B2B payments start-up PayMate acquires Zaitech

PayMate, a start-up in the business-to-business (B2B) payments space, has acquired Zaitech Technology, a digital lending platform, signaling its continued interest in the fintech sector.

Rajat Yadav, Founder, Z2P Technologies, said: “Technology and data-driven actionable insights for lending, along with machine learning, is what Z2P has built over the past few years.”

The data is gathered using proprietary analytics and AI technologies.

PayMate, which is backed by Lightbox Ventures, Mayfield Fund, among others, is riding the alternative lending wave sweeping the industry as a host of new start-ups are tying up with traditional financial institutions such as banks.

PayMate claims it has 20,000 registered businesses on its platform and this acquisition will help it reinvent its payment operations, cash-flow and access to growth capital.

As part of the acquisition, it gets a payment gateway, which can ensure visibility of cash-flow through the supply chain and on-time payment to SMEs by large enterprises. The firm also plans to partner with banks and NBFCs.

The emerging fintech sector has the blessings of the government and regulators. Recently, the GST Council announced its decision to offer 2 percent GST concession on digital payments. According to Abhishek Jain, Tax Partner, EY India, the move will help widen the tax base.

American Express Company vs. Visa: Which Is the Better Buy?

Both American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) and Visa Inc (NYSE: V) are well-recognized, ubiquitous brands, and most people would probably think that because their logos are emblazoned on the plastic rectangles residing in our wallets, the two companies run similar businesses. While there are obviously some similarities, investors might be surprised to learn that the two companies feature some striking differences in their business models as well. Let's take a closer look at these two companies' business models, what they are doing to grow their business, and their valuations to determine which one might make a better investment today.

The case for American Express

American Express operates a closed-loop credit card system, essentially meaning that no third party is necessary for the relationship between the cardholder and the company. In other words, American Express issues the credit card, adorns the card with its branded logo, and lends money directly to the consumer. Two huge advantages to this model are that the company collects the interest on its loans, gets to keep it for itself, and is able to carefully collect and utilize the spending and borrowing data of its customers. Before retiring, former CEO Kenneth Chenault noted the advantages this model gave American Express:

The primary drawback to this model is that it exposes the company to credit risk, of which credit card debt is one of the most hazardous. This risk, no matter how well-managed, will always be a compressor of the company's valuation multiple.

Still, in American Express' case at least, the benefits seem to outweigh the cons. The company consistently puts its data to good use in two primary ways. First, Amex uses that data to make excellent lending decisions when it decides to make loans and, as a result, the company consistently sports one of the lowest write-off rates in the industry. In the first quarter, its write-off jumped to 2%, much lower than its credit card-issuing peers.

Second, American Express understands what its customers want. The company offers rewards that it believes differentiate itself from the competition, including perks such as Uber rides, airport lounge access, and free bags on flights. The strategy must be working, as the company consistently ranks high on customer loyalty and satisfaction surveys.

During the quarter's conference call, management said it now expects to hit the high range of its full-year earnings guidance of $6.90 to $7.30. Using $7.20 as a base point gives the company a forward P/E ratio of 13.7. The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.35, giving it a dividend yield of 1.42% and a forward payout ratio of only 19.4%!

The case for Visa

In contrast to American Express, Visa runs an open loop credit card system, meaning it doesn't directly lend money to consumers. Instead, Visa serves as a payment network intermediary between its cardholders and their banks. While Visa obviously doesn't make money on the interest of its users' card debt, it also doesn't face the credit default risk American Express has to deal with, either. Rather, Visa makes money by taking small slices -- just fractional percentages -- of each purchase facilitated with its network and based on the number of transactions and payment volume.

Since that's how Visa makes its money, it's good that these two metrics continue to show strong growth. In its first quarter, the payment network saw an 11% increase in payment volume, the amount of money traveling over Visa's network, and a 12% increase in processed transactions, the number of times a Visa account is used to facilitate a transaction. This, in turn, powered robust top- and bottom-line growth: Net revenue grew to $5.1 billion, a 13% increase year over year, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) rose to $1.11, a whopping 30% increase year over year.

While all of Visa's divisions shined, it had a particularly strong showing in international markets. One of the biggest challenges facing new CEO Al Kelly when he took over in December 2016 was how seamlessly the integration of Visa Europe with the parent company could be completed. Thus far, it has been a raging success. In the company's second-quarter conference call, Kelly said the technical migration of Visa Europe was on schedule and would be finished later this year. This is important because, once complete, Visa will be able to sell its European clients the same security and loyalty tools as it does its other card-issuing customers.

Based on its trailing 12-month earnings per share of $3.95, the company is currently valued with a P/E ratio of about 32. While that's steep, it might be entirely justified based on its 30% EPS growth rate this past quarter. The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.21, giving it a yield of only 0.65%. While that's pretty meager, it also represents a double-digit percentage hike from last year's payout, the latest in a long line of healthy increases from the company.

The final verdict

I believe both of these companies offer compelling cases for investors, and I would not be surprised to see both outperform the market from this point forward over the next several years. In an expensive market, American Express is a rare company that is showing growth at a valuation far below the market average. Its growing dividend and peerless write-off rates make it, perhaps, the most attractive credit card issuer. That being said, I personally prefer the stronger growth of Visa and it's business model that doesn't include any credit risk. In my mind, those two attributes more than make up for the premium valuation it earns.

How To Accept Virtual Credit Cards For Your Small Business

When it comes to the credit card processing your business does have you ever considered using virtual credit cards? This is simply a digital number that represents a plastic credit card. With the right card, your customers can often decide in advance the maximum amount that can be charged to the card. They also have the ability to set an expiration date for the card so that it cannot be used for longer than one year. Many consumers are embracing virtual credit cards because it protects their real credit card number from most businesses.

