Signs You are Paying Too Much

3 Signs you are paying too much

Signs that you are currently paying too much...

1. You have the same rates for both MasterCard and Visa transactions
2. You have only one Qualified Rate
3. You pay Mid & Non Qualified Rates

Merchants must pay even closer attention to their rate structure than to their rate. Because it is important to understand the value of pricing strategy; merchants should be asking "what’s your rate structure", not "what's your rate"! Having more knowledge about what determines your rate and the fees that impact your bottom line cost will help you make an informed decision when selecting your next credit card processing provider.

MasterCard and Visa carry different Interchange pricing. Since Visa may account for as much as 70% of your transactions, if you pay the same rate for both MasterCard and Visa transactions, you are not qualifying for the lowest rates available.

If you do, you are not able to qualify for all the reduced incentive Interchange pricing levels available to you. For example:

• Restaurants can qualify for reduced Interchange rates for credit and signature debit (check cards) transactions under $15.
• Signature debit card transactions that qualify for both Merit 3 Debit and Restaurant Debit will qualify at the lower of the two rates depending on the transaction size.

• Traditionally, most merchants only paid attention to the qualified rate; therefore merchant account providers have built expensive margins into their mid and non-qualified pricing.
• You will want to avoid this pricing structure since you will find that many of the transactions that once were defined as Qualified rates may now be re-defined as a Non-qualified rewards card – increasing your bottom line costs.

These rate structure examples illustrate the upside of having a professional payment systems consultant work with you to analysis your card processing activity to establish an Interchange rate structure for your specific industry.