6 Signs Your Business Needs To Switch Credit Card Processors IMMEDIATELY!
By: Passive Income Expert & Serial Entrepreneur W. K. Little
If the photo above accurately depicts how you feel when reviewing your monthly credit card processing statement, then this article is for you. While every business owner understands that paying for credit card processing is a necessary cost that ultimately helps to increase your sales and profitability, it’s easy to become frustrated with all the hidden fees that come with maintaining a merchant account.
As a Leading Credit Card Processing Expert, here are my top action items designed to help your business save money when accepting credit card payments this year and beyond:
RELATED: "$0 Credit Card Processing Fee's??? (Yeah Right!)- Check Your Statement For These 4 Terms"
Unfortunately, hidden fees are just one of many things that can go wrong in your relationship with your credit card processor. Expensive equipment leasing fees, constantly rising processing costs, and poor customer service when you have a problem are just a few of the problems you could face after you’ve signed up with a provider other than Wholesale Payments. These problems are all compounded by the fact that many providers will lock you into a long-term, automatically-renewing contract that makes it very difficult (and possibly quite expensive) to drop them in favor of a competitor.
NOTE: ONLY Wholesale Payments GIVES it's Clients FREE State Of The Art NEW Equipment With NO Long Term Contracts!
In this article, we’ll discuss 6 of the most common problems that can arise when working with a credit card processor.
Although the number of specific things that can go wrong is virtually unlimited, most issues that merchants encounter generally fall into one of these six major categories of problems. Other than transitioning to Wholesale Payments Cash Discount Program, which is simple & seamless, dropping your current provider and switching to a new one may be difficult and expensive, as well as potentially leaving you without the ability to accept credit cards during the transition.
We’ll explain which problems are serious enough to warrant switching providers, and which are not. Finally, we’ll give you some pointers to make changing providers as smooth and painless as possible, if that’s the best solution.
1. Expensive Equipment Leases
“Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.” That might be what you’re thinking after you’ve watched your credit card terminal leasing fees pile up month after month until you realize that you’ve spent more than the terminal costs to buy outright – and there’s no end in sight to your lease.
We get it. You need a credit card terminal to process credit and debit card transactions in-person, and they’re kind of expensive (especially for a small business that’s just getting started).
NOTE: ONLY Wholesale Payments GIVES Most of It's Clients a FREE State-Of-The Art Plug And Play Terminal!
Paying a relatively small monthly leasing fee sounds like a better deal than dropping several hundred dollars on a shiny new terminal that might become obsolete in a few years. Credit card processors know this, and they’ve come up with all sorts of arguments aimed at convincing you that a lease is in your best interest. It saves you money on up-front costs, they’ll say. It’s a tax write-off, they’ll say. It protects you in case your terminal is ever damaged, they’ll say.
RELATED: Are You With The Right Credit Card Processor? <===
Unfortunately, none of these arguments are true when you consider the total cost of ownership if you lease a terminal. Put simply, leasing a credit card machine is never cost-effective in the long run. Most standard leasing contracts lock you into a four-year lease that cannot be canceled for any reason.
You’re effectively on the hook for all 48 lease payments as soon as you sign your contract. While $25 a month to lease a terminal might sound like a good idea in comparison to spending several hundred dollars to buy the same equipment outright, those monthly payments will add up to $1,200 over the life of your lease.
Even then, you still won’t own your equipment. Considering that the average full-featured credit card terminal can be purchased for around $200-300, this is a huge rip-off.
Credit card machine leasing has gained such a terrible reputation in the processing industry that most providers who offer leased equipment do so through subsidiaries or third-party vendors. Ironically, some of the worst credit card machine leasing companies in the industry work on behalf of some of the largest and best-known processors. A good example of this is First Data Global Leasing, which doesn’t even try to hide its relationship with mammoth processor First Data.
NOTE: ONLY Wholesale Payments GIVES Most of It's Clients a FREE State-Of-The Art Plug And Play Terminal!
Being stuck in a terminal lease is reason enough to consider switching providers. Unfortunately, you’re very unlikely to avoid paying the remaining monthly payments on your lease, regardless of the circumstances. Check to see when your leasing contract started and how many monthly payments you have remaining. The total of these payments is what it will cost you to get out of the lease.
And on top of all this unfortunately, leased equipment provided by your old processor will usually have to be returned in order to close your account, even if you’ve made all the monthly payments required under your leasing contract.
