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Credit Card Fees

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Georgiascp

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Have you guys seen an increase in your credit card rates in the last few months?

We went from averaging between 2.61% to 2.69% to averaging from 2.77% to 2.86% in the last 4 months. At these rates I can get square and at least be mobile. This is getting out of hand who do you guys use and what rates are you now seeing?
 
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Georgiascp said:
Have you guys seen an increase in your credit card rates in the last few months?

We went from averaging between 2.61% to 2.69% to averaging from 2.77% to 2.86% in the last 4 months. At these rates I can get square and at least be mobile. This is getting out of hand who do you guys use and what rates are you now seeing?
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I would check your statement and see if they’re sneaking anything in. I doubt they’re passing on a small increase from visa / mc with that high of a % increase.

I was averaging high 2% - low 3% monthly.

I switched last year and my %'s are in the 2.1-2.2 range.

I switched to a membership processor which charges $499 per year . Overall, my processing costs have drppped significantly after the switch.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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I called them up today and they are going to look into it and give me a “rate review” but the lady I spoke to was convinced I was getting a good rate she couldn’t understand when I was telling her square is cheaper and I don’t even process Amex with them I seriously am sick of how much we pay in fees every month it’s ridiculous.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
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Are you under any kind of a contract? I suggest that you call around and get some quotes rather than breaking your brain on their statement. Try Heartland, try your bank… ask at your local chamber if there is any affinity deal for members…
 
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bodegahwy said:
Are you under any kind of a contract? I suggest that you call around and get some quotes rather than breaking your brain on their statement. Try Heartland, try your bank… ask at your local chamber if there is any affinity deal for members…
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I am not under contract and I am going through my bank for processing and they initially had good rates but in the last 5 months they have been high and I thought maybe it was just an off month or so but they weren’t coming down. I just got my statement today and sure enough I averaged 2.77%. I’m going to speak with a rep for mercury as I’m using them for my online processing and they are averaging about 2.5%

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You really have to fight for those percentages.

When I negotiated for my rate (0% and .05 per transaction) it took me days of back and forth, back and forth between all the top processors out there.

Finally after realizing it was a game, I sent out an email with everyone cc’d on it saying something like:

“This is bullshit, you guys are wasting my time. Every time I show one of you that another one of you went down a tenth of a percent, you match it instantly, without hesitation. Just cut to the chase already. This will be my final email. Whoever gets me to 0% with the lowest transaction rate and fees will get my business”.

Heartland was the only one at that time that manned up and met my demands. I use vantiv now who also matched them, and has a little lower monthly cost, but I’ve only used them for a bit so I can’t vouch for them like I can for heartland (whom I liked)

I’m still fighting for a lower per transaction cost. Never give up the fight!

In the grand scheme of things I still spend way, way to much money on credit card fees. I wish the world would come together somehow to fight it, but it’s probably only going to go up.

Cash is risky with theft and all, sure, but I’d rather take my chances with theft instead of just handing it over without a choice… bastards.
 
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I do not see why the government doesn’t just declare CC and debit transactions to be a utility and set one single rate. It’s not like you can exist in the modern economy anymore without one.

They suck Billions of dollars out of the economy every year for what benefit to society ? none.
 
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noreason said:
You really have to fight for those percentages.

When I negotiated for my rate (0% and .05 per transaction) it took me days of back and forth, back and forth between all the top processors out there.

Finally after realizing it was a game, I sent out an email with everyone cc’d on it saying something like:

“This is bullshit, you guys are wasting my time. Every time I show one of you that another one of you went down a tenth of a percent, you match it instantly, without hesitation. Just cut to the chase already. This will be my final email. Whoever gets me to 0% with the lowest transaction rate and fees will get my business”.

Heartland was the only one at that time that manned up and met my demands. I use vantiv now who also matched them, and has a little lower monthly cost, but I’ve only used them for a bit so I can’t vouch for them like I can for heartland (whom I liked)

I’m still fighting for a lower per transaction cost. Never give up the fight!

In the grand scheme of things I still spend way, way to much money on credit card fees. I wish the world would come together somehow to fight it, but it’s probably only going to go up.

Cash is risky with theft and all, sure, but I’d rather take my chances with theft instead of just handing it over without a choice… bastards.
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You know it totally is a game. It’s like the rep I spoke to over the phone didn’t want to either understand or admit that square reader was cheaper she tried telling me I have really good rates. I was in shock and the 2.75% square charges is way high IMO. She didn’t change her tune until I told her listen at the end of the day it’s all about who is cheapest all processors do the same job and I will go where it’s cheap. I am currently with vantiv as well for our online processing and their rates are falling in the 2.5% area.

