MasterCard updated their merchant interchange rates and fees portion of their web site. It’s a useful for all merchants. The missing link to all this data however  is a clear identification of which transactions are qualified and which ones are not.  For example, if a merchant is on Interchange plus pricing, it lists all the interchange rates the merchant paid. But it doesn’t indicate which ones are qualified and which ones downgraded to a higher rate. Some processors provide this information, with a section call ‘non-qualified’ transactions, however, the software frequently shows transactions as non-qualified that truly are the best qualified rate that a merchant can receive.

As a merchant I would want to know which rates are the best possible for a given card type at a glance. Why should a merchant have to hunt through hundreds of pages to figure it out? Interchange is not getting less complicated. Our team offers merchants an automated solution to qualify transactions for the best interchanges rates. Contact us for details.

3D Merchant maintains a list and links of all official interchange rates here.

The Omni 3750 is a multi-merchant capable machine, often used by businesses that had one account for retail and one for MOTO. Before jumping into the next dial up or even IP multimerchant terminal, it’s time to review the related credit card processing landscape. The primary purpose of separate retail and MOTO merchant accounts has been to help larger merchants qualify for lower interchange levels for each type of transaction. This method has historically been particularly important for wholesale suppliers in the construction industry that have a storefront, plus a base of commercial accounts, most of whom do not pay at the store. Without two merchant accounts, the cost of card not present transactions cost up to 1.05% extra on a retail account.

INTERCHANGE QUALIFICATION CHALLENGE: Proper presentment of transactions regardless of method of entry (key entered or swipe) or card type (different requirements for data to submit). Proper presentment is getting more complex as regulations are changing more rapidly in the past and the card networks & card issuing banks are creating new rules making it harder to qualify for the best rate for any given card type. For example, our internal spring bulletin explaining fee changes was 32 pages long versus a more typical 2-3 pages.

ADDITIONAL CONCERN: New Fixed Acquirer Network Fee (FANF). Visa’s Card Present Fee is fixed based on the number of locations. For Card Not Present (CNP), the fee is based on monthly sales volume, and is much higher than card present. Each merchant account is counted as a location. EMV (contactless) is mandated for all merchants by 2015; Visa is offering incentives to merchants who implement beginning in the 3rd quarter of 2012.

ANALYSIS: It is my firm belief that it will be impossible for merchants as described above to continue to qualify for the best interchange rates with standard dial up terminals because of the continual need to identify needs, update programming and train employees. A manual process just won’t work. As an interchange expert, even I can’t keep up with the rules to manually oversee merchant accounts without an automated system.  A host based solution is the only viable long term solution for merchants who want to control fees.

SOLUTIONS:

If you want to stick with a multi-merchant terminal:

• FD300 TI (PCI) Dual Com, First Data only, $499
• FD300 Wifi (PCI), First Data only, $695
• Other brands may be available, check manufacturer web sites for current models.

For a host based solution:

• CenPOS virtual terminal with automated switching. With a single merchant account, CenPOS will identify the card issuing bank, requirements needed to qualify you for the lowest interchange for that card, and automatically present properly as retail or card present with all the right data. Benefits:

1. Interchange optimized, employee mistakes eliminated
2. Single merchant account- potentially reduce statement fees, regulatory fees, PCI compliance fees, and higher CNP FANF fees
3. Always current with latest federal and state regulations

Limitations:  As of this writing, EMV is not yet approved on CenPOS, but is anticipated by July 1 when Visa’s incentives begin; hardware manufactures are still working out reliability issues with some new models.  In the interim, merchants may wish to use inexpensive secure card readers for low transaction environments, or older model signature capture units that will have to be replaced at a later date.

Merchants must understand interchange in order to understand why credit card processing fees can vary with the same bank issued card from one transaction to the next.  The cardholders financial institution remits to the merchant financial institution (merchant processor) the transaction amount, less the interchange rate. The interchange rate may be a directly negotiated rate between the bank and the processor or it may be a default rate set by Visa, Discover or MasterCard.

When the rate is created, there are stipulations or criteria to qualify for the rates. For example, the rate applies if x, y, and z are present. But if only x and y are present charge a higher rate. If only x is present, charge even more. Here’s where merchant confusion comes in. How does a merchant know what is needed? How do they know if they qualified for the lowest rate or a higher rate? It is possible to train cashiers or order processors? Of course not!