RELATED: $0 Credit Card Fees! - Your Business Doesn't Have to Pay Credit Card Fees Any More and Probably Shouldn't
2. Hardware & Software Compatibility Issues
Overpriced leases aren’t the only equipment issues that might cause you to rethink your relationship with your current merchant account provider. Compatibility issues can prevent you from realizing the full potential of your processing equipment or even block you from being able to accept credit/debit card payments at all.
Likewise, software compatibility issues can affect payment gateways and virtual terminals and are a particular concern for ecommerce merchants.
While most compatibility issues can be identified and (hopefully) corrected when you first set up your account, you should also be concerned about the possibility that your provider isn’t keeping up with the latest changes in processing hardware.
RELATED: Are You With The Right Credit Card Processor? <===
This is a particular concern if you’ve been with the same provider for a long period of time. For example, not being able to accept EMV payments because your provider hasn’t upgraded your credit card terminal to an EMV-compliant machine is a serious security issue and could potentially leave you liable for fraudulent transactions.
The EMV liability shift occurred in October 2015, and since then merchants have been on the hook if they swipe a magstripe on a credit card with an EMV chip and the transaction turns out to be fraudulent.
If you’re still swiping transactions on an old, non-EMV-capable terminal, you need to upgrade ASAP! If your provider won’t help you with this issue, it’s time to find a new provider like Wholesale Payments, The Industry Leader.
The ability to accept NFC-based payment methods such as Apple Pay and Android Pay isn’t as critically important, but it’s still something you should take into consideration. As more and more consumers discover the ease and convenience of paying with their smartphones (or smart watches), they’re naturally going to be more inclined to favor businesses that support this payment method. While not having NFC-capable hardware won’t affect your liability for fraudulent transactions, it could put you at a competitive disadvantage. Fortunately, most modern terminals that accept EMV cards also include support for NFC-based payments.
RELATED: $0 Credit Card Processing Fees: How Merchants Can Boost Business With A Cash Discount Program
Point-of-sale (POS) systems, popular with restaurants and some other categories of businesses, present similar issues when it comes to being able to accept newer payment methods. However, a POS system represents a significantly larger investment than most credit card terminals, and many systems are only compatible with certain processors. If you’re thinking about switching merchant account providers and you own a POS system, you’ll want to do some careful research to ensure that your system will be compatible with a new provider before making the switch.
IMPORTANT- Wholesale Payments Systems Are Compatible, Plug & Play With 99.2% of POS In America!
Any cost savings you hope to realize with a new provider could disappear completely if you also have to replace your current POS system.
eCommerce merchants don’t have as many things to worry about when it comes to compatibility, but there are still potential problems they might encounter. Switching merchant account providers may or may not also require you to switch to a new payment gateway.
Fortunately, Wholesale Payments offers support for Authorize.Net , which is probably the most popular and well-known gateway on the market AND MOST others! If you’re using a proprietary gateway offered by your current provider, you’ll probably have to switch to a new gateway if you drop your provider in favor of a new one.
IMPORTANT- Wholesale Payments Systems Are Compatible, Plug & Play With 99.2% of POS In America!
Virtual terminals can also present some issues when it comes to switching providers. Unlike payment gateways, there isn’t a single virtual terminal that’s widely available and is compatible with any provider. Fortunately, the functionality of a virtual terminal is usually limited to just accepting payments, so you shouldn’t have any problems if you switch products.
If you’re using a card reader in conjunction with your virtual terminal to replace a physical credit card machine, you should probably replace your magstripe-only reader if you haven’t done so already. Unfortunately, EMV-compliant card readers that connect via USB and work with a laptop or desktop computer are still relatively uncommon. This is probably due to the decline in popularity of virtual terminals among merchants now that mobile payments systems provide the same capabilities and work with both smartphones and tablets.
3. High Processing Rates
Watching your processing costs go up with each new monthly account statement is one of the most common reasons for merchants to leave their current provider and switch to a competitor. The credit card processing industry is notorious for luring merchants in with low “introductory” rates and fees, then raising them after a few months. This practice, combined with the tendency to lock merchants into long-term contracts, makes closing your account a difficult and potentially expensive proposition.
Related: $0 Credit Card Fees! - Your Business Doesn't Have to Pay Credit Card Fees Any More and Probably Shouldn't
However, it’s not impossible, and sometimes it’s worth the added expense to get away from a predatory merchant account provider, and do Business with The Industry Leader Wholesale Payments
The first thing you need to understand about processing costs is that your provider doesn’t have complete control over them in most cases. Interchange fees are set by the major credit card associations and constitute the majority of your processing costs.