Since consumers are getting in on the virtual credit card you might be wondering if your business can do the same. Protecting corporate credit card accounts is something that is now being accomplished with virtual cards. Many of the top credit card companies in the world are now using this technology to their advantage.

There is more than one use for corporate virtual credit cards. Businesses are now using them for employee expenses such as travel. They are also using virtual credit cards for invoice payments. These days almost 40% of all businesses that process payments electronically are using virtual credit cards for this purpose.

Depending on the size of your business it may greatly benefit from their use. Most small businesses are finding out that business credit cards give them fewer options than virtual cards do. Issuing a corporate credit card to eligible employees can be quite the undertaking but is made much easier with the use of virtual cards. They provide a great alternative to your employees using their own credit cards for business expenses and eliminate the need for them to submit paperwork to receive reimbursement.

Your business will have more control over its credit cards when you use virtual as opposed to corporate cards. When you have employees that can’t be trusted with a corporate card you can provide them with a virtual card that they won’t have the power to abuse. When your employees pay with a virtual card it automatically submits the information to your company, saving you time on paperwork. Virtual credit cards are especially helpful to your business if you work with independent contractors or freelancers.

Virtual credit cards will make payment processing easier for your business. They allow you to provide the best and most reliable merchant services to all of your customers and remain competitive in your industry.

Understanding Credit Card Processing Works For the Benefits of Ecommerce Businesses?

To face the fierce competition in the E-commerce market, every merchant needs an online payment gateway and online credit card processing that can help the merchant serve the increasing number of customers on a daily basis who like to shop online and use credit cards as a preferred mode of payment. To successfully run an e-commerce business, the merchant needs an online credit card processing that is effective and efficient in fulfilling its purpose.

Benefits of Online Credit Card Processing

IMPROVES ABILITY

To make the website visually effective, a merchant invests a lot of time and money. But most of the merchants do not consider it important to invest much time when it comes to payment processing. However, to improve online transactions for your E-commerce business, it is important to choose the right payment gateway. A system that enables the communication between the merchant processor. Also, a PCI compliant website to share customer’s payment details, bank account, and merchant processor. With this, a business owner can carry out transactions 24 hours, 365 days. The payment gateway is designed to handle data collection, encryption and secure transmission of data to the merchant account.

SECURITY

It is important for every online merchant to consider the security and stability as the key factor of their business. For the long run of business and retention of customers, a reliable online credit card processing service is a must. The technology that is used for security includes PCI compliance standards. This makes it very difficult for criminals to crack the code and obtain customers data. Therefore, the customers gain confidence to use their credit cards to make a payment without hesitation.

CONVENIENCE

The third advantage of online card processing that works in the favor of E-commerce business is speed and convenience of card processing. Unlike the traditional way of carrying out transactions, this is relatively faster and an easier way. With few mouse clicks and entering basic details of the credit card, the customer can easily buy products without wasting much time. If a merchant sets up an E-commerce solution through Host Merchant Services, it will allow the business to accept payments through Visa, MasterCard, and American Express hassle free.

ACCESSIBILITY

To smoothen the process and gain accessibility from any part of the world, online credit card processing service can be configured to facilitate merchant to access the merchant account at any time. No longer bound to geographical location and address of the store, it is easier for the merchant to control and review business transaction from any part of the world with an online access.

FLEXIBILITY

When an online business touches international boundaries, it becomes essential to have a payment processor that can accept major currencies. We, at Merchant Stronghold, create such an E-commerce solution to deal with a variety of currencies. No longer bound by geographical boundaries, limited currency acceptance; the sky is the limit for your E-commerce business.

MEET MERCHANT STRONGHOLD

For more than a decade, Merchant Stronghold has proven its worth by providing excellent customer services, resolving queries of clients. And, providing them with the best solution for the credit card processing. Go through the list of various options available, pricing, after sale service and compatibility before finalizing a payment gateway for your business. So, connect with our professionals now.

The Large Global Payments Processor Unveils Airdropping Campaign Among Users

CoinPayments, a global cryptocurrency payment processor, has announced an airdrop launch of its own utility token – the CPS Coin. The company also plans to lower its transaction and conversion fees for token holders and enhance its user interface in 2018.

Founded in 2013, CoinPayments is a global cryptocurrency payment processor with a reach of over 1,000,000 vendors across 182 countries, says the company’s blog. CoinPayments offers a cloud payment solution allowing merchants to accept Bitcoin and hundreds of other coins through their plugins, APIs and point of sale (POS) interfaces.  

“CoinPayments has created a special place in the world of cryptocurrency users with intuitive digital wallets, which include shopping cart plugins that can be easily integrated by online merchants making it appealing to their customers,” said Alex Alexandrov, founder and CEO of CoinPayments in an interview with Insight Success.

The company is set to launch two mega projects in 2018. Firstly, CPS Coin - the CoinPayments token - will lower transaction and conversion fees for merchants. Secondly, a revamped version of their existing user interface - called CoinPayments 3.0 - will provide online merchants and wallet holders with “even more user-friendly experience” company representatives said.

Airdrop to all users

The CoinPayments team reported to Cointelegraph that the company launched an airdrop of 100 CPS Coins to all current users, as well as new signups on the CoinPayments platform until August 1, 2018. The value of the 100 CPS coins is €10. Any user who purchases CPS coins starting on May 4th will receive two CPS coins for the price of one, or three for one on orders totaling over €500,000 within a 24 hour period.

The CPS Coin is a utility token used within the CoinPayments platform and provides discounts and rebates for using various CoinPayments services. Users wanting to buy CPS Coins can buy directly from CoinPayments at a rate of €0.10 per token.

