Merchant Credit Cards

Resist the Temptation to Terminate your Credit Card Processing.

In this horrible marketplace every business is looking for ways to save money. Some Merchant’s are even considering terminating their credit card processing services to save as little as two percent of those sales made by Visa, MasterCard and Discover, and three percent from American Express sales.

“Don’t do it!, It’s a false economy”. If I agreed with that, we’d both be wrong. People today in our communities have less cash in their wallets and money in their checking accounts than ever before, attributable most likely to the high unemployment rate gripping the nation and dried up credit markets. Folks are much less likely today to “impulse” spend. To turn away sales opportunities by limiting yourself to these much, much lower “cash only” amounts and tight fisted mentality is simply a mistake.”

While credit card based transaction volumes have fallen substantially for the first time in our history, debit based transaction have grown dramatically, surpassing credit volumes as the number one type of bank card processed in America today. And the vast majority of the American public under 65 years of age no longer carries their check books with them. Stopping your merchant account means you must stop accepting ALL signature debit cards. When credit card processing services are stopped a merchant has no choice but to accept hand written checks the “old fashioned way” – without verification, without electronic deposit and without knowing if the check has bounced routinely for 8 to 10 business days. This is a recipe for disaster and the reason why most merchants all across America have stopped accepting paper checks.

So what are the top five things a business should do in these troubled times, especially if you are experiencing financial difficulty, like most merchants are?

1. Because a bank is a place that will lend you money, ONLY if you can prove that you don’t need it, don’t terminate your merchant account! Rather call up a transaction processing specialist, fax in your merchant account statements and let them help you to re-evaluate your merchant services needs and rate program.

2. Work with a company that has a history of not increasing merchant account rates, and ask them to help you obtain a lower rate.

3. If you don’t already have one, add a pin pad. Pin debit services access your customers account balances on-line, real-time, and it’s a guaranteed transaction. It won’t go through if there are inadequate funds. And when it goes through, funds are deposited into your merchant account the next banking day, and the rates most often are better than with signature debit merchant services.

4. If you don’t already take American Express, add it now. “Everyone has a bankcard” is wrong. 16% of all American Express cardholders don’t have any other bankcards. And while the rate is a bit higher, American Express has the best Membership Rewards programs out there so folks want to use them. And use them they do with an average American Express charge being 27% higher than the average bankcard purchase. 55% of American Express cardholders look for the decal to see if the card is accepted, so post the decal and enjoy making new customers!

5. Add an electronic check scanner and merchant services program to take all checks from your customers safely, quickly and without fear of fraud or NSF losses, for less than you’re paying for your credit card processing now.

Stopping your credit card processing and merchant services program will no more increase your “profits” than standing in a garage will make you a car because it’s simply not going to increase your total sales. It’s been proven in America for over 40 years that the number one way to increase a merchant’s total sales is to accept all forms of payment from your customers that they prefer to make.

And of course, if you don’t already have credit card processing services, call in and get them now.

Gino Kauzlarich is the author of this article on Credit Card Processing.
Find more information about Merchant Services here.