If you’re on an interchange-plus pricing plan, your provider merely passes the interchange fees onto you and takes an additional markup for their services.
Wholesale Payments Cash discount program eliminates up to 100% of processing fees while enabling businesses to offer their customers a larger variety of payment options.
Membership pricing (also called subscription-based pricing) is similar in that interchange fees are passed directly onto the merchant. However, with membership pricing, you’ll pay a fixed monthly subscription fee instead of a per-transaction percentage fee, which should bring a measure of stability to your month-to-month processing costs.
Wholesale Payments Technology makes it easy for you to offer your customers cash payments, contactless pay, mobile pay, gift cards, and credit card payments without charging you any of the hefty processing fees. By eliminating these fees entirely, you can save your business thousands of dollars per year.
You should also understand that interchange fees aren’t set in stone. There are many different fees that might be charged, depending on the nature of the transaction and what kind of business category you’re in. Each credit card association publishes its own set of interchange fees, and they usually update them twice a year.
While some fees occasionally go up, and others actually go down, the overall trend is for interchange rates to gradually rise over time. While this tendency will account for some of your increased processing costs, be aware that your provider might also raise the markup portion of your fees as well.
Wholesale Payments Cash discount program eliminates up to 100% of processing fees while enabling businesses to offer their customers a larger variety of payment options.
Merchants on a tiered pricing plan seem to be the most affected by gradually rising processing costs. Your provider is always going to set their rates to ensure a profit even when they have to pay the highest interchange fees, so naturally, they’re going to raise your overall rates whenever there’s an increase in any of the underlying interchange fees.
* Below are The Highlights of Wholesale Payments Cash Discount Program & The Benefits For Your Business...ANY/EVERY Business!!!
• 0% Credit Card Processing Cost
• $0 Transaction Fee
• Free State-of-the-Art Equipment
• No Hidden Fees
• $45 Flat Fee Per Month
NOTE: See Video & Attachments Below
This vulnerability to increased rates is just one of several reasons why we recommend against tiered pricing. If you find that your merchant account is on a tiered pricing plan, we recommend that you either request to change to an interchange-plus plan – or switch providers if your current provider won’t approve it.
Flat-rate pricing, such as that offered by Wholesale Payments brings a measure of predictability to your processing costs. Flat rates also usually don’t rise over time.
Wholesale Payments Cash discount program eliminates up to 100% of processing fees while enabling businesses to offer their customers a larger variety of payment options.
Of all the various processing rate pricing plans, interchange-plus pricing is the only model that will never be too expensive for your business. However, the various account fees that inevitably come with a full-service merchant account could be a burden for very small businesses UNLESS you use a Cash Discount Program.
Determining when your business has reached the point where it’s advantageous to switch from Square( ONE OF THE WORST CHOICES A SMALL MERCHANT CAN CHOOSE) (or a similar payment service provider) and upgrade to a full-service merchant account can be tricky.
Factors such as your average monthly volume, average ticket size, and relative percentage of debit and credit card transactions all affect this determination.
Wholesale Payments also offers 24/7 customer service, transparent pricing, no setup costs, and will walk you through the setup process with a product professional for FREE.
Obviously, you’ll also want to compare a price quote from a merchant account provider to what you’re paying now before deciding to switch providers.
For help in making an accurate analysis of which option will be best for your business, I highly recommend that you consider grabbing THIS FREE Report.
It tells you everything you need to know about how the various processing rate pricing plans work will help you make the most informed decision on switching providers.
4. High Undisclosed Fees
Merchant account providers are notorious for adding on numerous “junk” fees to their services, often without disclosing them during the sales process.
Now, let’s be clear: Your provider has every right to charge you a reasonable fee to compensate for services they’re actually providing, and to make a reasonable profit from those fees. However, the processing industry is notorious for ratcheting up fees well beyond a reasonable level, and for adding on new fees that aren’t tied to any actual service they’re providing for your business. If your provider is adding unreasonable fees to your bill, it’s time to consider switching to a new provider like Wholesale Payments Cash Discount Program.
Here are some of the more common fees that frequently get abused:
Wholesale Payments NEVER charges junk fee's like this with their Industry Leading Cash Discount Program!
5. Lengthy Contracts & Expensive Early Termination Fees
From a merchant’s perspective, the best contract arrangement for a merchant account is month-to-month billing with no early termination fee (ETF). You’re free to leave whenever you want, and with no penalty. This keeps providers on their toes, encouraging them to only charge you reasonable fees for their services and to offer top-notch customer service and support.