There is a wide range of discounts and rebates available for CoinPayments services, including merchant fees, conversion fees, withdrawal fees, initial coin offering (ICO) participation and as a preferred payment method in their own decentralized marketplace.

For example, merchant fees may be reduced by half. Merchants have the option to pay the 0.5 percent processing fee with CPS Coin by checking a box on their account. If they choose this option, they will only have to pay a 0.25 percent processing fee in CPS Coins based on a €0.10/CPS Coin rate. If their CPS Coin wallet doesn’t contain enough CPS Coins to pay the fee then the required amount of CPS Coins will be purchased automatically from the CoinPayments pool using the fee collected at the time of the transaction.

As for conversion and withdraw fees, users will receive a 50 percent rebate if they pay from CoinPayments directly into the user’s CPS Coin wallet.

Regarding ICO participation, CoinPayments will negotiate an allocation of tokens from hosted ICOs at a discounted rate from the public ICO price and CoinPayments users will have the option to participate in this allocation using CPS Coin.

 Additional tokens

“As an extra incentive, users can collect an additional 25 CPS Coins every time a new user signs up through their affiliate link,” said a company representative.

The CoinPayments affiliate program pays affiliates 25 percent of transaction fees collected from all referred users for a duration of 5 years. This includes merchant services transaction fees, commercial deposit fees, and ICO signup fees. In the future, this will also include debit card transaction fees, fiat settlement fees and much more.

Users can register at the company’s website and follow the affiliate help link to easily start the referral process immediately.

Single Place For All Your High Risk Payment Processing Needs

Our Online Payment Gateway Solution has been designed with a high standard of innovative services allows us to find a fast, attractive and competitive solution for your online business, We serve merchants worldwide in nearly every genuine industry, Our Application process is quick, easy and simple. Sign up today and start accepting online payments from your customers. Give your customers the options they need!

ACH Payment Processing

Having credit card solution does not give the flexibility to the merchant to collect the payment from all customers. For many merchants, this can be a missed revenue opportunity. HighRisk Gateways flexible ACH Payment Processing and eCheck payment options offer.

High-Risk Merchant Account

HighRisk Gateways always care for our merchant’s business as our business. We think and act like your business partner by serving high-risk credit card processing and eCheck/ACH processing. Opening a merchant account with Highrisk gateways is not.

Payment Gateway

For any online business, reliable and secure payment processing is critical. HRG provides world-class payment processing services for online businesses just like yours, providing a full suite of complimentary merchant services in order to drive maximum payment.

eCheck Payment Gateway

HighRisk Gateways is a well known trusted check payment gateway provider in the Indian market. HighRisk Gateways can place almost every Indian genuine business for E-Check, ACH or Check21. Which allow the merchants to add the check option in their various payments platform. Your business may be a high risk and high volume.

Credit Card Processing

HighRisk Gateways can help you to accept electronic credit card payments quickly in an affordable manner by Credit Card Processing solutions. With a network of proprietary processing platforms and systems by our banking partner, you can rely on these solutions to process all types of payments for yours.

International Merchant

High Risk Gateways is an online international payment gateway service provider, specializing in e-commerce merchant solutions for high-risk merchants. We accept merchants of all sizes and all risk types from low to high risk. Through our online secure, cutting-edge payment technology platform and our.

About High Risk Merchant Account And How You Can Manage Them

A high-risk merchant account isn’t easy. For starters, this label comes with a negative connotation about your business, and assumes you aren’t running a reputable company with good products or services. In layman’s terms, a high risk business is one that banks and credit card processing companies consider risky. Sometimes this is because of ties to your previous businesses, and other times, it can have more to do with the industry you’re in. What’s important to understand is that this isn’t the end of the road for you.

There are many ways you can continue running your business through partnerships with high risk credit card processing companies. Typically, these companies work exclusively with high-risk merchants who aren’t able to get a traditional processing agreement. Because of this, they can often be the light at the end of the tunnel for entrepreneurs who feel they’ve exhausted their options.

Understanding The High Risk Merchant Label

To take the best steps towards being a better business, it’s important that you understand what high risk really means for you and why you were put into that category in the first place. Understanding why makes it easier for you to fix moving forward. Here are some reasons you might be labeled as high-risk:

Too Many Chargebacks: A chargeback is when a bank initiates a refund on behalf of their customer after a complaint. A customer might complain if they’ve never received their product, have an issue with their product, or believe a business falsely represented what they offered.

Low Credit Score: As with any type of business or government agreement, your credit score matters. A credit score that’s too low will raise red flags for banks and processing companies. You may be able to circumvent this with a cosigner who has a high credit score.

New Market: If your business is in a new or evolving industry, you may have trouble getting approved for credit card processing. The cannabis industry is a good example of this.

New to Payment Processing: If you don’t have a payment processing history, credit card processors may opt to hold back until you do. This type of high-risk label can be alleviated with a steady track record. Once you’ve deemed yourself reliable with a high-risk processor, you can re-negotiate or move on to a standard processor.

“Risky” Market: Being relegated to the high risk merchant categories sometimes happens only because of the industry you’re in. Adult services and travel businesses are examples of industries that credit card processors deem risky, even if you have a solid track record when it comes to personal credit and business credit.

Managing The High Risk Label

The first thing to understand is that this isn’t a lifetime label. Don’t worry; rather than consider this a blockade, just think of it as having to undergo a few extra steps before you can start working with traditional processors. The key is successfully managing your business and proving your reliability.

To do this, you have to be careful that there are no chargebacks, which is the most telling sign of a high-risk merchant. High risk merchants have to work a little harder than the average business owner to avoid issues that are common to any entrepreneur, but look bad on an already-labeled business.

