Visa & MasterCard Released October 2015 Interchange Updates

Just like in previous year the card association has updated or added some the interchange categories. See below.  This is all we could find that was changed.  What will almost certainly happen as in years past, many ISO and service providers will use this as a reason to charge you more.  With our interchange plus pricing arrangement, we do not charge you more for our processing.  Do you know how your processing company handles these changes?  

Miscellaneous Changes
• Business Standard transactions are now broken down into 3 categories based off of dollar amount.

MasterCard
New Categories
• Business Debit/Business Prepaid/Large Market-Healthcare (1.00% + $0.00)
• Business Debit/Business Prepaid/Large Market-Healthcare Maximum (0.00% + $5.00)

Maybe it is time to let us help you with a rate review.  Contact us today, to save for tomorrow.

Call 888-506-9225 option 103 or visit  www.tampabaymerchantservices.com

Everything Too Good To Be True CAN For A Short Time

Scrapped after one year:

http://www.paymenteye.com/2015/11/03/amazon-feels-the-squeeze-in-mpos-market/

Our thoughts on this:

Subsidized pricing might work for a short time, but not forever. This is way Visa and MC work! There's no secrets, no special rates or double secret Interchange. You either make money or you do not. You cannot get any work-around to the pricing that they charge. Square will be the next to increase rates (after IPO).

Call us today at 727-916-7294 option 103 or visit our website at www.tampabaymerchantservices.com if we can help

Gift Cards Are Gold For The Merchant

The holiday gift card season is here.

Each year, gift card sales go up by about 10% over the previous year. Ever wonder why the big restaurants have the promotion of purchase $100 gift card and receive an extra $20 gift card? Continue reading.

Over a billion dollars in gift cards have gone un-redeemed.

More than 10% of gift cards never get redeemed. That's great for a retail store or restaurant. You get the cash, but don't have the expense.

However, make sure you are following the gift card laws of your municipality. Even if not cashed, you have some legal obligations for un-redeemed gift cards.

For accounting purchases, a gift card is not counted as a sale until it is actually redeemed. The money you receive for selling a gift card becomes a liability until the gift card is exchanged for merchandise.

Nearly 85% of people between 25 to 34 years old are giving gift cards this year.

Only 40% of those over 65 will be giving gift cards. I'm in this group. Maybe that's why I don't like gift cards.

22% of those with a gift card make a purchase of an item that they would normally not purchase.

72% will spend more money in your business than the value of the gift card.

On average, gift card users spend 22% more money than the value of the gift card.

77% of all Americans have given out a gift card in the past year.

$25 is the most popular gift card denomination.

55% of those using gift cards need more than one trip to the store in order to redeem their gift card.

Read the statistics at: https://www.cardcash.com/gift-card-statistics/

For help with getting started on a gift card program call us at 888-506-9225 option 103 or visit
www.tampabaymerchantservices.com

Why Can’t I Get a Small Business Loan from a Bank?

Having trouble getting financing from a bank? You’re not alone. So far in 2015, big banks have approved only 21.7% of small business loans. Despite a recovering economy and an increasing demand for small business credit, banks have become less and less inclined to lend to small businesses.

But why? The answer isn’t as simple as low credit scores. While it’s true that small business owner credit scores are still suffering from the effects of the Recession, other factors are at play as to why banks are suddenly shunning small to medium sized businesses from their portfolios. Let’s take a look at some of them:

Riskier: Small businesses are riskier lending propositions than larger businesses for a variety reasons. For one, small businesses are more sensitive to the ebbs and flows of the economy. Because big businesses are generally more self-sustainable than small ones, larger businesses can weather a dip in the economy. However, any prolonged economic downturn can have lasting consequences on a small business and may even cause them to default on a loan.

Decline of community banks: Historically, community banks have always been more willing to give microloans (generally loans of $50k or less), the amount that small businesses often seek. However, many of these banks have either been consolidated by big banks or have closed completely. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the number of community banks dropped 41% between 2007 and 2013, a bad sign for small business owners looking for loans.

Not as profitable for banks: Perhaps the biggest reason bank lending to small businesses has slowed down is that it’s just simply not as profitable for banks as it used to be. Lending to small businesses in the lower dollar range is too costly and risky for banks. For instance, the cost to process a $50k loan is comparable to a $500k loan, and with 51% of small business owners looking for loans below $100k, you can see the problem.

So with banks not lending to small businesses the way they used to, where can owners turn for small business credit?

We Can Help
We specialize working with small businesses by partnering with companies that provide lending to businesses like yours.  Whether a restaurant owner is in the market for a quick $25k or a beauty salon owner wants $15k to cover sudden expenses, we can help.

What we can offer is different from a bank in that we completely eliminate the mountain of paperwork, long waiting times, and stringent payback policies. Bad credit or low credit score is not a problem.  Whether it’s our Merchant Cash Advance or Business Loan, these  financing programs are an easy and fast solution for small business owners looking for credit.

Call us today at 888-506-9225 option 103 or visit our website at www.tampabaymerchantservices.com

Are You Being Charged Junk Fees?

