“Keyed” or Card-Not-Present consumer credit card transaction costs can be lowered by simply entering the Address Verification (AVS) information at the time of the transaction.  AVS consists of two fields or prompts: billing address number and billing address zip code.  Without entering this information in these fields, the transactions will downgrade to a higher percentage rate and could add up to 1.00% to the cost of the transaction! 

Kenny Noel

1-888-952-4250

kennynoel@a-bsolutions.com

PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards) are a set of requirements developed to help companies protect credit card and other sensitive cardholder data. When these requirements are followed, the chances of a security breach resulting in sensitive cardholder data loss are greatly reduced.

All entities that process, transmit or store cardholder data must comply with the PCI DSS. Merchants are broken up into four (4) levels based on the volume of transactions processed each year and are bound by a set of requirements and deadlines that must be met in order to achieve PCI DSS compliance.

All Levels 1-4 merchants are required to complete an annual PCI Self-Assessment Questionnaire and a Quarterly Network Scan by an Approved Scanning Vendor.

Most credit card processing companies are now charging their merchants monthly PCI Non-Compliance fees of about $25.00 per month. 

If you would like to reduce your overall costs of your merchant account fees, and eliminate all monthly Non-Compliance charges, contact us right away for a detailed analysis!

 Kenny Noel

1-888-952-4250

kennynoel@a-bsolutions.com

www.a-bsolutions.com

For additional information on PCI DSS Compliance, go to https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/.

Tip of the Month:
If your pin pad for Debit cards stops working, first try to unplug the power to the terminal, then plug it back in. This will reboot the terminal and hopefully reset the pin pad. Please contact me with any other tech questions.

Kenny Noel

1-888-952-4250

kennynoel@a-bsolutions.com

Commercial, Purchasing, Corporate, and Government cards are increasingly being presented for payment of purchase orders and invoices.  MasterCard and Visa have designed processing programs specifically for businesses who primarily accept these cards as payment.  Level II and Level III Commercial Card Data processing was established to help businesses who process Commercial cards lower their merchant account fees by qualifying these transactions correctly.

Summary of Level II and Level III Commercial Card Processing

Level II

Level II Commercial Card Data contains additional information about each transaction that includes three variables, Invoice Number, Customer Code, and Sales Tax.  This additional information will allow these transactions to qualify at lower interchange rates.

Level III

Level III data (also known as Level 3 line item detail) contains more transaction details.  This type of transaction data is normally used within large companies and supports back-end processing and data exchange services.  This method enables the card transactions to qualify for special interchange rates that the card associations have established for commercial cards.  Level III data is also very useful to the purchasing organizations to help streamline accounting procedures and merge payment data with electronic procurement systems.

Benefits of Accepting Commercial Cards as Payment

1. Improves profitability by reducing payment time for 30-60 days to two-three business days.

2. Reduces cost of floating funds until payments are received.

3. Reduces collection expenses through guaranteed electronic authorization and payment processing.

4. Generate new business by offering preferred payment options.

At present, there are a small number of processing companies that are capable of supporting Level II and Level III accounts and data.  Advanced Business Solutions fully supports Level II and Level III transactions and specializes in implementing solutions that meet the specific requirements of Commercial Card processing.

Kenny Noel

Advanced Business Solutions

kennynoel@a-bsolutions.com

1-888-952-4250

The following is a list of items that may be requested during the underwriting process of an e-commerce or mail order/telephone order merchant account:

General Business Information

• Merchant Processing Agreement (Mandatory)
• Articles of Corporation
• IRS Confirmation of Non-Profit Status or Other Supporting Documentation (Non-Profit Organizations)
• Last 3 Months Current Bankcard Statements (Mandatory if Applicable)
• Voided Business Check (Mandatory)

 

Financial Information

• Current Financial Statement on Business (P&L and Balance Sheet)
• Business Tax Returns (Most Recent)
• Personal Tax Returns (Most Recent)
• Current Bank Statements (Last 6 Months)

 

Sales and Marketing Information

• Website Address (Mandatory, must have valid business content)
• Brochures and Advertisements
• Length of time from purchase to customer fulfillment

Kenny Noel

www.a-bsolutions.com

This is a brief explanation of risk for E-Commerce and Mail Order/Telephone Order (MOTO) merchant accounts, and why Merchant Account Processing companies may request additional business or personal information for the underwriting of these accounts. 

Most merchants are somewhat familiar with the standard retail merchant credit card processing account, in that opening one is as simple as opening a new checking account at your local bank.  However, when this same merchant goes to apply for an E-Commerce or MOTO account, the underwriting procedures drastically change.  This can result in a lengthy application process and, in some cases, the merchant being asked to provide critical business or personal financial data for the processor to assess the risk of the Card Not Present account.

One of the first and obvious reasons why E-Commerce and MOTO accounts are considered high risk is that the card is never present at the time of purchase; unfortunately, this elevates the potential for fraudulent transactions.  There are malicious people making purchases with stolen credit card data every day; this is where the majority of fraudulent transactions take place. 

Merchant Account Processing companies actually look at E-Commerce and MOTO accounts as a line of credit.  For example, if a merchant wants a $100,000 per month processing account, it is viewed as a $1.2M credit line.  The reason for this is that the merchant receives the funds long before the card holders pay their initial bill, not to mention that many card holders do not make a full payment on the charged amount.  These are just a couple of reasons why the underwriters scrutinize these accounts more than others.

Kenny Noel

www.a-bsolutions.com