Hey all,
A while back I posted up about my C.C. processor info. If you recall, the rep from Heartland gave me example after example of local busineses statments. But only the First and second page, not the other 3 pages that follow.
So, after getting his rates and calling MY processor, my processor matched his new lower rates. Well it’s been a couple months and i’ve recieved a couple new statements with my new costs…
How I figure it is, I calculate the total for all the fee’s for the month, then divide that by the total sales.
Original Plan:
May: 5.78%
June: 4.51%
July: 4.5%
Aug: 4.65%
Sept: missing
New plan:
Oct: 3.87%
Nov: 3.8%
Now, it has decreased (on average) a whole % point. But when looking at the first page of the Heartland examples, it has “Total Fees” labeled plain as day, and “Deposits” right there as well… which he then divided and came up with an average of 2.2% for every example.
Now, for all of you WITH Heartland, could you please post a pic of the first page (blanking your info out of course). I want to see if this guy is giving me “fixed” paperwork.
And, if my processor is giving me the same rate as Heartland was going to, why am I not at 2.2%?
I think the Heartland “Total Fees” dosent actually have ALL the total fees…
Re: Can someone using Heartland as their C.C. processor help
We use heartland, however, i dont have access to the statements. One thing you can do is match the heartland paperwork with your bank statements. If the total fees matches what the bank statement says, then you know it’s right. We have used heartland for several years and have been very happy with them.
Re: Can someone using Heartland as their C.C. processor help
Unlike the previous post I think I know what you are asking and the answer is: You are paying too much in fees! It is possible to be around 2.5%. The only way you should be paying what you are is because your customers would all be using “Rewards Cards” like Sony Card, Disney Card, GM Card…
You should be able to get a contract that charges the following rates:
Check Cards 1.19%
Credit Cards 1.69%
Rewards Cards 3.50%
Swipe fee .15 per transaction
Statement fee $5.00 month
No other fees
Re: Can someone using Heartland as their C.C. processor help
I have also been eaten away by the fees, but i got out of it and got into interchange pricing. I was paying up to 5% for the credit cards , but since i switched, i’m down to around 3%. If your getting 3.8%, your not that bad.
Your % will jump when you factor in the added fees. For example if you paying .20 a swipe, and you have a $10 Sale, that would mean your % jumps 2%.
Keep in mind, All cards have different rates like someone posted previously. Debit cards will be the cheapest and credit reward cards are the highest.
If you are in tiered pricing, your transactions may get downgraded if you don’t get the CVV number & Billing address for the card. This can add up to 3% on top of the original %.
If you want to put up your statement, i’ll take a look at it and see if it looks ok…
Re: Can someone using Heartland as their C.C. processor help
I know it stinks for a delivery business, but there is a good reason for that higher charge. Swiping the card caries significantly less risk than a taking credit card number over the phone. When you swipe it you know the person is in posession of the card and are able to check the signature. It’s not foolproof, but you’ll see a much higher incidence of stolen credit card usage on phone and internet transactions.
You can knock down the cost of your non-swiped transactions though… make sure your employees are getting address information. That will bring you to a “mid-qualified” rate and save you a percent or two.
Interologist, it would be helpful to know what your average credit card ticket is. Like was pointed out above, the smaller your average ticket the higher your percentage will be due to the fixed cost of the swipe fee.
Re: Can someone using Heartland as their C.C. processor help
We use heartland. Total fees is exactly what it says; total fees. We are about 80 delivery and the CC costs are 2.6 to 2.8%. If we had a lot more caryout or sit down they would drop into the 2.2 range you mention.
Re: Can someone using Heartland as their C.C. processor help
Also, if your POS supports it, you can get lower rates on delivery orders if the customer uses the card more than once. It comes across as swiped. It stores the card number encrypted, I believe. So once the card was used legitimately, you get the lower rate, even if it is charged over the phone.