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Published July 01st, 2016 by

Choosing a Credit Card Processing Company: Questions to Ask

Choosing a Credit Card Processing Company Questions to AskMost businesses accept credit or debit card as payment for products sold or services rendered. If you want to be able to accept all forms of payment, one thing you have to consider is getting a credit card processing company.They will be in charge of processing the credit card payments that you will receive. There are so many companies and service providers out there, so it is best to have some questions prepared to ask your processing company.

Credit cards are very common in the country and accepting them will help boost your sales. In fact, Boston Reserve released a survey dated in 2014 saying that 72% of American consumers own at least one credit card. That is about seven in every ten Americans. That is a lot of people and a lot of possible end users for your product or service. Now that you have established the need for a credit card processor because of the staggering amount of people owning credit cards, it’s time to look into processing companies. Here are some of the basic questions you should ask before considering signing an agreement.

How Much Are the Fees?

There are fees and rates when you process credit cards, this can’t be removed unfortunately. There will be payment for every transaction done so you should know exactly what and how much the fees are. The fees are small compared to amount of money you might gain by accepting credit cards. According to the 2013 survey done by Intuit, you as a business owner, may potentially miss out on about $7,000 a year if you don’t accept credit cards. That’s a lot of money compared to the fees you will be paying per transaction. Here are some of the fees you should know about if you want to avail of credit card processing services.

  1. Interchange fees. This is the fee that is paid for every transaction made using a credit card. This is charged by the credit card processor to the issuing bank. This fee will depend on a lot of factors like type of card used; how the transaction was made, if was through online or in the store; and the size of transaction, if it was a large purchase or not. Transactions done in the store will cause less interchange fees because there is less risk of fraud since the card is really present.
  2. Billing fees. There are companies that will make you pay for the sending of the monthly bills. It might be better to go for companies that send you paperless bills. This will be less expensive and more environmentally friendly since no papers are needed to be used.
  3. Application fees. Having a credit card processor involves a lot of fees, that includes fees for applying and setting up the system. This fee depends on the company, so read a lot about the company to know how much they charge for the application and setting up. Reading reviews of credit card processing companies may also help you with your decision in picking a company.
  4. Monthly fees. This is the minimum fee that the processor must collect from you monthly. You should meet the minimum fee so the company doesn’t charge you for the deficit. Choose a company that will let you meet the minimum fee easily.

Be sure to understand all these fees before choosing a processing company. You should also read the fine print carefully and look for any hidden fees. You don’t want anything surprising you when you start using the credit card processor.

How Long to Set Up

If you want to process credit cards immediately then one important question you should ask the service providers is how long will it take them to set the system up. There will be equipment installed and there might be times that the equipment will not be readily available. If it will be ordered from a manufacturer, how long will the delivery take? The system also has to be set up and programmed. This might require their IT experts, so when is the next person available? These are the factors that might contribute to how long the setting up will take.

Another factor to consider is how easy the system is to use. Setting up will also include training your employees in using the credit card processing service. This is not just a software but a host of equipment that your employees have to learn. There might be problems that will arise, so part of setting up should also include learning about the most common problems and their solutions. This might not be on the part of the service provider anymore but any company that will provide free basic training is a good one and should be considered.

What Types of Payments Are Accepted?

Not all credit card processors will accept all kinds of credit cards. Fortunately, the top credit card processing companies will accept all major credit and debit cards. You should choose a company that will accept all major credit cards because you don’t want to be turning anyone away. In the first place, you chose to accept credit cards so you entertain all your customers’ mode of payment. If your processor does not accept all credit cards then that is revenue that might go to waste. There are also credit card processors that will accept gift card and prepaid cards, and electronic benefit transfer. The more types of payments you accept, the more money you might make.

How About New Technologies?

There are new payment technologies that are being used by technophiles like Google Wallet or Apple Pay. This new modes of payment can open a new way to earn money for your company. This will offer new solutions to others who do not have credit cards. There are online credit card processing companies that will accept these forms of payment through the new near field communication technology. Near field communication or NFC is a contactless communication between devices such or mobile phones and tablets. This will allow users to pay with the use of their phones without the many steps of setting up a connection.

How Is the Customer Support?

Customer support is important for every software and equipment that you buy. Problems are inevitable and it would be best if you knew if you can count on the customer service support of the company you will hire. You can read on some reviews of credit card processing companies to know from real life users if their customer support is excellent. One problem you might encounter with credit card processing is security. Sensitive information is stored in the system and it is vulnerable to cyber-attacks. In case of this happening, you should be able to contact customer support about the first things to do and how to prevent any more information from being stolen. Also, you should ask how to prevent any more of these problems from occurring.

What Should You Look For in the Customer Service Support?

  1. They should be available 24 hours a day, every day of the week. For retail stores, you might not need the support at night since your shop will be closed but if you do online stores and you get business any time of the day. You should be able to contact support anytime.
  2. The customer service representative of the company should be knowledgeable about the problems you might encounter. An in depth knowledge of the system and the equipment should also be required for the call center agents. It would be useless to call customer support if they have no idea how to solve the problems that you might have.
  3. Since everything has a fee when it comes to credit card processing companies, it would be nice if the customer service is free. You wouldn’t want to be paying additional money because you had a problem with their system.

Is It Compatible With Your Online Shopping?

Lastly, you should ask if the top credit card processing companies accept payment from online shopping. Some payment gateways are compatible with your chosen online shopping cart and some are not. According to Mintel.com, close to 70% of Americans shop online regularly. That’s more than 200 million people, and you should take advantage of that market by opening your online shop. There are many best credit card processing companies, so pick one that will be compatible with your shopping cart. Don’t settle for the ones that have no compatibility with online shopping just because they are a few dollars cheaper. There are companies with more universal software, meaning they will be compatible with most payment gateways.

After reading and going over the things mentioned in this article, you should be ready to get your very own processor. There are many advantages to accepting credit and debit cards. One of which is a possible boost to your sales. Take advantage of the possible increase in your income and get yourself a credit card processing company now.

Still don’t know which one is the best credit card processing company? Go on ahead and read some of the reviews made available by CrowdReviews.

Keith Moore

Keith Moore has worked with several leading Android development agencies to build customized mobile apps enabling businesses to extend the use of their services to smart phones and mobile devices.

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