One way to avoid chargebacks to provide exceptional customer service. You’d be surprised at the level of patience a customer can have if they communicate openly and honestly. Inaction from the business is a major reason many customers contact their backs to cancel a charge. When that customer can speak with a human regarding their product order or service, they’re less likely to take any actions that harm your business.

Keep customers updated on what’s happening in your business. For example, let’s say you own an eCommerce business that hand knits clothing and blankets. You put out a few Facebook and Instagram advertisements and suddenly, hundreds of orders are placed and you don’t have the product to fulfill it.

Merchant Stronghold for High Risk Offshore Merchant Account In USA

About Merchant Stronghold

Merchant Stronghold is well known for its services and fast processing system for High risk offshore merchant account. We have been voted #1 High Risk merchant service provider in the year 2015 and 2016. If you are looking for an offshore account for your high risk business, you have reached the right place. We provide hassle-free all-in-one merchant account that includes everything that a high-risk offshore merchant requires to process successfully, which includes:

• Debit card processing
• Credit card processing
• ACH
• Payment gateways
• Chargeback management services

Merchant Stronghold also provides facilities that make accepting payment way easier, these facilities are:

• POS machine service
• Virtual terminal
• Online setup
• Why choose Merchant Stronghold

Merchant Stronghold is in the market since long and has maintained good repo by providing best services to our clients. Our commitment to excellence drives our interactions with clients, customers and each other which helped us in attaining 100% customer satisfaction rate. Following are the things that make our service better than the other players in the market:

INTEGRITY

Integrity, trust, and honesty are the foundation of everything we do as a company. We look for health and long-term relationship with our clients and not just looking for one time sale.

TEAMWORK

We operate as a team, sharing experiences, resources, and opportunities. We help others when they need it and ask for help when needed. As a team, we along with our clients, workout for best solution which not only meets all the current needs but also meets the need of near future.

INNOVATION

We make every effort to translate creative and unique ideas into services, products, or processes that create value. We have a well knowledgeable and creative team which works hard to come up with new and better solutions all the time, depending on the requirement of our client.

COMMUNICATION

We foster an environment where all associates’ voices are heard and everyone is encouraged to share their opinions. We work as a team and appreciate active participation of all our employees, encourage new ideas and irrespective of their designation, value their opinion. Not only with our team but we also respect any valuable suggestion from our client.

ACCOUNTABILITY

We are responsible to each other, to our clients/customers and to ourselves to do the right thing. ‘Product sold’ is not our aim. We take responsibility for each and every service we provide and have a team on standby mode 24*7, 365 days to helps our clients with any issue they are facing.

FAST SETUP/APPROVAL

We expertise in our service and are capable of getting same day approval that includes gateway integration, which makes it possible for our clients to accept payments faster without wasting time be standing in a big queue. Our 12 processor relationships ensure 98.7% of accounts approval. We assure you to get started with your business as soon as possible.

RELATIONSHIP WITH BANKS

We have successfully maintained a good relationship with most of the major banks in the home country as well as abroad. Hence, if you are looking for an offshore merchant account for your high-risk business, we are just a call away.

How Do Payment Gateways Work?

Payment Gateway: A payment gateway is an e-commerce application that authorizes payments for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks, and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar businesses. It is the virtual equivalent of a physical point of sale terminal located in most retail outlets. Payment gateways encrypt sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, to ensure that information passes securely between the customer and the merchant.

How Does Payment Gateway Work?

A payment gateway facilitates the transfer of information between a payment portal (such as a website, mobile phone) and the Front-End Processor or acquiring a bank. Here is a step by step guide detailing how Payment Gateways work:

Step 1: A customer places an order on the website by pressing the ‘Submit order’ or equivalent button, or perhaps enters their card detail using an automatic phone answering service.

Step 2: If the order is via a website, the customer’s web browser encrypts the information to be sent between the browser and the merchant’s web server. This is done via secure socket layer encryption.

Step 3: The Merchant then forwards the transaction details to their payment gateway, this is another secure socket encrypted connection, the payment gateway forwards the transaction information used by the merchant’s acquiring bank, The payment processor forwards the transaction info to the card association.

Step 4: The credit card issuing bank receives the authorization request and sends a response back to the processor with a response code.

Step 5: The merchant submits all their approved authorizations, in a “BATCH”, to their acquiring bank for settlement via a processor.

Keep your transactions secure

• The security of payment processing Is extremely important. Here is a list of some of the technical details that happen with payment gateways to ensure the process is secure.
  
• Since the customer is usually required to enter personal details in the transaction process, the payment gateway is often carried out through HTTPS protocol.
  
• To validate the request of the payment page result, signed request is often used- which is the result of the hash function in which the parameters of an application confirmed by a secret word, know only to the merchant and payment gateway.
  
• To validate the request for the payment page result, sometimes IP of the requesting server has to be verified.

Which is the best and cheapest way to buy offshore merchant services?

Merchant services are an essential purchase for near enough all businesses and business owners will typically turn to their own bank for these services. Unfortunately for business owners, this is not usually the cheapest way to source payment processing.

At first, the difference between deals might seem negligible with just one or two percent difference but those small differences will quickly add up as your business grows. Getting a bad deal on your payment processing can cost you tens of thousands of pounds every year.

In this article, I’m going to look at the most popular merchant service sales channels and touch on how competitive the pricing is.

Banks

Near enough, all banks will sell merchant services to its business customers. If you have a business bank account then most certainly you would have been asked the question about card acceptance by a banking manager or representative.

The fact is that most banks don’t actually own their own merchant service products. Instead, they partner with a card processor and resell their service. RBS and Natwest is a sales agent for Worldpay, HSBC resells Global Payments, Santander uses Elavon and Lloyds and Halifax use First Data. 

