As the economy heads into a down turn, or is in the middle of one depending which news reports you read, many business owners begin to scrutinize their costs. And that makes a lot of good business sense. Whether it’s paying less for your merchant services, taking advantage of special programs your vendors offer you or simply looking for ways to cut down on wasteful purchases that don’t produce results to your bottom line, every penny you can re-invest in your business is a penny well spent.

Invariably USMS™ gets lots of questions about the various fees you’re likely to see on your monthly statements. Why are there so many? How do I know what I’m actually being billed for? Is there really a way for me to reduce these costs?

There are really only a few costs you should see each month.

A base or “qualified” cost for each credit/debit card you accept. This is usually shown on your statement as a percentage. This percentage can vary depending on the type of business you operate and how you process the cards. In most cases, you’ll save more if you swipe the cards through a credit card terminal instead of hand entering them. You might also incur some additional surcharges if you take corporate cards or foreign credit cards. Visa and MasterCard consider these riskier transactions and charge more for them. You’ll hear the term “downgrade” to describe these. Downgrades can also happen if you have older or non-compliant equipment. If you haven’t replaced your terminal some time over the last five years, it could be costing you money.

You should also check your statement for a “check card” or “signature debit” rate. About four years ago, Visa and MasterCard agreed to charge a lower discount fee to merchants when their customers use their ATM/Debit cards and swipe them like a credit card. The cost savings from having a lower signature debit rate can add up to some pretty hefty savings.

You’ll also see a transaction fee. Some processors call this a “per item” fee or an “authorization” fee. This fee covers the communication costs and in most cases is less than $0.25

Apart from that, you should only see a statement fee (sometimes called a maintenance fee), a merchant club fee (if you’ve enrolled) and on a rare occasion you’ll see a monthly minimum fee. You’ll only ever see a minimum if you process less than about $800.00 in credit card transactions.

We know we offer great pricing and service but don’t hesitate to call us and ask for a rate review.