Having Trouble With The Visa FANF Fee?

Introduced last year, the VISA FANF fee, also known as the Fixed Acquirer Network Fee, is a fixed fee that merchants have to pay it in order to participate in the Visa payment network.

Although the term “fixed fee” makes the fee sound simple, the FANF fee can actually be pretty complex and tricky.

For instance, many merchants aren’t sure how to handle the fee when it comes to card present vs. card not present sales volume. This is because Visa calculates its FANF differently depending on whether the activity is card present or card not present. One would think that this means that merchants would be charged the fee for either card present or card not present activity, but the opposite can be true. Sometimes merchants are assessed the fee for both.

There are other issues associated with the fee as well, so it’s important to talk to your payments professional and learn all you can about it. If you want your merchant service to be top notch, you’ll have to be able to clearly explain FANF, and other interchange modifications, to your customers. The moral of the story? Do your homework.

How is your payment processor adjusting to the Visa FANF fee? Are they calculating it accurately and passing it through without markups? Are they handling it like other interchange and card association fees? Because the fee is so complex, it wouldn’t be surprising to see some processors taking shortcuts or estimating what to charge.

What types of questions are your merchants asking about the fee? Does it seem clear to them? Or are they confused? And are they coming to you with questions about the Visa integrity fee as well?

If you have any questions about the Visa FANF fee, the VISA integrity fee, or any other fees associated with the Visa payment network, please leave a comment below.

Three Rules For Being The Best Merchant Credit Card Processing Service

In your quest to be the best merchant credit card processing service or debit credit card processing service, you may be tempted to adopt gimmicks and shortcuts.

You may try to build your business by offering catchy discounts instead of quality service. You may offer merchants a technical support number instead of actual customer service. You may give them free equipment and supplies instead of proven, long term solutions.

You may turn a profit in the short term, but your clients won’t stick with you for long. But, unfortunately, the bad reputation you develop will.

Instead, follow these three rules. They’re not easy, but if you’re interested in building a credit or debit credit card processing service with long term success, they’re the only way.

1. Be dedicated to customer service.

To be one of the best merchant credit card processing services, you have to stay in touch with your customers. You need to call them, visit them in person, send them emails and keep them up-to-date via periodic newsletters. You have to check to make sure they’re getting everything they need, and if not, fix it right away.

2. Transparency is key.

Always give your merchants information in a format that’s easy to read and digest. No one likes to wade through the sludge of incomprehensible reports, so don’t make your merchants do it.

You should also promptly tell your merchants any news – good or bad. Bad news is bad enough without finding out that someone has tried to hide it from you.

And make sure to clearly explain any fees they’ll have to pay.

3. Know your merchants’ businesses.

Your merchants know everything about their respective industries, and you need to learn as much you can about them, too. How can you expect to give them good advice if you don’t know how they do business?

That being said, you don’t have to know it all. If they ask you a question and you don’t know the answer, it’s completely fine to say so. Just tell them you’ll do some research and get the answer to them as soon as possible.

Lastly, make sure your merchants understand these three important rules, and that they know you’re trying hard to live up to them. You want them to think of you as a partner –not just some company they have to pay.

And when they start thinking of you as a partner, you’ll build relationships with merchants that last – as well as a reputation that will attract new business.

Do you follow any of those rules? If so, which ones? If not, do you have any of your own? Leave us a comment below.

#

Jeff Fortney is Vice President of ISO Channel Management at Clearent. He has 35 years of experience in financial services, with 17 of those in the debit and credit card processing industry. As many ISOs and agents will tell you, Clearent will help your business thrive by providing you with some of the best merchant credit card processing services and debit credit card processing services.

PCI Compliance Fees: What They Tell You About Your Processor

Recently, many agents and ISOs have come to me and complained about PCI compliance fees.

Monthly PCI fees can range from $5-$20, and annual fees can set you back $60-$130 (and sometimes merchants have to pay both!). But while merchants certainly don’t like paying them, the real problem is often that processors don’t clearly explain them. They stick the fee information in the fine print or they don’t communicate all the details so when merchants receive their monthly statements and find the fees on them, they grab their phones and give their merchant processor an earful.

But while murky PCI compliance fees are a pain in the neck by themselves, they often tell a much bigger story: the general state of your relationship with your processor.

Delve into your processor’s PCI compliance process and ask yourself these questions. They’ll let you know if you need to think about a change:

• How does your processor handle interchange fees? Do they pass them along at cost, or do they mark them up?
• Does the merchant application or agreement clearly disclose merchant fees? Or are they hidden in the fine print somewhere?
• On the merchant’s monthly statement, are fees labeled clearly and are the counts and amounts used to calculate the fees included?
• Is it easy to read and understand your residual report? Or is it filled with long paragraphs of jargon and winding, tortuous sentences that go on and on, not really say anything, repeating themselves, kind of like this?

