Visa Direct Integrates With Text-to-Pay Platform Authvia

Text-to-pay platform Authvia has integrated Visa’s real-time money movement capabilities into its core offering.

The collaboration with Visa Direct, announced in a Monday (Aug. 25) news release, allows for real-time disbursements across industries such as healthcare, automotive services, insurance and gig economy platforms with a single text message.

“Whether it’s sending a co-pay reimbursement to a patient, returning a deposit to a customer, or disbursing funds to a technician in the field, businesses need modern payout solutions that are fast, secure, and frictionless,” said Chris Brunner, founder and CEO of Authvia.

“Our collaboration with Visa Direct reinforces our commitment to eliminating payment delays and delivering next-generation experiences through messaging.”

According to the release, the integration expands Authvia’s TXT2PAY capabilities to include real-time outbound payouts to eligible Visa cards in select markets, allowing businesses to issue refunds, insurance settlements, payments, incentives and reimbursements to consumers with no need for requiring physical checks, apps or portal logins.

Instead, recipients can use Authvia’s messaging commerce platform to verify their identity, confirm payout details, and, with eligible Visa card transactions, typically get funds in real time, “all within a familiar messaging thread,” the release added.

The company’s focus on sectors such as healthcare comes as real-time payments become increasingly prevalent in that industry.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Small Business Real-Time Payments Barometer: Healthcare Edition,” part of the broader Real-Time Payments Tracker Series, shows a strong trend toward real-time payments adoption, with 83% of small healthcare businesses having used real-time payment rails last year, and roughly 80% reporting high levels of satisfaction.

“This shift is pertinent given recent events, such as the large-scale cyberattack on Change Healthcare in the first quarter of 2024, which exacerbated payment delays and underscored the vulnerabilities of traditional payment processes,” PYMNTS wrote last week.

Also last week, PYMNTS explored findings from “The Real-Time Payments World Map,” which tracks adoption across 100-plus markets in collaboration with The Clearing House.

The report covers things like the fact that the U.S. FedNow® Service recently doubled its payment cap from $500,000 to $1 million, while The Clearing House has expanded guidelines for on-behalf-of transactions, allowing new forms of business payments.

Shifts like these, PYMNTS wrote, are a sign that “the conversation is no longer only about making payments faster — but about making them bigger, more flexible and more central to enterprise finance.”