The benefits of using a patient's bank account versus a credit card are:

1) Bank accounts don't "expire", while credit cards do. This saves your staff some time of having to update expiration dates.

2) The processing fees may be cheaper when using your Bank EFT merchant account. If your patient's credit card had a rewards program linked to it or is a  business or corporate credit card, the processing rate can be as high as 3.29% - 3.89%. By having your patients keep a bank account on file for one time transactions OR monthly auto-debits, the processing rate is 1.79%, which is a big difference in fees! 

In addition to saving processing fees by keeping a bank account on file, it eliminates having to ask the patient for their credit card each time they come in. You can simply say to your patients "Your office visit for today will be automatically processed with the bank account that you have on file and a receipt will be emailed to you". This will increase patient compliance and patient retention by not having to ask the patient for money. Life at the front desk will be easier too! Staff can focus on patient education, referrals, recalls, new patients, and education!