Processing fees

Have you looked at your statement lately?

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Statement

Take a quick moment to look over your monthly merchant statement -unexpected extra fees can pop up at any time. You should be familiar with what your standard monthly/quarterly/annual fees are you will notice if something has been added or increased. Also be sure to read processor notes commonly at the end of your statement this is where you can see a heads up for new fees and changes to your account. Call Support or your local rep to see what benefit these provide and if they are required.

One of the most common items I see is clients being charged a PCI non-validation fee month after month This can commonly run $19.95 a month to over $100. I just reviewed a clients statement and found they were charged and extra $19.95 in January even though they passed their compliance scan on the 1st of the year – apparently since their billing occurred the same day as the scan they didn’t show as being compliant. This was on top of finding and additional $18 dollars a month in new optional fees last Fall that were not required and were unwanted. An additional $40/month can really impact the effective rate paid by a small business.

If your rep is not looking out for you it maybe time to find one that will.

Are You Really on Interchange + Pricing?

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Credit Card Processing

Interchange Plus pricing also know as Cost Plus or Pass-through pricing is the most common credit card processing today and is designed to be very transparent so you know what you are really paying. This model should pass through Interchange charged by the Credit Card companies and the Card issuer fees (Assessments etc) at Cost and processing fees are covered by a small markup commonly called “discount” and a per item fee or Authorization fee. Additional fees may include a daily batch settlement, admin, paper statement, electronic statement, paper supplies etc – each of these fees should be clearly stated out in your agreement and not be a surprise when you get you first statement.

Sadly not everyone is getting charged what they agreed too. For example: this week, I came across a business that even though they were processing a lower than average volume had a discount rate that was exceptionally low, this didn’t really compute. On the surface they appeared to have a very competitive rate, however their overall effective rate told a different story as it was higher than average, even though they are taking in 45% of their transactions on debit cards! Upon further analysis I discovered all of their listed interchange fees were around 35% over cost and their processor was padding their fees! So even if you are quoted an exceptional rate that doesn’t mean you are actually getting them.

You can request a statement analysis to see if there are any hidden costs or “junk fees” in your statement.