• So why do business owners trust banks to provide a third-party service? Perception!
• People see banks as reliable and they assume that their staff has extensive product expertise.
• Sadly and surprisingly, that’s not the case.
• There’s one main reason why I would strongly recommend you avoid buying merchant services through a bank: Price.

Card processors love selling through a bank because it’s an easy win as leads are handed on a plate. You see, most businesses will turn to their bank for merchant services and tend to accept their pricing without question, simply because the business owner may be new to the whole process and doesn’t know any better and they assume by going directly to the bank will get them a better deal as it removes any middlemen.

This allows the banks to rack up their fees and make a small fortune off their business customers. Worse still, the banks are given very little wiggle room by the card processors so can’t reduce their fees even if you push them on pricing. This may seem surprising but it's very true.

Merchant bank/Card Processor

The worldwide web has made it simpler for consumers to buy directly from manufacturers or suppliers and cut out the expensive middlemen.

Merchant services are, in theory, the perfect example. Instead of going to your bank and buying a product at an inflated rate, the other option for you is to go straight to the card processor/merchant bank direct and buy from them. That’s one less step in the buying process so it must save you money, right?

Unfortunately not. While cutting out the middlemen should mean a better deal for customers, it’s not always the case.

Card processors are well aware that any business owner who calls them has pretty much decided that they want to use their product. That means they can bump up the price without losing too much business. The price you get direct from a card processor isn’t quite as high as the bank rates but it’s certainly not competitive, especially as a new business owner, as the merchant banks take advantage of this fact.

Now, unlike the bank salespeople, sales staff at card processors do have leeway to negotiate on price. So, if you decide to buy directly through a card processor, negotiate as hard as you can to secure the very best deal possible.

Asking Good Questions When Selling Credit Card Processing

If you are running a business of sales and purchases, you need to choose a new credit card processor. But it is not as easy as it seems, it is a big decision to make. Before making the decision, you must know it includes the fee charged and contracts. Also the customer service department and cost-effective tools available. Do the comparison, study the market and then make the final decision. Let us now discuss it further. 3 questions you should ask your new credit card processor before finalizing it:

Structure of Fee Charged

When you opt for such tools, you are charged with a certain amount of fee. But it is important to know what exactly those fees are, more commonly called breakage of the fee. The fact is that most of the high-risk merchants have no idea about the process and end up paying a high amount of fee without actually knowing the hidden high markups in their pricing structure. To process the transaction, an interchange part of pricing structure is paid to the card issuer. Apart from this, there is an extra fee that they put on the top of it to gain more profit. So, when you are applying for new credit card processor/merchant payment processor, request them to separate out the interchange fee so that you can have a clear idea about how much money they are making or charging you in total.

Contract and Time Duration

Whenever a merchant wants to opt for a new credit card processor, he/she needs to sign a contract, which will lock you with them for certain period of time. It is important for high-risk merchants to check for options when shopping around for new processor and also to finalize the processor with shorter time duration instead of multi-year contracts. The advantage of choosing a short-term contract is:

• They will work hard for your business to impress you so that you renew the contract instead of shopping for new credit card processor or merchant payment processor once the contract expires. If you end up signing a multi-year contract, you will soon be forgotten and ignored and service quality provided may deteriorate.
• In case of serious trouble when you have a short-term contract or non-existing contract, immediate help will be provided. Everything to resolve the issue so as to retain you as a customer. Whereas, if you have a long-term contract, it might take longer to resolve the issue you are facing.
• When you are not happy with the services provided by your current credit card processor, you can try out the new processor. They can meet your needs, but if you have a long-term contract, you only stick with the same provider until the contract expires.
  

Customer Service Department

Efficient and knowledgeable customer service department is like icing on the cake. Get the opinion of the current customers of the credit card processor. Also, find out about their experiences with the customer service department. Look for the processor whose,

• Support representatives are knowledgeable and can tackle any kind of issue if arises.
• Call waiting time is minimum
• Support representative should be able to resolve issues in the first call and in shortest time duration.

If you are lucky enough and end up buying a credit card processor or merchant payment processor for your high-risk business that fulfills all your needs and the fee charged is worth every single penny you pay, hold on tight to it and never let it go. If you are happy with the services provided and a fee charged, it would be a good decision to renew the contract with the same provider than starting the process all over again.

How Does the Credit Card Processing Work: A Simple Guide

Credit card transaction is not a new concept. Everyone claims to know the process: swipe the card, hit the button and the transaction is complete in a blink. But do you really know the process? Do you think that it is as simple as it seems? It actually is a much more complex procedure than what you witness. The fact is swiping the card and signing the recipe is the first and the last step of the procedure. In between lays multiple steps that include more than one person working invisibly for the customer to complete that particular transaction.

Most of the customers do not care about the complete process. It may seem unnecessary, it provides important information about the inner workings of the modern commerce. Not only for customers but knowledge about credit card transaction process is tremendously important for small business owners as well, as it is a merchant who has to confront the cost of the payment processor. Let us discuss the working of credit card processing in detail.

Key Players

CARDHOLDER

There are two types of cardholders

1. Who repays full credit card balance?

2. Who pays only a portion of balance and rest accrues interest?

MERCHANT

It is a vendor who sells product or services. The job of a merchant is to accept payment through a card, send the card information to the issuing bank and request payment authorization.

MERCHANT’S BANK

It is also known as acquiring the bank and is responsible for sending an authorization request to the issuing bank through a proper channel followed by communicating the response of the issuing bank to the merchant.

SERVICE PROVIDER

Also known as acquiring processor is a third party entity that works as an arm of the merchant’s bank. It provides service or device that allows the merchant to accept credit card for payment and also sends the credit card details to the credit card network and further sends back payment authorization to the acquiring bank.