After asking yourself those questions, ask yourself one more: does your partner consistently hide fees in order to make more revenue? If so, this pattern will probably continue.

Will the amount they charge be reasonable or exorbitant? Will merchants be able to control the amount of the fee, or will they be left helpless? And will processors clearly explain the fees to merchants and ISOs, or will they conceal or camouflage them so that they can increase their profits?

Pay close attention to how your processor responds to these types of situations. If it isn’t to your liking, you probably have other issues as well. And you may need to start thinking about changing processors.

#

Jeff Zimmerman is Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Clearent. He has 15 years of experience in marketing, finance and product management. Clearent can offer you a hassle-free PCI compliance process with no PCI compliance fees for merchants.

Three Types of Mobile Credit Card Processing Loyalty Apps

If you’ve been following the growth of mobile credit card processing, you may have come across a variety of new apps to help merchants manage their loyalty programs.

Some strictly help with loyalty programs. Others can handle processing credit cards as well. What’s for certain is that new apps are popping up all the time, and it’s hard to keep track of them all.

To help understand these apps a bit better, think about them in three broad categories.

Digital Punch Cards

These are digital versions of the punch cards that you carry around in your wallet. They track your purchases so that you can redeem an incentive after so many visits (think buy 5, get one free).

Usually, merchants will have a laminated card with a QR code on it their store, and consumers scan the code with a smartphone app to record their purchase.

One thing to remember is that these apps are not tied into the POS system.

Telugo, Klikt and Punched are three of the most popular apps in this category. And while they allow the user to empty their wallet of bulky loyalty cards, different merchants may use different apps, so consumers may have to download a handful of them.

Sophisticated Loyalty Apps

Other apps, including SpotOn and Belly, allow for more sophisticated loyalty programs.

These apps may be integrated with Facebook, Twitter or other social networks, allowing users to share their experience with their friends. Many of the apps require merchants to have a tablet or iPad at their store so that customers can sign up and check in.

Loyalty/Payment Apps

And yet other apps combine loyalty programs with mobile credit card processing.

The most famous of the apps that combines processing credit card payments along with a loyalty program is the Starbucks Mobile App.

Another solution is LevelUp. Users download the app then attach a credit card to it. The merchant installs hardware in their store, including a mobile phone. Then the user makes a purchase by holding up their phone to the merchant’s phone.

Some apps, like TabbedOut and Vibe, process credit card transactions by integrating with existing point of sale systems.

Merchants are just starting to experiment with these apps, trying to figure out what works best for them. For example, a merchant I know is promoting two apps at the same time.

Every day, some apps fold and new ones are born. It’s important to keep up so you can stay up-to-date on this ever changing space.

Are your merchants experimenting with loyalty apps? Which ones seem to be their favorites so far? Let us know with a comment.

 

Jeff Zimmerman, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Clearent, has worked in finance, marketing and product management for 15 years. Clearent can offer an array mobile credit card processing solutions for your merchant program, many of which go beyond just processing credit card payments and include loyalty program integration.

What’s Next for Mobile Credit Card Processing?

Everyone’s talking about mobile credit card processing.

Magazine editors, blogger and pundits are constantly forecasting the next development, the next startup to seize the industry, and how it will all affect merchant service providers. With so much buzz, it’s hard to keep up.

But the gist is that consumers are slowly adopting mobile payments, and that this rate should soon increase. A recent survey by MarketLive survey showed that during the 2012 holiday season, 16 percent of consumers planned to do all or most of their shopping on a tablet or smartphone. This was up from 3 percent in 2011.

Not Just One Option

When many merchant service providers think about mobile credit card processing and mobile payments, they think of Square. The company has been in the news a lot recently. They announced a partnership with Starbucks (Square will process all debit and credit card transactions for the company). They announced fixed merchant pricing. And they launched a television ad campaign.

Although Square is the big name in mobile processing right now, remember that there are many other options available. Your processor can offer you other solutions to compete with Square, including ePN Mobile, Magtek QwickPAY, VeriFone PAYware Mobile and TSYS Mobile Payment Acceptance.

The Jury is Out On...

Mobile Wallets. There’s a lot of buzz around them and many options have been launched, but consumers aren’t adopting them quickly. Furthermore, there aren’t many standards for mobile wallets, so some in the industry are questioning their security.

Near Field Communications (NFC). Near Field Communications is a type of technology that some in the industry have praised as the next big thing for mobile processing. But at a recent conference, many of the speakers were not as optimistic. NFC isn’t the only way data can be exchanged between mobile phones and POS systems. So the future of mobile payments doesn’t necessarily depend on it.

And the Future Holds...

Mobile credit card processing is in flux right. No one really knows the future. But you can count on one thing: the technology that becomes king will be the one consumers like best.

Most likely, it won’t be a simple option. It will probably include coupons and tie in to loyalty programs, offering extra value to the consumer instead of just being another way to pay.

