one payment at a time rather than for everything.
Next-day ACHNext business dayAvailable on the Pro plan, for the bills where a day matters and a week does not work.
Same-day RTPSame dayAvailable on the Pro plan, for the payment that has to be in the vendor's account today.

What this does not do

Cleo Pay does not process card payments from your customers. If what you are looking for is a way to get paid rather than a way to pay, that is a different product, and we would rather say so here than after a demo.

What it costs

Priced per payment, not per dollar

Worth checking before you pick anything, because percentage pricing and per-payment pricing diverge sharply once the bills get large. Cleo Pay counts payments.

How you are chargedWhat that means

A flat plan with payments included

Basic is $99 a month and includes 15 payments. Pro is $299 a month and includes 100.

Additional payments are a fixed amount

$3 each on Basic, $2 each on Pro. The number does not move with the size of the bill, so a $20,000 invoice costs the same to send as a $200 one.

Speed is a choice, not a default

Standard ACH carries no extra charge. Fast ACH costs more per payment, and you spend that only on the payments that actually need it.

Vendors are not charged to receive

Receiving is free for the vendor or contractor on the other end, so payment terms stop being a negotiation about who absorbs the fee.

After it sends

What lands in QuickBooks when the money moves

The part that costs time is not the transfer. It is proving afterward that the bank line and the bill are the same event. Cleo Pay writes that link instead of leaving it for month end.

  1. 01

    The payment completes

    Funds leave the bank account you mapped during setup. Nothing posts to QuickBooks yet, because there is nothing to post until the money has actually moved.

  2. 02

    A bill payment appears

    Cleo Pay creates the bill payment in QuickBooks Online against the original bill, carrying the vendor, the amount, and the expense category the invoice was coded to.

  3. 03

    The bill closes

    The open balance clears on the QuickBooks side without anyone opening the bill and marking it paid, which is the step that quietly gets skipped when payment happens in the bank instead.

  4. 04

    The bank feed matches

    When the transaction lands in the bank feed there is already a bill payment waiting for it, so reconciliation is a confirmation rather than a search.

You can watch it happen

Every invoice carries its own QuickBooks sync status showing the bill and the bill payment it created, with the date each one posted. When somebody asks whether a vendor was paid and whether the books know about it, that is one screen rather than two systems and a guess.

Questions

ACH payments and QuickBooks

Can you send ACH payments from QuickBooks Online?
QuickBooks Online records what you owe and what you paid, and Cleo Pay is where the ACH actually goes out. You approve the bill in Cleo Pay, send the payment, and the completed payment posts back to QuickBooks Online as a bill payment against the original bill.
Is this the same thing as QuickBooks Payments?
No, and the two point in opposite directions. QuickBooks Payments is Intuit's own service for the money coming in, the payments your customers make against invoices you send them. Cleo Pay handles the money going out, to the vendors and contractors who invoice you. If what you need is a way to accept customer payments, this is not that product.
What does it cost to send an ACH payment?
Payments are counted, not taken as a percentage of the amount. The Basic plan is $99 a month and includes 15 payments, with additional payments at $3 each. Pro is $299 a month and includes 100 payments, with additional payments at $2 each. A $20,000 bill costs the same to send as a $200 one.
How long does an ACH payment take to settle?
Standard ACH lands in 3 to 5 business days at no extra cost. Fast ACH lands in 1 to 2 business days for a per-payment fee. Next-day ACH and same-day payments over RTP are available on the Pro plan. You choose per payment, so you are not paying for speed on bills that are not urgent.
How does an ACH payment show up in QuickBooks?
It posts as a bill payment linked to the original bill, carrying the vendor, the amount, and the expense category the invoice was coded to. The bill closes and the bank line reconciles without a manual match, so there are no journal entries to write and no amounts to re-key.
Where do vendor bank details come from?
The vendor enters them. You send a link, they connect a bank account through Plaid and sign their W-9, and they own that record from then on. When an account number changes, they change it, so you find out because the record updated rather than because a payment failed.
What happens if an ACH payment is returned?
The vendor is notified and can correct their banking details in their own portal, and the payment is reprocessed once they do. Cleo Pay writes the bill payment to QuickBooks when a payment completes rather than when it is initiated, so a returned payment does not leave a settled bill payment sitting against a bill that was never actually paid.
Does it work with QuickBooks Desktop?
The integration supports QuickBooks Online on all plans today. QuickBooks Desktop is on the roadmap, so get in touch if that is what you run and we will share timing.

Watch an ACH payment land in QuickBooks

We will connect a sandbox to QuickBooks Online, send a payment, and show you the bill payment it wrote back against the bill.

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