The trend is undeniable: Digital is dominating business payments in the U.S.
Here is a prime example: Digital is becoming unavoidable when transacting with the U.S. government. As of September 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury will stop issuing paper checks for payment, and federal agencies will stop accepting paper checks altogether.
It’s a meaningful moment that shows the digital shift in action. But what about the larger issue of secure digital business payments at scale for the world’s largest economy?
New data from Bottomline’s business payments network, Paymode, suggests we’ve witnessed a major shift to digital payments among U.S. companies in the past 12 months. Experts talk about “inflection points,” and this one is unfolding before our eyes.
Shifting to digital at speed
Paymode is a business payments network, unique in that it allows only verified companies to pay and receive payments digitally. Currently there are 600,000 verified businesses sending and receiving payments via Paymode.
The network gives us unparalleled insight into American business payment behaviors. To understand what’s happening and avoid industry and business sector anomalies, we analyzed four different vertical industries from June 2024 to June 2025, the end of our last fiscal year. To ensure we were comparing sufficiently robust volumes, we looked at the top 10 largest payers in each vertical, all of whom have been on the network for at least three years.
The data tells a clear story. Check usage shows a distinct decline. Check transaction volumes fell by 13% during that time period, and check spend declined by 6%. We also found that the drop in paper check use is gaining speed. From mid-2022 to mid-2025, check spend decreased by 4% on a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) basis, and check transaction volume fell by 5% CAGR.
Meanwhile, spending on Premium ACH, the proprietary, data- rich payment type on the network, is surging, up 89% year-over-year. Transaction volume has increased 44%, while the average transaction size has increased by 31%.
What does it mean for business payments overall? We see businesses investing in more efficient, secure payments that also provide them with tangible rebates on their spend. For their part, vendors are seeing the premium features of greater speed and better remittance, resulting in reduced days sales outstanding and faster cash application.
This growth is also reflected in greater momentum on the Paymode network. At this point in 2025, roughly 3,000 new vendors are being vetted and enrolled onto the Paymode network each month, and the network participants are paying each other over $500B annually in payments.
Driving change now
Based on our view of anonymized payments data and our conversations with customers, a few factors are emerging to fuel the change. The dynamic economic environment since the start of this decade has prompted businesses to modernize their operational infrastructure, including accounts payable (AP) workflows and payments technology, to help control costs and boost efficiency. The move to modernize systems has also been driven by a skilled worker shortage in key finance and accounting roles.
Savvy finance leaders have been able to make the business case for secure and automated business payments that optimize operational expenditure and reduce fraud risks. We use ourselves as an example, because Paymode is designed to respond to and solve for the precise needs of the payables sector. The network also helps to improve working capital through rebates for payers and faster time to cash for vendors, in addition to its impressive track record of protecting payments.
Network of trust
When it comes to payment methods, U.S. business payments habits are shifting, but the focus on security is not. It’s of the utmost importance that customer data is encrypted and kept safe. Paymode includes multi-layered security from invoice receipt to payment, including encryption, secure access controls, and fraud detection protocols, all protecting sensitive financial and vendor data across the network.
At the core of this focus are the valuable network effects created by Paymode itself. Each new payer boosts Paymode's value and benefits for every business using the network. More payers lead to more secure payments, which then attract more vendors, creating a continuous virtuous cycle of efficiency, trust, and value.
With Bottomline’s 35+ years of payments experience and our extensive, expanding network of leading U.S. businesses, companies can trust that their payments and data are in reliable hands. Our focus on technology partnerships and innovative protection methods builds on that solid foundation to ensure we’re meeting the ever-evolving business needs of our customers.
Crossing the digital divide invariably depends on trusting partners to help you get to the other side safely. A business payments network built on trust, efficiency, and verification has immense value in that regard. We’re delighted to be helping so many companies in their digital payments journey, both now and for many years to come.
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