CREDIT CARD NETWORK

Also referred as Association member, operates the network to facilitate the credit card payment process, worldwide and administrate interchange fees. Credit card network receives details of credit card payment from the service provider and forwards the request for authorization to the issuing bank. In return, it sends a response of the issuing bank to the service provider. Some of the examples of the credit card network are Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.

ISSUING BANK

Also called the credit card issuer is a financial institution that provides the customer with a credit card, which is involved in the transaction. After receiving the authentication request from credit card network, the issuing bank either approves it or declines it.

Credit Card Transaction Process

Let us understand transaction process in just three steps

STEP 1: AUTHENTICITY

• At the point of sale, a cardholder gives the card to the merchant to swipe the card on POS terminal to make a payment.
• Credit card details are sent to the acquiring bank, which forwards the same to the credit card network
• Credit card network clears the payment and a request is sent to the issuing bank for an authorization.
• Authorization request includes credit card number used for the payment, expiration date, billing address, card security code and the payment amount.

STEP 2: AUTHENTICATION

• When the issuing bank receives the authorization request, it validates the credit card number, checks the availability of the funds in the cardholder’s account, verifies the billing address and validates Card security code (CVV number).
• It is up to the issuing bank whether to approve or deny the request. When they make a decision, it sends back the suitable response through a proper channel (credit card network and acquiring bank).
• Once the merchant receives the authorization, the customer is provided with the receipt at the completion of the sale.

STEP 3: CLEARING AND SETTLEMENT

• In clearing stage, the transactions get the post to the cardholder’s monthly billing statement and in the merchant’s statement.
• The merchant sends all the approved authorizations in a batch to the acquiring bank by EOD.
• For settlement, service provider routes the batched information to the association member, which in turn forwards all the approved transactions to the corresponding issuing bank.
• Then the issuing bank transfers the funds (minus interchange fee, which is shared with the credit card network) within 1-2 days. Then the credit card network pays from the remaining funds to acquiring bank as well as the acquiring processor.
• The merchant account gets credited for the cardholder’s purchases by the acquiring bank (minus merchant discount rate). At this time, the issuing bank posts the transaction information to the cardholder’s account. The cardholder receives the statement and bill is paid off.

Opening a Bail Bonds High Risk Merchant Account Business

Merchant accounts for Bail bonds seem like a Mystery. Many discuss processing plastic card payments, however, it is a riddle to numerous in the business how they do as such securely, and without dread of conclusion. The result is easy: Merchant Stronghold. The bail bonds business is very rigid and tough, not only due to its customers but also due to its status in the processing business. While many bashful lefts from this industry, Merchant Stronghold welcomes it with open arms.

Merchant Account for Bail Bonds

Receiving a Merchant Account and processing of credit card payments for your bail bonds business, it can be very difficult.  Numerous Credit Card Processors don’t want to work with Merchant services of bail bonds businesses because of the high-risk environment of the service being provided.

All merchants require the capacity to process plastic card such as credit card payments and debit card payments. While many bail bonds organizations are “Cash only bonds”, this can discontinuation the process for clients, and it can magnify those who are in a hurry to free their loved one from custody.

While plastic card payments leave a company at high risk for deceptive action, Merchant Stronghold has the best safety features to help you battle these issues. And while every fraudulent issue cannot be detected due to the ever-changing fraudster industry, Merchant Stronghold offers you chargeback insurance to help ease these fears.

Bail Bonds Merchant Account Business

In the event that you have a Merchant Account and are fulfilled, that’s great. That is incredible. Be that as it may, you should look at your choices from time to time. The processing business is constantly changing, and not all processors are up to date on the various payment forms that are available today.

From ACH debit charge to iCheck innovation, and BitCoin is in a process by many. However, not everyone agrees. The greater installment techniques you can acknowledge, the better your notoriety and the better you can serve your clients.

Meet Merchant Stronghold

The Merchant bail bonds business is similar to any other, and it depends on the ability to accept payments. With Merchant Stronghold, the application to do such is rapid and simple. And, merchants can see the acceptance in as little as 48 hours. This time period is inconceivable, yet it is an indication of Merchant Stronghold’s demonstrated commitment to its Merchants.

After the printed material is marked, you can be up and running is two or three days. This encourages you, and your clients, better the business Bail bonds involvement. It is something that no customer needs to do, however many winds up confronting a Bail bonds organization sooner or later. It is dependent upon you to make the procedure cordial and smooth, both through client service and payment processing.

If you own a Bail Bonds business and need to process your Credit card payments call Merchant Stronghold today. Merchant Stronghold has many minimal effort answers for your Bail bonds business. We work with many Bail bonds organizations everywhere throughout the United States. Merchant Stronghold will locate a minimal effort Merchant Account Processing solution for you.

Merchant Account for Document Preparation Services Business In USA

We specialize in Document Preparation Merchant Accounts and merchant accounts for document preparation companies. We approve practically every business type, even if you have been turned down for payment processing.With decades of experience, our team is here to help. Even if you have been shut down by your current processor, we have a solution for your particular situation. We’re available to answer any questions and provide ongoing continued support for our valued customers.

What Is A Document Preparation Merchant Account:

A document preparation merchant account facilitates the abilities to process customer payments and fosters cash flow into the business. Customer payments are the life-blood of any business and may include both debt and credit cards, as well as high-risk each processing to electronically charge a client’s checking or savings account. Automatic recurring billing on a pre-set cycle is another function that may add value. Our experienced staff can determine a merchant service solution to meet your needs.

Merchant Stronghold has a thorough understanding of every aspect of the document preparation industry. We are well versed with all the state legislation and restrictions affecting your business. Whether your document preparation company deals with corporation formations, divorces, student loans, trademarks, name changes or power of attorneys, we have a slew of rock-solid banking relationships on standby; each eager to place your account and give your business the room it deserves to grow.