What you think the future holds for mobile credit card processing? Which solution do you think will grow to dominate the industry? How will it affect you? Leave a comment below. We’re eager to hear your predictions.

 

Jeff Zimmerman is Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Clearent. He has 15 years of experience in finance, marketing and product management, and has held management positions at Network Solutions and Intuit. Clearent is staying on the cutting edge of mobile credit card processing (http://www.clearent.com/financial-institutions/products-services/) and as one of the fastest growing merchant service providers, (http://www.clearent.com/about/) offers an array of different mobile payment solutions.

How the Best Credit Card Processing Companies Recruit Talent

It’s getting harder and harder to attract and keep the best talent, especially in the business credit card processing industry. The competition is stiff. New companies are sprouting up every day, and each is working hard to sell themselves as the best place to work for talented agents and merchant level salespeople.

What makes the arena even more competitive is the fact that agents and salespeople play such a pivotal role in determining the success of a business credit card processing company. In many aspects, merchants can have a tough time telling one credit card processing company from another. Consequently, every company fights hard to recruit, cultivate and retain the best salespeople possible.

One way they do this is through bonuses and high splits. This works well, especially for young salespeople who haven’t had time to build their savings accounts. However, experienced agents often choose their partners for other reasons. As they say, money can’t buy happiness.

So here are four tips to recruit and maintain talented agents without resorting to monetary means.

Cultivate a team atmosphere.

Yes, it might be cliche, but it works. If you make your agents, or anyone for that matter, feel like they’re part of the team, they will be happier. So encourage honest and open communication. Make sure everyone knows how their job contributes to the overall effort. These are the first steps in making your company an attractive place to work.

Have a wide array of products and services.

Little could be more frustrating to your agents than having to repeatedly tell potential customers that you just don’t offer what they need. Merchants have a variety of needs, so make sure you offer a variety of products. It’ll make things much easier on your agents.

Update your platforms and systems.

Working with outdated and clunky systems can be a pain, but imagine trying to sell it. It’s no fun. Make sure your platforms and systems are up-to-date. The best credit card processing companies do, and it helps them retain the best salespeople. Make signing merchants easy When your agent has a deal that’s ready to be sealed, make it easy for them do it. Offer fast, easy applications, clear and short underwriting policies and fast merchant approvals. After working hard to make the sale, the last thing your agent wants is a tedious, complicated process for bringing on new merchants.

Those are four tips for recruiting and retaining the top sales talent. Do you use any of them? Do you have your own ways to make sure your agents are happy with their jobs? Let us know.

As a Vice Presicent of Business Development, Terry Nawara’s focus is growing supportive partnerships with ISOs and financial institutions. Terry brings nearly 20 years experience in the merchant services industry -- experience that makes Clearent one of the best credit card processing companies. With an abundance of business credit card processing services, Clearent can provide clients with the necessary tools to really make a difference.

Grow Your Credit Card Processing Services Portfolio with Fast Merchant Account Approval

With credit card processing services, being able to get a fast merchant account approval can be the difference between a potential client signing with you or your competitor.

Often you’ll meet merchants who are opening businesses but have waited until the last minute to think about credit card processing services. Their doors open in two days, but they have no processing in place.

In this scenario, it’s crucial to have a good processing partner, one that is committed to fast merchant account approval.

Without a good partner, it could be days before the merchant is able to process credit cards.

However, with a good partner, you can easily say, “No problem. I’ll have you accepting credit cards in no time.”

Without a good partner, you’ll submit a completed application to your processor along with a note begging for fast merchant account approval.

With a good partner, you can fax the application knowing that you’ll get the terminal ID number (TID) in a few hours, and that you’ll have the merchant’s terminal up and running fast.

As you can see, partnering with the right processor is important. Don’t just choose one that offers a special rush service. Pick one who views turning around new applications in just a few hours as business as usual.

After picking a partner dedicated to fast merchant account approval, you can speed up the approval process with these tips:

• Make sure you get the TID. A fast approval is the first step, but to reprogram the merchant’s terminal and get them up and running quickly, you need the TID.
• Understand your processor’s credit policy so you can provide the right documents based on the type of merchant (e.g., low vs. high risk). This way your processor’s underwriting department will have the information they need, and you won’t have to spend time collecting additional documents.
• Gather accurate and complete information about the client’s terminal setup so the processor can create the file build correctly.
• If you have questions about underwriting or equipment, ask your processor. They’ll be happy to answer your questions to make your turnaround fast.

Have you met merchants who need two-day turnarounds–or less? Do you have any other tips to speed up turnaround? Leave us a comment below.

Jeff Fortney is Vice President of ISO Channel Management at Clearent™. His career includes over 35 years in financial services, with the last 17 focused on the debit and credit card processing industry. Clearent provides fast merchant account approval and is a valuable partner to many ISOs and agents. If you’re looking for a new partner for your credit card processing services, Clearent will be sure to give you and your merchants high-quality service, competitive pricing and sought-after products and services.