Many merchants have been trained to make sure that level 2 data is supported, which is pretty universal today. Unfortunately, they’ve been lulled into believing this is the fix-all for getting better rates. How come so many transactions don’t qualify for commercial data rate 2?  Instead, merchants hit one of the others illustrated below, commercial standard or commercial data rate 1.

This is a single excerpt of many, many pages related to commercial credit card processing. Merchants need to know there are multiple rules for all types of credit and debit card transactions, not just commercial cards.

What is enhanced data required?  It depends on the card issuer and the card brand. For example, Visa commercial cards for travel & entertainment (T&E) have different requirements than other commercial cards. Do you understand why ” supporting level 2 data” is not enough? 

What terminal will give you the best rate? It’s virtually impossible for a merchant to qualify for the best interchange without a system- what individual has access to all the rules, could keep up with the changes, and could train all employees to do the right thing to qualify your transactions?

1. Your payment solution must dynamically identify the card issuing bank, also known as bin management. Anything else is just not realistic because you can’t depend on employees to become payment processing experts.
2. The solution then must intelligently require the data needed to qualify for the best rate AND pass that data through.  Incredibly, there are solutions that capture data, but do not pass it through. There are even some solutions that capture the data, but then submit their own fake data because they don’t trust your employees to not make mistakes. If you’re particularly adept at reading merchant statements, you can be lulled into believing you have great interchange qualification, however, your company is at great risk of getting caught for violating presentment rules.
3. Your processor must support the receipt of the data. Not all processors can!

Rates and requirements are completely unknown to merchant employees who process transactions (cashiers) and the most educated financial staff. CenPOS proprietary technology is a private cloud, SaaS payment processing platform that AUTOMATICALLY optimizes transactions to QUALIFY for the BEST rates, saving you up to 1.05% per transaction by avoiding downgrades to non-qualified rates.

Contact Christine Speedy, Global Business Development, for more sales, agent, and reseller information.

May brings the usual April interchange update. There are two noticeable bumps for MasterCard. An overall assessment increase to .012% for all transactions over $1000, and up to .04% more for WorldCard. Full article and link to 2011 Interchange Rates and Criteria.

BUSINESS CREDIT CARDS: The typical interchange rate to merchants for corporate cards is 2.2% or 2.4%.  The non-qualified rate is a whopping 3.17% on MasterCard, which can be avoided with proper interchange management. Depending on your business type, you may qualify for large ticket (minimum $1000) rates which can save you up to 1%. To manage these business card fees, check your merchant statement PENDING INTERCHANGE CHARGES to see what rates you’re hitting. If your eyes glaze over at the complexity of interchange fees, merchant discounts etc, read the 3D Merchant Services blog or email a request to be included in our next interchange insights webinar. TIP: With our payment platform you can automatically offer discounts to your customers if they use lower cost debit cards.

MOBILE PAYMENTS: We’ve officially launched our app for iphone, itouch and ipad. This enables you obtain swipe rates from the field, including signature capture or you can key enter. Receipts are emailed to customers. For service companies, you can swipe the card the first time, then re-bill via a secure token for subsequent charges. In both cases you qualify for the lowest rate, plus mitigate risk with the initial swipe. Droid is available for key entry only, with retail swipe coming by June 30.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) COMPLIANCE AND DATA SECURITY: The number of 2010 data breaches exploded in companies with 11 to 100 employees. A key commonality is simply the opportunity was there. Read the full 2011 Data Breach report which includes insider theft so you can identify your own weaknesses and take corrective action. Your company is not PCI Compliant and protected under Safe Harbor unless you can prove you’ve been compliant continually, not just when you completed an annual report. Trust me, all parties will look for ways for you to assume the full burden of costs associated with any data breach.  Every operation I visit or speak to has weaknesses so please put this on your priority list!. Need help? Call and lets discuss.

What’s in your merchant statements?  Multiple locations are now achieving over 90% pin debit penetration using our universal processing platform, CenPOS. Way to go!

This article on Virtual Terminal Solutions addresses credit card processing in a law firm or individual attorney practice. How can improve security, prevent fraud, improve PCI Compliance, and reduce time to collect payments from repeat clients?

Virtual terminals are accessed via a secure web page enabling merchants to key enter credit card or other payment information. I recently helped someone hire a specialized attorney. There was no need to meet the attorney in person, and as it turns out, the specialist wasn’t local anyway. Read this article and see if you find any similarities with your own legal practice.

SCENARIO:  Collecting payment with customer not present.
A prospective client contacts an attorney regarding a legal matter for a third party. The individual desires to pay the legal bills for the party needing the services. After a brief discussion, the attorney sends a questionnaire to be filled out. After reviewing the information, a conference call is to be scheduled. There is an initial consultation fee for research, review and conference call. If the client desires to move forward, additional payment(s) will apply.