Document Preparation Merchant Services Are High Risk

The high risk nature of your business suggests you need to identify a suitable high risk payment processor if you wish to get a merchant account for your document preparation business. Search for the provider that’s the best fit for your business. Why? The account services you have will highly influence the way you make money.

How to Get the Document Ready for a Merchant Account?

The first step is to apply for a high-risk merchant account with a high-risk merchant service provider. Reason being, document preparation merchant service is a high-risk industry. This categorization is the reason why you need to find a high-risk merchant service provider, guidelines of which allows accepting documentation preparation companies like Merchant Stronghold.

Copy of the following information must be included in your application when applying for the merchant account:

• Owner’s ID
• Social security number of the owner
• Voided business check
• Last three months credit card processing statements (if applicable)

When you apply for a merchant account (which can be done online), a team of credit card processors underwriting will review your application and if approved. Hence, you will be able to accept debit and credit card payments.

CONCLUSION

Simply complete our online application form. In addition, our well-qualified team will help you with the document preparation and board you within 48 hours. At Merchant Stronghold. We make sure to provide the best services at a very reasonable price. A happy customer is our main goal. Our team works 24*7, 365 days to satisfy our customers.

Tips for High Risk Merchant Account Services for Online Dating Sites

The Internet is a center point for shopping and various services for this generation. So much so that people find it really simple to initiate their dating from online encounters. The nature of this industry has been through a lot of scrutinies. And, a problem for adaptation but as the youth has been supportive of this idea.

Including OkCupid, Match, Meetup, and Plenty of Fish, there are many dating websites and application around. There is by all accounts one for each specialty, making this a profitable and helpful business enterprise. For those searching for a new business assignment, this is enormous. Be that as it may, one of the most concerning issues comes when you are searching for a Merchant account.

Why Merchant Account?

If you own a business, merchant accounts are important to accept credit card payments.This is crucial to having online dating sites. The absence of choices accessible for online dating sites is vast – because of the preparing business arranging it as a “High Risk” industry. “High Risk” implying that it is a higher unsafe of chargebacks, which we as a whole know are harming a business. The comprehension of chargebacks is one of the greatest things that you have to search for when you are in the market for an online dating Merchant account.

WHY IS ONLINE DATING SITES ARE “HIGH-RISK BUSINESS”

Approx 15 % to 18% USA population is dependent on online dating and it generates revenues in billions. As we know there is a lot of potential in this field.

Chargeback Rates are so High 

Dating is totally based on personal fulfillment of person. If they discover the match of their choice from the bank of your user accounts, at that point they will pay the cash else they would charge it back Because of the flow of this field. Due to the dynamics of this field, the merchants don’t push their extremes in these accounts. Hence, refrain from being vulnerable by not providing merchant accounts to dating sites

DISAGREEMENT IN STATED SERVICE AND PROVIDE SERVICE

There are two situations. According to the previous record, mostly dating sites that started finding the right match or companion changed into finding an escort or run as prostitution site. This awful nature of this business made it vulnerable to unawareness by the major pool of genuine people looking for dating and companionship.

Because of these two reasons, Merchant account providers refrain from getting engaged in this industry and some of them who do, charge a high expense for these records.

If you have an online dating website? What’s your expectation from Merchant Account providers?

The fact of the matter is obvious that the idea of online dating sites will stay ‘high Risk’ regardless of the possibility that it is creating huge revenue because of its indeterminate chargeback. Subsequently, there are a couple of set of desire to set up which shouldn’t be traded off

LOWER CHARGE FEE

Online Gateway Providers understand the weakness of online dating sites. And, to use the advantage of this situation, they charge more than industry standard cost. Hence, businessmen are not able to generate profits in initial days and also have trouble building up their business.

PAYMENT GATEWAY SECURITY WITH ANTI-FRAUD PAYMENTS

Merchant Accounts have anti-fraud payments and security techniques for other high-risk accounts which must also be provided to dating websites to cut down the major amount of chargeback due to false or fraudulent payments.

About Merchant Account And High Risk Credit Card Processing

The merchant accounts get approval or disapprove from the risk departments. Any business with bad personal or business credit scores, a high chargeback history, a startup, or high frequency or high average tickets can be at high risk. On an individual basis, the majority of high-risk businesses are among such by the industry they operate in. At First American Merchant we specialize in high risk credit card processing and high risk merchant accounts. We work with virtually every business type and any credit situation. We specialize in helping high risk business owners get the credit card processing services they need. We have helped thousands of online and retail business owners get merchant accounts.

Best High Risk Merchant Accounts & Credit Card Processing Options

If your business is part of a so-called high-risk industry, it may be difficult to find quality credit card processing. After sifting through dozens of contracts for high risk merchant account providers and speaking with many sales representatives, we found a good number of companies offer little transparency, confusing and contradictory information and a plethora of hidden fees. We compiled a list of the best high-risk merchant account providers and top high risk credit card processors to help small business owners more easily find options that suit their needs.

The Challenge Of High Risk Merchant Accounts

High risk merchants know that getting the right merchant account is challenging. Not all banks are eager to provide payment processing for industries deemed high risk. In 2001, Merchant stronghold carved its own niche in the high risk merchant services space and has been providing quality solutions since then.

Benefits Of  Merchant Stronghold High Risk Merchant Accounts

• More Acquiring Banking Solutions
• We Work Within the Guidelines of Visa, MasterCard, and More
• 3D Secure – Something to Think About
• Fraud Protection Tools
• Offshore and International Merchant Accounts
• Multi-Currency Processing
• Live Customer Support

High Risk Merchant Accounts

At Host Merchant Services we realize that some merchants fall into “high risk” categories. This means that it can be harder for the business to obtain a merchant account.

