Posted by Monika on 18 May 2012 | Tagged as: Education
In the current economic climate, businesses are seeking ways to reduce their operating costs and bolster their bottom lines. Credit card processing is one of the most confusing and complex services that companies buy today. Here are 7 strategies to help lower your payment processing costs and avoid paying excessive fees.
Posted by Monika on 16 Apr 2012 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General
The cost of processing low value debit card sales (transactions less than $15.00) has dramatically increased for merchants since the implementation of the Durbin amendment on October 1, 2011. While this new regulation caps the debit interchange fees for regulated transactions and has saved billions of dollars for most U.S. merchants, it has created an unintended consequence of doubling or tripling the cost of interchange for small ticket debit transactions. Many merchants negatively impacted by the Durbin amendment feel helpless by the interchange increase, but there are strategies that they can employ to lower their overall cost of processing debit and credit card payments. Continue Reading»
Posted by anandkgoel on 06 Apr 2012 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General
Most merchants in the U.S. are about to repay some of the savings they realized from the Durbin amendment that became effective October 2011. Starting April 2012, Visa and MasterCard are implementing new fees and increasing some interchange rates that will cost most merchants from a few dollars to a few hundred thousand dollars per month. It is important for merchants to understand their liability for these fees and seek out ways to manage the increased cost. Continue Reading»
Posted by anandkgoel on 03 Apr 2012 | Tagged as: General
Visa had a “brief” authorization network outage on Sunday lasting for about 45 minutes as reported CNET. This is the longest outage in memory, perhaps, in Visa’s history given their redundancy systems are over seven layers deep. Although unprecedented and surprising, it will have nominal long term impact, unless we experience further outages. Continue Reading»
Posted by anandkgoel on 20 Mar 2012 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General, Published Articles
If a business starts accepting credit and/or debit cards for payment, inevitably it will get a chargeback, and for any business chargeback becomes a dirty word. It would be nice if addressing chargebacks was straight forward, but that isn’t reality. Each card network — Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express — has its own rules, codes, and jargon which make the process challenging to navigate. At the beginning it seems daunting, but with some knowledge and fine-tuned processes a business can come out ahead. Continue Reading»
Posted by Monika on 24 Feb 2012 | Tagged as: General
The top seven credit card issuers in the U.S. saw larger profits in 2011 than in 2010. These profits are coming from an increasing use of credit cards by consumers. Every time a consumer uses their credit card, a merchant pays a fee to process that card. Some cards carry a higher processing fee than others and merchants end up paying various fees for processing credit card transactions. These fees add up quickly and take a bite out of the merchant’s bottom line while adding to an issuer’s profit margins.
Merchants can reduce the fees they pay for processing these transactions if they educate themselves on the industry and understand what fees are necessary and which are not. Since the industry is complex and rates are constantly changing, it can be a difficult task. Some merchants seek outside help in reducing their payment processing costs while others try to tackle it themselves. Whichever method merchants decide to utilize, they need to recognize the savings potential as evidenced by the issuer’s increasing profits.
January 2012 Nilson Report
Posted by anandkgoel on 22 Feb 2012 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General, Published Articles
What is EMV & why is it important?
EMV is an acronym for Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, and represents the 1994 founders of the global standard for credit and debit payments based on chip card technology. Today, Europay is owned by MasterCard and EMV standards are set by EMVCo, a joint venture of Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and JCB (find EMV information and specifications at www.emvco.com). Continue Reading»
Posted by anandkgoel on 01 Feb 2012 | Tagged as: Education, General
The following article from Software Advice (click here) provides a good overview of mobile payments and trends in an article titled, Mobile Payments: FAQs for Retailers.
In July 2011, Gartner released a study on worldwide mobile payment trends. In it, Gartner reported a striking 38 percent jump in mobile payment users from 2010 to 2011, to 141 million. Even so, the report notes that the market has been slow to develop, and mass market adoption may be more than four years away. Click here to read the rest of the article…
Posted by Monika on 21 Jan 2012 | Tagged as: General
If you thought you were paying too much for credit card processing, imagine being a cab driver in San Francisco. They are now being made to pay the 5% credit card processing fee for any fares that want to pay by a credit card. The fees have been shifted from the cab companies to the actual drivers and since most people prefer to pay with credit cards vs cash, this adds up to some hefty fees for the drivers.
Yellow Cab Cooperative Inc., the city’s largest cab company, stated they process more than $3 million per month in credit card transactions. A 5% charge per month on the $3 million is $150,000 and $1.8 million per year in just processing fees. We have found that most companies are paying 2% to 3% instead of the high 5%. Even taking the higher 3%, the savings would be more than $700,000 per year over what they are currently paying. And that’s just for one cab company. Imagine the savings potential here.
Click here to read the entire article in the Wall Street Journal.
Posted by anandkgoel on 21 Dec 2011 | Tagged as: Analysis, Education, General
Interchange rates for international cards (cards issued outside the U.S. and processed by a U.S. based merchant) can be very confusing. Beyond the interchange rates and other processing fees charged for international cards, every network adds two fees to every international transaction. Here’s a quick guide to understanding these fees. Continue Reading»
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