The Vantiv billing is a bit different than we’ve experienced with other processors, but the end result is the same. Below is an example of the text that appears on a Bank Of America business checking account for a merchant using Vantiv merchant services and CenPOS SaaS payment technology, as offered by your blog author, Christine. Merchants are billed once per month for all fees, via ACH.
ACH Fees on Bank Of America Statement:
- On 3/4/2013 we were charged MTHLY UNBN MERCHANTSERVCS CCD -$876.66 “123456”*
- On 3/6/2013 we were charged GEN CENPOS CCD -$—- “123456”
- On 3/11/2013 we were charged BILLING MERCH SERVICES CCD -$255.26 “123456”
Item 1: MTHLY UNBN MERCHANTSERVCS CCD. These are pure interchange fees. Interchange is always a percentage of the transaction plus a per item fee. Interchange comprises the bulk of credit card processing fees. They’re non-negotiable, but they can be influenced, which is a significant factor in merchants choosing CenPOS, an intelligent payment gateway that optimizes transactions for qualified interchange rates. Interchange rates reflect the cost as determined by card card type and other factors.
Fifth Third Merchant Services changed their name to Vantiv, see prior article for more information. The mailed statement return address is Merchant Services, Cincinatti.
Item 2: GEN CENPOS CCD. Fees match the CenPOS agreement and monthly statement.
Item 3: BILLING MERCH SERVICES CCD. These are costs for credit card processing services, in other words, the supplier of your merchant account. This includes accessing networks etc. For this statement, they’re all are dead cost passed through from Vantiv, plus the stated Vantiv fees. The merchant discount, per the agreement, is our gross profit.
* Each dollar amount has an account number “123456 example” that follows. For security reasons, the account numbers have been omitted from this blog post.
All costs/net sales=effective rate
old effective rate= 4.25% Includes all interchange, merchant fees, etc.
new effective rate = 1.63% Includes all above and CenPOS.
Nice! While fees vary every month, the effective rate is a good indicator of the health of your credit card processing solution.
1.6% is a below average effective rate for a 100% business to business company with customers using corporate, purchasing, and international cards over 87% of all dollar volume. Additionally, all transactions are card not present.
CenPOS works with your existing processor, and is most effective with merchant accounts set up on wholesale or ‘pass through interchange’ pricing. CenPOS is fast, easy, and requires no capital investment to implement. For CenPOS, or for information about a new merchant account, call Christine at 954-942-0483 or click here for more information.