The party paying the bill requested to supply credit card information immediately to avoid any future delays as the process moved forward.  The ‘regular staff’ wasn’t in due to the holidays and an assistant took the credit card information over the phone, including CVV security code, writing it down on paper.  The firm will charge the card on the conference call date. I know the assistant doesn’t normally handle this function, but how often does this scenario happen in your law firm?

AVOID HIGH RISK

Collecting and writing down CVV information is a risky practice, and is generally not acceptable for most PCI Compliance situations. Creating a policy for Storage of Credit Card Details both on and off your premises is an essential element of PCI Compliance. Your company should have a clear written policy and all employees with access to sensitive information should have at least an abbreviated version of the written policy and have had training.

See related article, “Should you require CVV or AVS for phone orders?”.

How can a virtual terminal improve data security?

The key to selecting the best virtual terminal for a law firm is understanding the entire process for how payments are made, knowing the differences in virtual terminals available, and understanding the steps to PCI Compliance.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTING CREDIT CARD PROCESSING VIRTUAL TERMINAL SOLUTION FOR A LAW FIRM

1. Must enable multiple users, each with their own login. This is so you can track who makes every transaction. (Risk Management)
2. Uniquely control user privileges- who can enter “sale”, “void”, “refund”. Each of these should be uniquely configurable. Most systems provide ALL privileges to all users, but to reduce risk, you shouldn’t provide refund capabilities to someone who is not normally involved in the billing process, as in the scenario above.
3. Token billing for variable amounts- if you want to re-bill a customer over and over again, require tokenization. There are two unique types of token billing. One is to charge a variable amount on demand; the other is to charge multiple payments of the same amount at specific intervals, also known as installment payments. The card data is key entered via a secure web page one time only. Most solutions have an installment option, but very few have a solution for variable amount, on-demand payments.

BONUS CRITERIA- these features are not required, but there are strong reasons to put them on your list.

1. Client/contract management. With this solution, the merchant can set up multiple contracts for the same client ID, and assign different billing periods, amounts etc.; enter the card data one time only. Each contract is given a unique token.
2. Least cost routing. This technology will automatically require AND pass all data elements needed to qualify for the lowest cost interchange for any given card type, on to your processor. Human error and specific technical knowledge are eliminated from the process. This feature can reduce costly downgrades; for example up to .70% extra on corporate credit cards. What’s unique about this?

• Not all virtual terminals collect the information needed.
• Not all virtual terminals REQUIRE the information needed so it’s easy to bypass.
• Not all virtual terminals pass on the data to the processor even if it’s collected; the merchant has no way of knowing what’s needed or what is passed on.
• Users are typically in control, rather than intelligent software.
• Most virtual terminals are simply gateways. There are input fields and data is passed forward. Our professional services virtual terminal solution is not just a gateway. It’s an intelligent switch that recognizes the card type and determines what is the least costly way to submit the transaction for processing. Then it collects and passes the necessary data.

3D MERCHANT SOLUTION- All of the above plus, these additional law firm friendly features:

Would you like data interaction between your credit card processing and your legal software? Via API or CSV Export, you can update your legal software application. You CANNOT export or see card data ever, but you can use last 4 digits, name, card type and other fields.

Executive Reporting: Who’s billing the most?  Eliminate wasted time creating reports and totaling data. Via the executive dashboard, you can see billing in real time, with up to 7 years data to pull from. Organize your reporting preferences by division, region, and or attorney.

See related article best virtual terminal for card not present for comparison.

FAQ for 3D Merchant recommended virtual terminal

How much does the virtual terminal cost?

The virtual terminal is very affordable. Pricing is based on volume, either dollars or transactions. Depending on your credit card processing fees now, it may even be net neutral. For a firm proposal, please submit at least 2 months merchant statements for review. (You can keep your processor or change, no difference in price.)

Are there computer requirements? High speed internet and updated browser with flash plugin. PC or MAC compatible.

How easy is it to use? After logging in and changing the temporary password, most users will figure out everything they need to know in about 5-10 minutes. There are dozens of short 15-30 second HELP video clips for instant answers.

What is the implementation time? Contract approval to account set up is usually 2-5 business days. If you’re switching processors, we’ll have everything ready for you to start accepting payments immediately. Just add users in a matter of minutes and you’re ready to go. You can even batch upload existing client data.

