Sarah Bester, General Manager of Ray White Double Bay, said: “The system is very simple to use and given the challenges we all face with purchasers not having cheques available to them, it is a solution that will walk us into the future of deposit transactions on property purchases."
REINSW and Macquarie Bank share an optimistic view that this app could take the frustration out of auction transactions for auctioneers, selling agents and purchasers.
How does the Auction Pay app work?
After the hammer falls at an auction an agent logs into the app and then enters the property address and sale price. The app then calculates the deposit and prompts the buyer for payment.
Once the buyer agrees to the terms and conditions, the transaction is complete and an email receipt is sent to the agent and the buyer. The transaction takes around two minutes to complete.
If the buyer needs to access more than one account to achieve the 10% deposit for the transaction they can do this.
The agent must have a transactional account with Macquarie Bank to use the app, and need a tablet or mobile phone device connected to the internet (iPhone or Android).
The development of this app is timely given that the days of cheques are numbered!
Cheque days are numbered
The Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) Milestones Report showed that the use of cheques has dropped 73% since 2006 and amounts for only 1.2% of all non-cash retail payments.
It is expected that cheques will be completely phased out for the implementation of the New Payments Platform (NPP), which is scheduled to begin operations in late 2017.
The NPP infrastructure for Australia's low-value payments will provide businesses and consumers with a fast, versatile, data-rich payments system for making their everyday payments.
APCA CEO, Leila Fourie said: “Australia is leading the way in digital payments with continued strong growth in card payments, impressive smartphone penetration and improved digital literacy.
“The industry’s New Payments Platform will provide a stimulus for yet more innovation.”