What is Trustly?

Founded in 2008, Trustly is a Swedish banking company that makes online banking payments easier for merchants and their customers.

Essentially, Trustly allows consumers to pay directly from their bank account without needing to use a card or app. Users don’t even need to register or pay any fees to use Trustly, and merchants that offer the service can take advantage of a number of benefits, including cost-effective payments and boosted customer loyalty.

Trustly currently works with over 6,300 banks across Europe and North America, and is used by more than 8,100 merchants. But how does it work? Which regions can it be used in? And is it safe? We’ll answer all those questions and help you decide whether you should offer Trustly to your customers.  

How does Trustly work?

Trustly is a quick, easy, and safe way for merchants to accept payments. Built with Open Banking Technology - which allows third-party services to access banking information securely - Trustly can bypass the delays caused by the multiple intermediaries in the card-payments chain. That means faster settlement of funds, instant refunds, and happier customers who don’t need to create an account or pay any fees.

Here’s how Trustly works for your customers:

• First, they need to choose to pay with Trustly at checkout
• They’ll then be taken to the Trustly Banking website, where they can select their bank
• Next, they need to login to their online banking and choose which account they’d like to make the payment from
• Finally, they just need to complete the payment from their online banking

Where can Trustly be used?

Trustly is available to customers who have a bank account in Canada, the US and European countries, including:

• Austria
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• Germany
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Spain
• Sweden
• The UK

Is Trustly safe to use?

Trustly is safe to use and relies on the highest encryption standard available alongside bank security systems. Trustly is also a Preferred Partner for Online Banking Payment & Verification for Nacha, a nonprofit that regulates ACH transactions in the US. This means it directly contributes to the organization's efforts to make payments easier, safer, and more secure for banks and their customers.

Additionally, Trustly never stores any information that can be used to access a customer’s bank account, which means card details can’t be stolen and used for fraud.

Benefits of Trustly for merchants

If you’re unsure whether or not to start offering Trustly to your customers, consider the following benefits:

• Valued by young consumers - Trustly offers you a way to secure the loyalty of Gen Z and Millennial customers who prefer simple, digital payment methods
• Embedded Stronger Customer Authentication - while cards can struggle with SCA, Trustly has been optimized for mobile devices with embedded SCA
• Excellent customer experience - your customers will love the ease of using Trustly to make payments with no need for a card, to register or to enter manual details. Everything can be authenticated with biometric data
• Highly secure - as your customers don’t have to provide card details in order to use Trustly, there’s little to no chance that they’ll be a victim of fraud or hacking
• Instant refunds - unlike the slow process of card refunds, Trustly can issue instant, automated refunds via an API call, which means fewer support calls and happier customers
• Cost effective payments - Trustly’s flexible and competitive fee structures and cost-efficient cross border payments help you avoid the rising cost of doing business in the EU and increasing interchange and scheme fees

Does Checkout.com offer Trustly as a payment method?

Trustly is one of many payment methods offered by Checkout.com for businesses that take debit card payments.

And that’s not all. From global card schemes to the most popular local payment methods in the regions in which you operate, wherever you operate, Checkout can help you maximize sales and drive conversions. Discover our entire suite of connected payment methods.