Here's where Wholesale Payments Cash Discount Program with it's Flat $45/mo Fee, and NO HIDDEN FEES can dramatically eliminate your businesses exorbitant Processing Fees IMMEDIATELY!
Unfortunately, merchants don’t get to write the contracts – merchant account providers do. It’s in their best interest to make it as difficult as possible for you to drop them in favor of a competitor, and they’ve adopted some very shady practices over the years to keep their customers from leaving.
Today, the industry standard is typically a long-term contract with a three-year initial period. This contract will also include an automatic renewal clause that will extend your contract for one-year periods after the initial term has expired. In effect, your contract continues indefinitely, with only a narrow window of time at the end of the current contract period where you can close your account without incurring a penalty.
Early termination fees are highly variable, but typically run around $300-500. In the worst cases, your contract might also include a liquidated damages clause that could potentially set you back thousands of dollars for closing your account.
We’ll be blunt: Lengthy contract terms and expensive termination fees aren’t so much a reason to switch providers as they are a reason to avoid signing up with a provider in the first place. You should always review your contract before you sign up, and if it includes these terms, you should negotiate a waiver of the early termination fee at the very least.
However, we also realize that many sales agents will fail to disclose or even outright lie to you about your contract terms. If you discover that you’re locked into a long-term contract after you’ve already signed on the dotted line, it’s time to think about switching providers to honest, reliable , consistent Processors like Wholesale Payments.
Review your contract to find out what requirements your provider imposes for closing your account, and follow them to the letter. You’ll want to time this so that your account closes at the very end of your current term, and before the automatic renewal clause goes into effect. It’s tricky, but it can be done – and it will save you from having to pay an expensive early termination fee.
Long-term contracts are extremely unpopular among merchants, and today the reputable providers in the industry like Wholesale Payments will offer you a true month-to-month contract. You’ll typically have to provide 30 days’ notice to coincide with your billing cycle, but you won’t be assessed a penalty for leaving.
6. Poor Customer Service & Support
Few merchants consider the importance of customer service and support until they need to use it. Unfortunately, the processing industry is notorious for providing poor support to merchants after they’ve signed up for an account. We’ve seen literally hundreds of complaints from merchants alleging unhelpful and even rude treatment from their providers’ customer support division. If you have a similar experience, it’s a good reason by itself to consider switching to a different provider.
NOTE: Wholesale Payments also offers 24/7 customer service, transparent pricing, no setup costs, and will walk you through the setup process with a product professional for FREE.
Although the “industry standard” for customer service is pretty poor in the processing industry, there are providers out there who offer high-quality support.
Things to look for include 24/7 telephone support, a live chat option, and the availability of a dedicated account manager who will be your point of contact for support issues. These are ALL the things Wholesale Payments give EACH of their valued Clients
You’ll also want to research a provider’s reputation for customer service online before signing up. The BBB is an excellent resource for this type of information, as well as other consumer protection sites such as Ripoff Report and TrustPilot.
We also analyze the quality of a company’s customer support in our individual provider reviews, so check those out as well.
Wholesale Payments NEVER charges junk fee's like this with their Industry Leading Cash Discount Program!
Here's where Wholesale Payments Cash Discount Program with it's Flat $45/mo Fee, and NO HIDDEN FEES can dramatically eliminate your businesses exorbitant Processing Fees IMMEDIATELY!
RELATED: $0 Credit Card Processing Fees: How Merchants Can Boost Business With A Cash Discount Program
Why Choose Wholesale Payments Cash Discount Program?
Wholesale Payments Cash Discount Program was created to help small business owners take control of their processing costs.
We are working to build transparency in this industry by educating business owners. Their Cash Discount Program with it's Flat $45/mo Fee, AND NO HIDDEN FEES is easy to use!
Learn More About Wholesale Payments Cash Discount Program
If you are interested in learning more about Wholesale Payments Cash Discount Program with it's Flat $45/mo Fee, and NO HIDDEN FEES , contact them today!
You can also visit THIS LINK to talk to a Highly Trained Specialist who can help you go over not only your statements but your entire solution!
If you are interested in learning more about the Credit Card Processing Industry and which processing solution is right for you AND Your Business, simply call 772-237-1017 (24 Hour Direct Line to Leave a Detailed Message) or by email by clicking HERE NOW!
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