But what if you've been categorized as a high risk?

High risk merchants don’t qualify for traditional processing agreements. They're stuck working with acquirers and processors who offer high risk merchant services and are willing to accept liability for the increased risk associated with these businesses (known as a high-risk payments processor). As you might imagine, "high risk" service comes with a higher price tag.

Let’s Understand the High-Risk Merchant

It is difficult to start a business, as well as applying for a merchant account. The merchant accounts get approval or disapprove from the risk departments. While considering the business to be high-risk business or Low-risk. There are few reasons why any business can be in high-risk business.

Why Are Offshore High Risk Merchant Accounts So Popular

Internet was a revolutionary idea and till date, it is evolving. Not only for sending emails or social networking, it has also gained popularity in the field of E-commerce. When we talk about E-commerce, a couple of things strike our minds like credit card processing, data security, merchant account, etc. A merchant account is a necessity to accept card payments online along with reliable payment processors. While setting up online businesses, a merchant also needs to take care of these things but if a merchant is planning to grow his business and want to reach customers around the world, he needs to open an offshore account.

What Is An Offshore Account?

The term ‘offshore’ is basically used to describe banks from countries other than home country or foreign lands. An offshore account is like any other merchant account opened in any country other than merchant’s home country. The main benefits of an offshore account are the security and the option of accepting major currencies. It also helps the merchant in increasing revenue due to tax relaxation, provides greater privacy to merchants and helps in gaining more customers (major currency acceptance).

Why It Is Popular Among Merchants?

E-commerce and offshore accounts are highly linked as merchants, irrespective of their industry types. It aims at attracting a majority of customers and look for maximizing sale to earn good profit. To achieve this, the merchant needs to have a merchant account that accepts the majority of credit cards. But it is not that easy to open a merchant account, as it includes many requirements and lengthy procedures, which is not the case with an offshore merchant account. Most of the businesses like to maintain an offshore account as it provides many financial and legal advantages to its client.

Why Offshore Merchant Account?

Most of the merchants choose offshore accounts over merchant accounts for various reasons. Few of them are listed below:

• Hassle free procedure
• Low taxes/ tax relaxation
• Low initial costs
• International Reach
• Different currencies
• Major credit card acceptance

Why Are Offshore Accounts So Popular?

No matter how small or big business you own, any merchant can get an offshore account. Especially, merchants who are planning to set up an online business, irrespective of their size, prefer offshore account over merchant account due to low initial cost.

Every merchant running an online business wants to hit the international market at a certain point of growth. Offshore merchant account makes the acceptance of various currencies as well as credit cards much easier. Although, merchants who are dealing with local customers with the prime objective of capturing domestic market are not much benefitted by offshore merchant account as compared to the merchant targeting the global market.

Things To Remember

If you are searching for an offshore Merchant account provider, there are many providers available online. But it is completely merchant’s choice to decide which one is better for their business and which one will turn out to be more beneficiary. Making a decision and choosing a suitable offshore account provider is very important because benefits provided may vary from one provider to the other. So take your own sweet time to think, decide and choose the right one to enjoy the benefits of an offshore account.

Questions to Ask When Choosing a Credit Card Processor

If you are running a business of sales and purchases, you need to choose a new credit card processor. But it is not as easy as it seems, it is a big decision to make. Before making the decision, you must know it includes the fee charged and contracts. Also the customer service department and cost-effective tools available. Do the comparison, study the market and then make the final decision. Let us now discuss it further. 3 questions you should ask your new credit card processor before finalizing it:

Structure of Fee Charged

When you opt for such tools, you are charged with a certain amount of fee. But it is important to know what exactly those fees are, more commonly called breakage of the fee. The fact is that most of the high-risk merchants have no idea about the process and end up paying a high amount of fee without actually knowing the hidden high markups in their pricing structure. To process the transaction, an interchange part of pricing structure is paid to the card issuer. Apart from this, there is an extra fee that they put on the top of it to gain more profit. So, when you are applying for new credit card processor/merchant payment processor, request them to separate out the interchange fee so that you can have a clear idea about how much money they are making or charging you in total.

Contract and Time Duration

Whenever a merchant wants to opt for a new credit card processor, he/she needs to sign a contract, which will lock you with them for certain period of time. It is important for high-risk merchants to check for options when shopping around for new processor and also to finalize the processor with shorter time duration instead of multi-year contracts. The advantage of choosing a short-term contract is:

• They will work hard for your business to impress you so that you renew the contract instead of shopping for new credit card processor or merchant payment processor once the contract expires. If you end up signing a multi-year contract, you will soon be forgotten and ignored and service quality provided may deteriorate.
• In case of serious trouble when you have a short-term contract or non-existing contract, immediate help will be provided. Everything to resolve the issue so as to retain you as a customer. Whereas, if you have a long-term contract, it might take longer to resolve the issue you are facing.
• When you are not happy with the services provided by your current credit card processor, you can try out the new processor. They can meet your needs, but if you have a long-term contract, you only stick with the same provider till the contract expires.

Customer Service Department

Efficient and knowledgeable customer service department is like icing on the cake. Get the opinion of the current customers of the credit card processor. Also, find out about their experiences with the customer service department.Look for the processor whose,

• Support representatives are knowledgeable and can tackle any kind of issue if arises.
• Call waiting time is minimum
• Support representative should be able to resolve issues in the first call and in shortest time duration.
  

If you are lucky enough and end up buying a credit card processor or merchant payment processor for your high-risk business that fulfills all your needs and the fee charged is worth every single penny you pay, hold on tight to it and never let it go. If you are happy with the services provided and a fee charged, it would be a good decision to renew the contract with the same provider than starting the process all over again.