Category: Best Practices for Merchants
July 19th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Here are some of the Common Business Loan Fees:
Application Fee – is a fee charged to cover the costs of processing and assessing your loan application.
Bank Wire Fee – When borrowing a loan, lenders commonly wire the money to your bank account via ACH, because the banks need to talk to each other and ensure the money is going to the right place and that no fraud is going on.
Check Processing Fee – ACH transfers are commonly used to collect periodic repayments from the debtor’s bank account. Some lenders offer the option of paying by check, but you’ll have to pay a fee for the extra cost involved.
Closing Cost – not to be confused with closing fees, encapsulate all the fees charged for processing a loan, including origination/closing fees, processing fees, referral fees, and/or packaging fees.
Draw Fee – similar to an origination fee, but is applicable instead for lines of credit.
Guarantee Fee – is charged on all SBA loans above $150K. Guarantee fee is charged to protect against credit-related losses in the mortgage portfolio.
Late Payment Fee – Missing a payment deadline can result in a late fee. A late payment may have an affect on your personal or business credit score.
Origination Fee – an up-front fee charged for processing a new loan application. Prepayment
Penalty – Is a borrower, a bank or mortgage lender agreement that regulates what the borrower is allowed to pay off and when.
Servicing and Maintenance Cost – fees charged to cover the costs associated with collecting payments, maintaining records, following up on delinquencies and any other costs associated with maintaining a term loan or line of credit.
Business loans are available in different types, from merchant cash advances to lines of credit. The most effective way to get the best deal on a business loan is to be educated and know that Fees are Negotiable.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Financial Services Tagged with: ach, bank account, check, credit, fee, fraud, loan, payment
July 14th, 2016 by Elma Jane
PCI Compliance applies to every merchant who is accepting credit cards large or small. Refusing or delaying to become PCI Compliant can end up being a costly mistake.
If you accept any credit or debit card payment, you need to be PCI Compliant no matter the volume is.
PCI applies to any company, organization or merchant of any size or transaction volume that accepts, stores or transmits cardholder data. Any merchant accepting payments directly from the customer via credit or debit card must be PCI Compliant.
The merchant themselves are responsible for becoming PCI Compliant, as the deadline for merchants to become Compliant is long overdue
Understanding and knowing the details of PCI Compliance can help you better prepare your business. Failing and waiting to become compliant or ignoring them, could end up being an expensive mistake.
The VISA regulations have to adhere to the PCI standard forms part of the operating regulations, the regulations signed when you open an account at the bank. The rules under which merchants are allowed to operate merchant accounts.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: cardholder, credit cards, customer, data, debit card, merchant, payment, PCI Compliance, transaction
July 13th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Monthly statement fee is a fixed fee that is charged monthly and is associated with the statement that is sent to a merchant in one billing cycle, approximately 30 days worth of credit card processing by the merchant account provider; whether it’s a printed one, a mailed statement or an electronic version. Requesting online statements won’t necessarily be able to waive statement fee.
Every credit card and merchant account provider have a different set of costs associated with its services, but remember that there are several processors out there that are very transparent with their fees like National Transaction.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: credit card, fee, merchant, merchant account, processors, provider, services
July 12th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Interchange is where transactions are submitted for payment from the Acquirer or Merchant Processor to the Card Issuer or Debit Network. It also represents the fees paid by the merchant acquirer to the Card Issuer.
At the time the transaction is exchanged fees are paid and vary based on processing method utilized. It is more expensive to process a hand-keyed transaction than a card-swiped transaction.
Several rates may apply to your transactions, depending on your method of processing each transaction and the interchange qualification that is assigned to each transaction by the Card associations for processing transactions.
Rate qualification criteria: The card associations consider the card product used in the transaction, how the transaction data is entered, the time of settlement versus time of authorization.
Interchange Category Based on Card Type: Credit, Debit, and Rewards purchasing.
Industry Type: Retail or E-commerce.
Qualification Elements: Swiped card or Key entered.
When you settle your transactions each day, Acquirer or Merchant Processor like NTC routes them to the Card Associations (Visa, MasterCard, Discover) and debit networks through Interchange.
Visa, MasterCard, Discover (Card Associations and Debit Networks) establish the rules and manage the Interchange of all transactions.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: card, card-swiped, credit, debit, e-commerce, merchant, payment, processor, transactions
July 11th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Facebook announcement of News Feed algorithm shift will affect how businesses use this platform. Content posted by brands and publishers will show up less prominent in News Feeds.
This Facebook update may cause reach and referral traffic to decline for many Pages who’s traffic comes directly through Page posts. To limit the impact of this change Boost Engagement is the key, individual users commenting, liking and sharing on business posts will help circumnavigate the new algorithm. Diversify your referral traffic sources. Look for alternative social media platforms, pay per click ads or blogs to make up for the loss in referrals and increase your reach.
To limit the impact of this change, Boost Engagement is the key. Individual users commenting, liking and sharing on business posts will help circumnavigate the new algorithm. Diversify your referral traffic sources. Look for alternative social media platforms, pay per click ads or blogs to make up for the loss in referrals and increase your reach.
Diversify your referral traffic sources. Look for alternative social media platforms, pay per click ads or blogs to make up for the loss in referrals and increase your reach.
While this change will have an impact on big businesses that rely on Facebook for their referral traffic and content sharing, small businesses will still feel the change. By boosting your engagement and diversifying your referral traffic sources, you can lessen the impact to your business.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: business, pay, platform, referral, social media, traffic
July 5th, 2016 by Elma Jane
With the ever growing number of financial crimes occurring within the payments industry, initiatives to identify patterns of possible suspicious behavior has been enhanced. The Loss Prevention team recently put into place a new procedure for collecting information pertaining to the Anti-Money Laundering requirements of “Customer Due Diligence” (CDD) and “Customer Identification Program” (CIP).
