5 Things to Consider When Shortlisting
Payment Processing Companies

Irrespective of the type of business you run, you may need to accept payments through credits/debit cards. You will need to hire a third-party payment processing company to manage the transactions and process the payment between you and the credit card giants, such as MasterCard, Visa, etc.

While these credit card biggies have a massive credit/debit card network, they don’t work with merchants directly. They outsource customer support and sales to payment processing companies like Payment USA. When it comes to choosing a processing company, there is a lot of confusion among merchants as the marketplace is quite complex.

In this post, I will quickly go over some very important points that need your consideration in this regard. So, here I go!

1. Fees

Don’t hesitate to ask your shortlisted payment processing companies about the pricing, fees, and additional costs (other than the processing fees) they charge for setting up and maintaining merchant accounts and other merchant payment services. An interchange fee is charged by all credit card companies and it can range between 0.5% and 3% for each transaction. The charges may vary across the card types, transaction size, and the purchase location (online or offline).

What matters here is the “monthly fees”. Hence, it is important to consider whether the card processing company charges this fee or not? How do they bill? What’s the minimum figure of transactions a merchant must process to avoid additional fees/charges? A lot of payment processing companies impose additional charges for payment gateway access, monthly statement, support and setup fees, etc. Above all, you must check if there is any early contract termination fee also just in case you want to switch to another processing company?

2. Setup Process

Make sure you ask the merchant accounts and payment processing companies about their setup process like how quick or hassle-free will it be? You should know how long the process is going to take and how soon your business can start using the system? In the highly competitive marketplace, delays may cost you many customers as they may move to another merchant. Long and complex setup process could be risky for your business.

3. Security

When talking about credit card transactions, we cannot overlook the security concerns associated with it. Hence, when choosing a payment processor, you need to be mindful about the security. The processor must have the right set of fraud prevention tools to ensure the safety of your customers’ data. Credit card payment processing companies, these days, offer powerful security (encryption & tokenization) features for online as well as offline purchases. When accepting payments online, merchants must check that the processor has CVV2 verification and SSL certification. Finally, make sure your merchant accounts and payment solutions integration service provider is PCI-DSS compliant, so that data is fully secure while being shared across systems.

4. Payment Types of Payment

Today, customers expect more choices than ever before and this includes choice in payment modes as well. Hence, when you choose to hire a credit card processing company, it is important to check what all payment types the processor accepts, apart from the major credit and debit cards. The more options you provide to your customers to pay you in exchange for goods/services, the more opportunities of sales/revenue generation you will have.

5. Industry Rapport

Asking the partnerships and relationships your potential processor has maintained in the marketplace is important. The answer will help you determine the benefits you can expect from those partnerships for your relationship (with the processor). This includes knowing the sponsor banks and financial institutions the processors work with, so you can also leverage these connections to further expand your commercial network. If your chosen card processor has more relationships and good rapport in the industry, it means your chances of growth in association with the processor are good.

Contact the credit card payment processing expert at Payment USA for further queries about merchant accounts, card processing, and the factors discussed above. 

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