Also for those of you who are doing mobile swipers are there significant saving going on? Do you think it’s worth implementing and how do you go about it? Give the driver a swiper or do you have a company phone and swiper that you give to the driver?

I’m trying to buckle down my expenses. Tired of giving my money away without questioning anything. My suppliers are next I have seen that go up a lot too.

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I asked a similar question about mobile swiping and how it was implemented a few months back. Worth checking out.

Also understand that there are interchange rate percentages that you can’t get around regardless of your negotiation skills…

I essentially take my credit card sales and what they removed from them to get the true percentage.

I do the same with the electric companies who love to quote their kwph price BEFORE all the random fees they add… I’ve almost switched to a power company who was a few cents cheaper only to learn that they had some crazy fees that my current provider didn’t.

Such is the world we live in I guess. Just a bunch of people trying to get over on a bunch of other people.
 
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noreason said:
I essentially take my credit card sales and what they removed from them to get the true percentage.
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This is what I do as well. I will search for your post and check it out thanks for all your input.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 
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The two days i was without CC processing at the end of December, we did a lot better then i would have expected. Almost everyone was able to pay in cash. But around here, under normal conditions, it is not uncommon to hit 90% cc.
 
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We did not take them for the first 12 years we were in business. Eventually, my crew told me we were losing a couple of orders a night from callers who cancelled when they wanted to pay by card. Made that decision pretty easy. For quite a while it ran about 30-40% of sales. But, in recent years the % has grown every year. In the past year it finally got so high we could no longer pay out the tips received in cash because some days there was not enough cash receipts to do so without drawing down the till. Now we pay CC tips on the paycheck.

I still hate the fact that we are forced to pay the marketing expenses of the card issuer in the form of the “points” they give away. It is total BS.
 
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i recently negotiated down to 1% and $.09 per order. January was at 2.79% all in.
 
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noreason said:
You really have to fight for those percentages.

When I negotiated for my rate (0% and .05 per transaction) it took me days of back and forth, back and forth between all the top processors out there.

Finally after realizing it was a game, I sent out an email with everyone cc’d on it saying something like:

“This is bullshit, you guys are wasting my time. Every time I show one of you that another one of you went down a tenth of a percent, you match it instantly, without hesitation. Just cut to the chase already. This will be my final email. Whoever gets me to 0% with the lowest transaction rate and fees will get my business”.

Heartland was the only one at that time that manned up and met my demands. I use vantiv now who also matched them, and has a little lower monthly cost, but I’ve only used them for a bit so I can’t vouch for them like I can for heartland (whom I liked)

I’m still fighting for a lower per transaction cost. Never give up the fight!

In the grand scheme of things I still spend way, way to much money on credit card fees. I wish the world would come together somehow to fight it, but it’s probably only going to go up.

Cash is risky with theft and all, sure, but I’d rather take my chances with theft instead of just handing it over without a choice… bastards.
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What other fees are you charged monthly besides the 5 cents per swipe? Do you have a yearly membership fee or anything? That sounds like the deal of the century for CC processing!
PS I like your technique of getting the lowest rate by emailing them and CC’ing the rest :cool:
 
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Other than the interchange fees that nobody can get around, I pay $8.50 a month in fees. Nothing yearly.
 
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LittleMissPizza said:
Who are you using?
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I use Vantiv. I pit vantiv against Heartland(they also have a good reputation here on the thinktank) to see who will give me the best deal. They both bottomed out at 1% and 9 cents a trans. So I just stuck with Vantiv because i have been doing business with them for 5 years already and I think there would be some fees from my pos company to install the heartland drivers.
 
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We just recently switched this past October from Heartland to a company called Pivotal Payments. Was averaging between 2.80% and 2.85% with Heartland, with the new c/c processor its been 2.5% every month.
 
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Georgiascp said:
I am not under contract and I am going through my bank for processing and they initially had good rates but in the last 5 months they have been high and I thought maybe it was just an off month or so but they weren’t coming down. I just got my statement today and sure enough I averaged 2.77%. I’m going to speak with a rep for mercury as I’m using them for my online processing and they are averaging about 2.5%

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
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We use our bank as well, we process an absurd amount of credit cards each month. Our bank just started charging us for the paper rolls for coins when we go to get change. That in itself is ridiculous. After reading all these posts I’m going to contact some merchants soon and hopefully start cutting some costs.

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