Contents tagged with Vantage Card

  • IRS Merchant Services Tax Reporting Mandate

    October 11, 2012
    According to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, beginning on January 1, 2012, Acquirers in the electronic payments industry were required to report credit card payments to the IRS.

    In addition, Acquirers are also responsible for performing backup withholding on any merchants whose information (name and tax ID) does not match IRS records.

    All merchants are encouraged to confirm that their merchant services provider has the most current, up to date and accurate TIN information on file. Merchants should consider submitting a copy of their W-9 form or a copy of the SS-4 form as part of the application process or upon any changes to their businesses legal structure that shows exactly how the merchant’s name is filed with the IRS therefore substantially reducing the … more

  • PCI guidance for accepting payments using a smartphone

    July 12, 2012
    Our PCI Compliance and Security partner ControlScan plans to integrate the SAQ P2PE-HW into our merchant portal by the end of the quarter, as it’s expected that P2PE certified solutions will be listed on the PCI SSC website later this year. We will alert our merchants as soon as the SAQ P2PE-HW is available.

    The PCI SSC Releases its P2PE SAQIn May the PCI Security Standards Council (SSC) published a fact sheet to offer guidance for merchants evaluating technology to accept payments using a smartphone or iPad/tablet. The fact sheet explains how a point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solution can be leveraged to secure mobile payments.

    As a next step in its P2PE program, the SSC has released a P2PE Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ). The new, reduced SAQ (SAQ P2PE-HW) is similar to SAQ … more

  • Don’t Let Your Bank Hide Fees

    March 28, 2012
    PayView Like his previous article discussing the merchant services industry, Michael Conticelli has done it again with a must read insightful report in the Ft. Myers Small Business Examiner titled “New trend in merchant statements hides rates and fees”.

    Michael specifically calls out SunTrust for purposely redesigning their merchant statements to eliminate all rate and fee detail, leaving merchants no clue as to how charges are calculated. SunTrust made the decision to keep merchants in the dark about their “surcharge fees, bill backs, annual fees, PCI fees, etc.” because when merchants “don’t actually see the rates and fees month after month” they can’t ask questions.

    Michael warns “Merchants need to be vigilant in monitoring their merchant … more

  • Vantage Launches New Merchant Services Portal

    February 24, 2012
    Vantage Card Services Vantage Card Services [+] is a new merchant services portal for our valued clients to track and redeem their Vantage Points Rewards, explore PayView reporting and trends and access Support Center resources.

    Vantage is home to world-class payment solutions and features the best value package of price, terms, service, solutions and incentives available in the payments industry. This new merchant service [+] portal complements our Interchange [+] merchant rate pricing with PayView reporting.

    PayView is a monthly reporting tool that has been developed to provide even greater transparency into your card payment acceptance. Use PayView to explore stats and trends, chart your sales, manage your Interchange qualifications and track your effective "real rate" calculations over time. We welcome … more

  • Happy New Year!

    December 29, 2011
    As we head into 2012 we want to once again take this opportunity to Thank You for choosing Vantage.

    This year we blogged about some of the most pressing issues in the payments industry impacting merchants accepting card payments. 2011 saw major industry changes enacted, including new PCI security, IRS reporting, and the Durbin Debit regulations.

    Thank you again for the privilege of being your payment solutions partner and for the opportunity to earn your trust, loyalty, and business every day. It is very exciting to be able to work with so many great entrepreneurs! We would like to extend a special thank you and our sincere gratitude for all your referrals and testimonials. We pledge to continue to build upon and maintain the Vantage reputation for the high level of personal service you … more

  • Vantage Powers Card Processing for Today Show Steals and Deals Clients

    December 09, 2011
    Congratulations to Vantage clients Moss Mills and Pure Fiber on their recent appearances on NBC’s Today Show as featured in Jill’s Steals and Deals. The Today Show segment "Steals and Deals" airs every other Tuesday morning to millions of viewers. Needless to say, both events were very successful and resulted in a huge surge in sales volume.

    For Moss Mills, December 6th was their second Today Show sales event. Their previous Steals and Deals appearance was February 8, 2011. As part of the process and with the help of a skilled design team with previous Today Show Steals and Deals experience, they created a secure ecommerce website specifically for this event called www.todayshow.mossmills.com to support the millions of hits to the site within the first few hours of the … more

  • Vantage Study Reveals Results of Fed Regulated Debit in October

    December 02, 2011
    Prior to new Fed rules, as required under the Durbin Amendment of last year's financial-overhaul law, debit Interchange was priced based on numerous factors such as: signature or PIN; card present or not; transaction less than $15 or higher; supermarket or lodging and more. The new Fed regulated debit Interchange in effect since October 1st forced the addition of a new rate to be determined by the size of the cardholder’s bank issuing the debit card. For small banks, with less than $10 billion in assets, the existing debit Interchange rates remained unchanged. However, for the largest banks issuing debit cards, with assets are over $10 billion, the new Fed regulated debit Interchange rate did have an impact on merchant processing costs in October.

    Mega-merchants were expected to … more

  • Vantage Card Services Celebrates 15th Anniversary

    February 17, 2011
    Trusted since 1996, Vantage Card Services celebrates its 15th year providing payment processing and payment systems to merchants, businesses and community banks.

    Today Vantage is honored to service clients in all 50 states. Our philosophy of building a business one merchant at a time, with a focus on service and education - not contracts and gimmicks – is a growth strategy that has served us well over the years.

    Vantage is home to world-class payment solutions and features the best value package of price, terms, service, solutions and incentives available in the payments industry. Our passion is providing you with high quality payment processing solutions that exceed your expectations and we are continuously working on improving our programs, technology and service offerings.

    In … more

  • Extreme Makeover in Savannah

    November 22, 2010
    It was an awesome week for everyone involved with the Extreme Makeover Project in Savannah that will air on ABC sometime in January.  Our partner, First Chatham Bank (FCB) in Savannah was selected as the bank and set up a Vantage merchant account for the week long fundraising event.  FCB was part of the last volunteer team on site while “Move that Bus” was filmed and finished the week with an Extravaganza hosted by Paula Deen.  The Simpson Family was so deserving of the new home, and we believe that funds collected will pay off the Simpson’s mortgage.   Congratulations to all on another successful Extreme Makeover Project! more

  • Special PCI Alert

    July 24, 2010
    A Special PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) Alert for Vantage clients.

    This week the number of reported solicitations by phone and fax to our merchant community, especially medical, dental and veterinary practices, has spiked.

    The common scare tactic involves being subject to fines if immediate action is not taken. Merchants are told that they have no option but to follow the instructions provided, which typically involves providing contact information, setting an appointment, or paying a fee.

    Many of the tactics used will try to make it sound as if they are calling on behalf of your service provider. Please be aware that these solicitations are NOT endorsed by Vantage. We do NOT release any information to any 3rd party.

    The PCI scare game has also become … more