Just like in your business you want and need to make a profit to pay overhead and expenses. This is true in the credit card processing business for the company that is providing the service.  With interchange plus pricing you will see the mark up because of the transparency.  This is what we promote and suggest that any business that is looking for credit card processing insist on. Some companies will give a low ball "show" rate only to make it up somewhere else. Hence the reason why you might see "junk fees". There can be that line that is crossed when too much is too much.  Sometime it is just plan sneaky. One of the worst offenders that I have seen recently is the attached statement.  

If you have any question about this, please feel free to contact us at info@tampabaymerchantservices.com or call 727-916-7294

Say Good Bye To Your Credit / Debit Card As You Know It

Perhaps you can remember back when you got your first computer let’s say around 20 years ago?  How about your first cell phone?  Was it a flip phone just making phone calls?  How well would your old computer work today assuming it was still available?  Of course it could not do much in the world today.  In a similar way this is the problem with the credit / debit cards we are using today.  It is a technology from the 20^th century, operating in a much advanced 21^st century.   The magnetic stripe card we use today: the technology was developed back in the 1960’s and the ability to apply it to a plastic card came about in mass production in the 1970’s.  The data from these cards can be easily copied and reproduced to another plastic counterfeit card.  Until the “owner” of the card realizes the card data was stolen, the card can be used to purchase items.  Typically the fraudsters will resale these items for cash.

Since then new technology has been developed to make it much harder, if not impossible to replicate cards that can used in advanced credit card device readers.  It is known as EMV.  This payment security standard was developed by Europay, MasterCard, and Visa in 1994, hence “EMV”.  In the mid-1990s, EMV-compliant payment cards began to be issued and EMV-compliant POS terminals began to be installed in countries around the world. While different markets have migrated to the EMV standard at different speeds, the U.S. has been the one major international country not adopting the standard. Since 2011, however, the global card networks that first created EMV have renewed their push to bring the EMV standard to the United States.  Some ask why has it taken the US so long to adopt this or any new standard with a more secure technology than we use today?  The answer is not clear, however, in my opinion; the best reason is until recently it was less costly for the banks to absorb the fraud losses than to pay for the new more costly technology.  What seldom gets mention if at all about fraud loses is much of theses cost can ultimately hit the original accepting merchant that unknowingly took the counterfeit card.

An EMV card resembles the current magnetic-stripe cards with one significant difference, the EMV “chip” or microprocessor that is embedded in the card. EMV protect against duplicate card fraud. Unlike a magnetic-stripe card, an EMV card is not swiped through a reader. Rather, it is inserted into a slot on the terminal.  When the EMV card is inserted, a metal contact on its face connects the card to the terminal and the two devices are then able to communicate.  While the EMV card is used for a transaction and during the communication process for an approval response from the issuing bank, there is new dynamic CVV code used in the authorization request.  This dynamic CVV changes for each transaction.  It is validated against what is expected at the host.  The result is the primary account number is static yet data changes on each transaction.   The problem that EMV will not help against fraud is in a card not present environment such as goods sold on a website. 

Although EMV it is not a magic bullet, it is far better then what we have today.  For example card fraud in the U.K. began to drop following EMV implementation. But in 2008 and 2009 fraud losses began to rise, driven mostly by card not present transactions and cross-border fraud initiated with counterfeit cards using information captured from legitimate cards’ magnetic-stripe. After more countries had adopted EMV, card not present transactions and cross-border fraud losses fell. During the first six months of 2010 the same period the previous year.  Since its adoption in the European countries, and the U.K. in particular, EMV has effectively eradicated face-to-face counterfeit card fraud in card payments. Consequently, the U.K. case study has significant implications for U.S. merchants since it highlights the tangible reduction in fraud witnessed in a country following EMV migration.

Although many merchants may be skeptical of EMV migration given the significant upfront costs of upgrading payment acceptance terminals, over the long run merchants and the industry as a whole will benefit from a reduction in fraud. The magnetic-stripe is no longer able to fend off fraudsters armed with low-cost magnetic-stripe readers, card-duplication gear, and Internet-sourced card data that can be entered into the payments system without strong account holder authentication. The result has been an outbreak of card skimming that has cost the payments industry and merchants millions of dollars.

The fact that merchants in both Canada and Mexico are mostly compliant with EMV standards makes merchants in the U.S. very vulnerable to fraud. As the rest of the world moves toward EMV, merchants in the United States will be at greater risk of fraud until they install EMV-compliant POS terminals and banks issue EMV cards.

If you have any question about this, please feel free to contact us at info@tampabaymerchantservices.com or call 727-916-7294

The Info Behind Our Terminal Label

Look at two terminal labels below.  One is from a competitor and the other is from our firm.  What is the story behind these two.  Our terminal label state we stand behind what we sell.   As you can see we give our number and the national toll free number.  You get the best of both world.  No need to call a toll free number all the time with our service.  We know our merchants and they know us.  If you like that type of business relationship, then give us a call or email!

info@tampabaymerchantservices.com or call 727-916-7294