Skip to main content

MERCHANTS HAVE MORE CREDIT CARD PROCESSING FEES THAN EVER!


In the last few years, I have personally seen merchant accounts incur more and more monthly fees that have never existed before.  For example:

MONTHLY ASSOCIATION FEES (RETAIL)

 $0.83 NYCE
 $0.75 PULSE
 $1.00 STAR
 $0.75 JEANIE
 $0.67 ACCEL
 $1.25  MC annual
 $1.25 MC location
 $2.00 Visa FANF
 $8.50  TOTAL


This is like an additional monthly statement fee.  The PIN Debit annual fees are broken out as monthly but represent a $55 annual fee.   Keep in mind this is in addition to other fees that are also going up constantly.

Discount Fees
Transaction Fees
Interchange and Association Fees
PCI Compliance
PCI Non-Compliance
Breach Protection
Monthly Statement
Online Reporting

Therefore no one should be surprised that everyone is paying more than ever to accept plastic.  And dont be surprised that one rarely sees these fees listed in agreements.  Maybe its in the fine print 20 pages in.  My question is what has changed from a business standpoint to warrant these constant increases?  Is there any added value to these fees?  I don't believe so.  In fact if everyone is encouraged to be compliant with EMV technology, then we should see the cost of accepting cards go down since we are told that EMV is the best level of fraud protection yet.  Don't hold your breath.



Comments

  1. Justin B. PaivaApril 5, 2017 at 10:08 AM

    Nice article Chris, good insight. Your years of experience shine through.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the Best Merchant Account?

This question has puzzled many for a long time.  In view of the last few years and the struggling economy, I believe this question is more relevant than ever. This year has had record bank failures!  And this news is not good for our industry. There is increased pressure on merchant service organizations and their agents to perform well and take care of their merchant's like never before.  So when selecting a merchant account provider, what should you look for? You will likely agree that honesty and forthrightness is at the top.  Is the company you are considering willing to disclose all fees including PCI compliance fees, cancellation fees, downgrade fees, and the more recent NABU and APF fees and so forth?  Does the company you choose keep informed as well as keep merchants well informed of rate increases or entirely new fee structures?  This is important since most businesses owners only think of their discount rate.  With each passing year, I hav...
3 comments
Read more

Why Outsource Merchant Account Statement Analysis

First of all I want to say that this article is not for merchants but is for MLS and ISOs who understand what I am about to say:  Merchant processing statements are a pain! Now with that out of the way, let's talk about why that is. With credit card interchange rates constantly changing, many agents have difficulty reading and offering a merchant account quote .   How much time do you think you have spent staring at merchant statements while still not being able to offer them a competitive statement quote?  Is the merchant account priced as Standard tiered, Interchange-Plus, or the confusing  Enhanced-Recovery pricing?  How much time has been lost in the sales process during this important step! On the other hand, perhaps you currently work with a processor who  offers a free merchant statement analysis service.  They want to do it, but there are more pressing tasks that must be handled.  I know as I worked for a company for many years as ...
2 comments
Read more