If you’re not switching processors, we’ll provide you with a form for your processor to complete so we can link to your existing merchant account.

Cost reduction specialists choose 3D Merchant Services to partner with for credit card processing because we offer value added services just like they do.  Cost reduction specialists look for ways to reduce credit card processing costs and frequently are paid on a contingency basis. Merchants don’t switch processors just to save money though. They need a bigger reason than that.

Merchants hear from sales people every day “I can lower your costs.”  While some cost reductions are achieved with merchant discount changes, most long term savings are achieved through interchange management. There’s also improved efficiencies (save time) which can be huge. If the cost reduction specialist uses just the  ‘save money’ approach, they’ll lose more deals than ‘save money AND get more benefits’.

Our competitive advantage:

• PCI Compliance Certification Assistance.
• Fortune 100 Pricing Structure.
• Relationship Manager proactively helps you manage costs; regular account reviews.
• On demand access to transaction details and reports you really want.
• Tools and resources to prevent internal and external fraud.
• Hardware/software agnostic- compatible with most systems.

Our Top 5 vertical markets: ( not in order)

• Retail, especially durable goods, automotive, construction supplies and electronics.
• Non-profit
• Wholesale building supply; any Business to Business (B2B)
• Hotel and entertainment (golf, amusement)
• Ecommerce

Market niche comments:

• Card not present transactions have many potential cost and risk problems. We’re seeking B2B, insurance, medical billing and non-profits in particular.
• For retail stores processing more than $1 million per month, our CenPOS technology solution is frequently desirable and has benefits not available from other competitors.
• Our average merchant is processing a minimum of $1 million annually.

Service reliability- I hope that this is a non-issue in any organization. Downtime is non-existent in my experience.

Another worry for merchants is the process of changing.  We address this upfront with an implementation schedule. Both parties need to have all elements or questions answered completely before we start to ensure a smooth and flawless transition.

For the Cost Reduction Specialist to prove savings, and thus get paid, you’ll need reporting that shows not only costs, but the full detail of all costs. Merchant reports show full details so that you can discern non-negotiable cost increases (such as an interchange rate increase) that are out of anyone’s control.

Our services are not limited to just credit card processing. We offer services for all aspects of payment processing, including checks, loyalty cards and more.

We conduct account reviews, training, and other conference calls using Webex, a web based meeting program that allows us to exchange voice, data, pictures and video in real time with customers, and you, regardless of location.

Interchange and Merchant Discount fees can be illustrated by a typical 4-party transaction involving the purchase of an item using a typical VISA/MasterCard type general-purpose credit card issued by a bank. When a Cardholder purchases a $100 item from a Merchant using a typical VISA/MasterCard type credit card, the Merchant passes on the $100 charge to its Merchant/Acquiring Bank in exchange for $98.00, pursuant to the Merchant’s contract with the Merchant/Acquiring Bank. The Merchant/Acquiring Bank submits the $100 charge into the VISA/MasterCard system and receives $98.50 from the customer’s credit card Issuing Bank (less a small processing VISA/MasterCard fee) in accordance with the VISA/MasterCard rules. The Issuing Bank eventually receives $100 from the Cardholder when the credit card charge is paid. Under this scenario, the Merchant/Acquiring Bank keeps a net Merchant Discount fee of $.50 ($98.50 – $98.00), while the Issuing Bank receives an Interchange” fee of $1.50 ($100 – $98.50). These fees combined are sometimes referred to as a Merchant Discount fee. In some instances, the structure of the transaction changes slightly, but the ultimate economic effect is the same. In addition, the same entity may act as both the Issuing Bank and the Merchant/Acquiring Bank in the same transaction.

The above is the IRS description of the merchant fees process. I think it may be easier for some merchants to understand this explanation so thought I’d pass it on. In this scenario, 75% of the merchant fees paid end up with the card issuing bank. It’s higher than that for the size businesses I generally deal with, more like 95-98%, but you get the point. Merchants need to manage payment processing costs, by controlling the big chunk of money that ends up with the card issuing bank.

What is interchange management?

Link to IRS article at top. Information Document Request for Interchange and Merchant Discount Fees – Banks.

CenPOS released a video showing some of the main features and benefits for its payment processing platform for retailers. CenPOS reduces risk, improves efficiencies and enables merchants to manage interchange, the bulk of their payment processing costs.

CenPOS video
With the pin pad replacement programs in high speed to meet 2010 guidelines, mid-sze and larger merchants should see this video before choosing a solution.