Has or does anyone out there do processing with “FIRST DATA” ? If so have you received a letter stating that your debit transactions are going up. We currently do not pay any % for transactions, but we do pay .20 per. Now starting April 1st they want to start charging 2.04% per plus .20 per transaction. My credit is less than that @ 1.71%. Thinking of not taking debit anymore, and doing strictly credit, cash, or checks…
Hey Debbie,
Is the company you are talking about “First Data Global Leasing”? If yes, I STRONGLY urge you to run away as fast as you can! They are probably the most unethical company I have ever dealt with in my life!
Good Luck!
TCK
No they are an Independent Sales Company based in CA. They are not a leasing Co. They are a processing Co.
Ok just spoke to my rep. The letter states non-pin debit & pin debit, so when a customer hands me a credit card and it has “DEBIT” printed on the card, regardless if I take it as a credit card or debit card Im going to be still charged the same rate of 2.04% plus .20 per transaction. So guess I just need to watch the cards coming in, and explain to customers, and ask if they have another card without “DEBIT” printed on it, or offer a discount for using cash. Man they just want to stick it to you no matter what…
The more rules they make for banks, the more ways banks will find a way to get around them…
Have you considered switching companies? Those guys make even RBS look good. We get solicited at least once a week to change processors.
First, a recent federal regulation REDUCES the fees on debit card transactions (a maximum of $ .12 per transaction)for cards issued by large US banks, so why would they be increasing your fee in direct violation of that reg. (could you have misinterpreted their notice ? ). Second, and even more important, could this be a stimulus for “shopping around”. I know there is a woman on this site that represents a very competitive company…her name is Diana Knight and she’s with Card Solutions, Inc. > maybe search here for her contact info, or maybe she will see your post and post a reply. Anyway, look around, since you may even save on all your card transactions. Good Luck.
I was using First Data but switched to heartland-integrates with my pos and my fees were almost cut in half
No I did not misunderstand their notice, even had my rep come in and look at it. Where is it that this federal regulation is in writing? of .12 per trans. Im still in a contract and believe it, my fees are so low, Ive had other solicitors in here and said they could not beat what Im paying, example my transacations for 1 month is $3,500.00, total fees is extremely close to $200 or less.
That part of the regulation does not go into effect until July, and there has not been a number settled on as a rate per transaction.
I just spoke to PETER EICHENBAUM from the Bloomberg Newsroom, and he stated that it has not been implemented yet on the .12 per trans. and the reason why the are going to start charging 2.04% per trans is to make up for the money lost when it does take effect. Seriously think I will just stop taking credit all together and just do strictly cash or check, then Ill save a ton of money…
Good luck with that. Let us know how it goes… 
Remember - using a debit/credit card is “the same as cash, and even better!” :roll:
I am with Connect Merchant & I pay $240 on average & I do about $8000 in credit card charges a month. No pin based debit. All ran as a credit.
I did 14546 and was charged 404.00 total… which is about 2.8% I use 5th 3rd processing and doing a interchange plus pricing
I use heartland merchant services and $20,000 in a month runs me right around 400. You should probably consider shopping around. On that same note heartland bases your rates on how much CC business you are doing. We started out at one rate and as we got busier and were processing more cards we were able to get a lower rate. All we had to do was call our rep and say hey business is booming can we negotiate a new rate?
Im just blowing off steam: Im not going to stop taking credit or debit all together, what I will do however is as soon as a customer pulls out a credit card, I will offer a 2% or 3% discount for using cash or check. I will however start to shop around for a better rate, my term is up next month with FDIS Empire, but they have been really good to, they come in at least 1 ever month or so and buy pizza for the whole office, they usually spend on average about $100 or so. Anyway with that being said, just blowing off steam
Be very careful with this. If you read your merchant agreement there is likely a clause against doing this. If they get nasty with you, there is a possibility you will lose your account and not be able to get another one.
I really do not like the cash discount, you essentially are just throwing away money. I for one would not even think twice about using my card even if I was getting 5 percent off my order (small ticket). the money you will loose on your regular cash orders will be lots more than what you are paying to take the card. That being said I have seen DOZENS of places that add, .50 to each transaction…I don’t know how they get away with it but they do…or at least have a minimum amount…when your term is up ask about an interchange plus pricing…side note 100% of my business at lunch today was CC
When I say giving a discount, that is only going for a customer who hands me a card, this is not for all cash customers. There are a great number of merchants doing this process, example gas stations, you pay .05 to .10 more for using credit versus cash. I currently have a number of customers who would rather pay cash than credit, because they know about the fees, and say they would rather pay me cash & see me keep my money rather than me paying it out to the banks and processors. I feel its a win win, when customers pay by cash
I get approached all the time saying I am paying way too much, I have a woman coming from Sterling? anyone ever hear of them? also Has anyone else got the letter stating we will be getting a 1099 this year from our cc processor as a crack down on unreported income?