If you would like to lower your merchant account fees by switching to a “straight pass through” account go here, fill out the short form and we’ll have you saving money in no time.
If you would like us to analyze your current merchant account and show you how much a “straight pass through” merchant account [...]
I know a few posts ago I wrote there was no effect on your discount rate whether you enter the CVV2 code or not. That is true for Visa and MasterCard but does not appear to be the case with keyed in Discover Card transactions. I just reviewed a Discover statement for a mail order [...]
If you are seeing a Visa transaction category named “EIRF” on your merchant account statement you are probably paying much more in discount fees than you need to. If you do not know what EIRF is, read this post and then come back: What is EIRF?
So how do we get rid of EIRF? [...]
Rules. It seems like we have more rules in our lives every day doesn’t it? I am writing this post to make you aware of some more rules. These rules are for merchant accounts and if you don’t follow them you will you will be fined! Well maybe [...]
A downgrade occurs when a transaction fails to meet certain pre-defined criteria from Visa or MasterCard, and an additional charge is added to the discount rate for processing the transaction.
Each month I review my client’s merchant account statements. I want to make sure they are saving at least as much money I promised and are having their transactions qualify for the lowest rates.
I just got off the phone with a new client of mine; a winery in St. Helena, CA. They are [...]
Capture Level II and III Data on Corporate Card Transactions
Visa and MasterCard business, commercial and purchasing cards are used just like personal credit cards. However, these cards have higher interchange rates because they offer businesses high value (and costly) features such as enhanced reporting, consolidated billing for multiple cards and statement enhancements.
The general rule [...]
Obtain Authorization/Settlement Mismatch Exemptions
In general, any variation between authorization and settlement amounts cause downgrades for merchants, which always results in higher fees. However, certain industries are allowed some authorization/settlement leeway due to the nature of their business. For example a restaurant; because an authorization will not include a figure for a tip the [...]
Use The Address Verification Service (AVS) Correctly for Card Not Present Transactions
AVS uses the billing information associated with a credit card to verify the card holder’s address. This is especially important for Card Not Present (CNP) environments. Why? Because if one of your employees fails to enter the billing address and zip [...]
Part of my job is to review and analyze merchant account statements from various businesses around he country. When ever I see the categories of “mid qual” and “non-qual” I get a big smile on my face because I know my potential client is being taken advantage of.
Here is how these tiers work to [...]
Pricing Difference Between a Retail and a MOTO Account
Both Visa and MasterCard see a card not present (CNP) transaction as a greater fraud risk than when a card is present and swiped. Therefore, both have a .31% surcharge on CNP transactions. So let’s say you have a base discount rate of 1.85% on [...]
Let’s start off with what Retail and MOTO mean:
MOTO = Mail Order Telephone Order, credit card card not present.
Retail = Store where card is present and swiped.
As you many be able to tell by the above definitions, the key issue that defines what the account should be is whether or not your customers credit card [...]