If a merchant reaches their Processing Limit (Soft Cap), or they request a change to their MCC/SIC, Loss Prevention is required to obtain and validate CDD and CIP information prior to making updates to the account. Loss Prevention representatives will reach out to the customer’s Merchant Service provider (MSP) office first, in an effort to effectively obtain the information without causing potential alarm to the customer.
Thank you for being a partner with NTC, and helping to prevent financial crimes in our industry.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: customer, financial, merchant, payments, payments industry, service provider
June 30th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Let’s face it, it’s hard to build a customer email list if you continue getting declined. There’s a way for a customer to say YES!
Get Exclusive – let your customers know that you treat your email list to exclusive offers and information. Offering a special email customer only discount code or exclusive benefits to members on your email list.
Make it Creative – whether you’re collecting emails online or at the checkout counter, make it creative. Getting creative with how you sell your email program will help you get more YES at the point of subscription.
Offer Value – Give your customers something in return for their email address. Make your customers feel like they are receiving something rather than just giving out their personal information. Identifying what piques your customer’s attention and offering that as an added value to their email subscription, your customers will see value in giving out their information when they receive something in return.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: customer, online
June 28th, 2016 by Elma Jane
Financial Cost – on average, it costs a small business between $36,0000 and $50,000 in the event of a data breach. From PCI examination to liability costs and POS upgrades. The many costs of a data breach add up.
Notification Cost – if your business falls victim to a data breach, it is your moral and sometimes legal (depending on the state in which your business operates) obligation to notify your customers of the breach.
Reputation Cost – data breach lessens your credibility and trust with your customers. This can have a long-term affect on your business.
Time Cost – as a small business owner, your focus is on the daily operations of your business. In the event of a data breach, your focus will be shifted entirely to clearing up the issue.
The cost of a data breach is more than financial and can often have a lasting negative impact on your business.
The quickest and easiest way to protect your business is to prevent fraud from happening. At National Transaction, we give importance to your security. For your electronic payments needs give us a call at 888-996-2273.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: customers, data breach, electronic payments, financial, fraud, PCI, POS, Security
June 23rd, 2016 by Elma Jane
Merchant Aggregators, Merchants of Records and Payment Service Provider what’s the difference?
Payment Service Provider – is a company, which provides payment gateway and related services (like antifraud tools) to merchants. PSP is a representative of one or several acquiring banks. The merchant signs an agreement with the acquiring bank and PSP. The acquiring bank provides a merchant account and secures settlements for merchant’s transactions directly to the merchant’s bank account. Payment Service Provider secures delivery of the merchant’s transactions to the acquiring bank and some related services like fraud scrubbing and recurring transactions. The merchant has an own merchant account with this model.
Merchant Aggregator – is a company, which uses one merchant account to process transactions from many merchants. Merchants don’t have any agreements with an acquiring bank, but with the merchant aggregator. You get quick setup and get shut down quickly. Most aggregators are hard to get hold of, they don’t have human customer support. The problem with this model is, it’s not intended as a long-term, scalable solution to accepting payments and they can freeze your account or hold your money if anything unusual happens.
Merchants of Records – are a merchant, who use services of payment service provider (PSP) or merchant aggregators to accept payments on their websites for goods or services they sell. Merchant of record role requires an array of administrative responsibilities, such as managing a merchant account with a payment processor, paying associated credit card fees for the transactions, other responsibilities like complying with PCI DSS.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: bank account, credit card, customer, merchant, payment gateway, payment processor, Payment Service Provider, PCI, transactions
June 22nd, 2016 by Elma Jane
What is ARC, IATA, and CLIA? what’s the difference? What it does and what type of agents would benefit most from it.
CLIA Number – is issued by the Cruise Lines International Association. It’s a way for vendors to identify you as a travel agent. It serves the same purpose as the ARC or IATA number, it’s just issued by another organization and has different barriers to entry and costs associated with it. CLIA agencies without ARC accreditation cannot issue airline tickets since CLIA numbers were designed specifically for cruise-focused travel agencies. You can always go under an umbrella organization like a host agency, you don’t need to get your own CLIA number if you’re working with a host agency. You can use their identification number and won’t incur the costs associated with obtaining your own CLIA number. While CLIA is accepted nearly everywhere, it’s NOT accepted by the airlines. If you are not issuing airline tickets, CLIA is a practical option.
CLIA vs. ARC/IATA Number – If you’re ticketing air-only reservation, ARC and IATA are must-haves.
ARC (Airlines Reporting Corporation) – gives out these ARC numbers to accredited agencies, which allows travel agencies to issue airline tickets. The use of an ARC number extends from a hotel to a cruise ship booking not only air tickets for travel agencies. For a home-based travel agent or a storefront agency that only books leisure travel (no air), having your own ARC number is too much.
IATA – International Air Transport Association Network (IATAN) use extensive data resource to connect the suppliers to the U.S. travel distribution network. IATAN ID card holders get promotional benefits and concessionary incentives from suppliers (participating members) who identify the agent with an IATA/IATAN number as a valid associate, in addition to approving travel agents for the sale of travel tickets. IATA certifies a referral agent or an affiliate travel agent to find clients for the hosting travel agency’s business needs as well.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: agents, card, data, host agency, travel agent, vendors