Thursday, August 16, 2007

"How to Give Tony Soprano a Thinner Envelope without Getting Whacked..."

You’ve seen the Sopranos.

When Paulie Walnuts, or one of Tony Soprano’s crew make a score, he brings an envelope of cash to the “Skipper”, who tucks that “taste” into his jacket pocket. The crew would love to hand over less of a taste, but that’s just the way business is done.

Credit card processing companies get a taste of your business, too. But, you have a choice of what they get as their taste. But, here’s the tricky thing. The fees credit card companies charge businesspeople are so complex that it’s easy to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. The vast majority of business-persons don’t know the percentages they are paying, and don’t even read the statements when they come in. They may as well be written in Greek.

But, knowledge is power. And, knowledge can save you a great deal of money. Here’s my story. After being ripped off thousands of dollars by two credit card processing companies, I got mad. Then, I met Steve Pavent, the “Robin Hood” of the credit card processing business. Steve helped me even the score. Now, not only do I pay a lot less in processing fees, but Steve and I are spreading the word so other business-people don’t get ripped off like I did. Trust me, over 95% of doctors using a credit car terminal in their office could be paying substantially less.

Here’s some valuable information to help you understand the business and how not to get shafted.

Percentages - Some doctors are paying 4.63% in California, 12% in Minnesota, and 9% in Illinois! These percentages add up! Let’s say a doctor is running $3,000 a month through his credit card terminal. At 4.65% over a year, she has forked over $1,674 of her hard earned money to the processor. At 1.4%, that fee goes down to $504!

Equipment purchases- Many processing companies will tell you that “you need to purchase different equipment” for them to accept your business, when often that is just plain false. Many agents make the bulk of their money by selling equipment (terminals, printers, etc.). To test their claim, tell them you aren’t interested, and you’ll see how, suddenly, your equipment can be reprogrammed.

Debit Cards v. Credit Cards- On average, 55% of the payments made in your office are made by debit cards. And, you should be paying substantially less to process those debit cards v. credit cards. If that isn’t so, red flags should go up. You may be getting ripped off. And, if you have a pin-pad (or get one), you could be paying even less to process those debit cards. You should be paying less than 1.40% for those debit cards.

Monthly fees- A feature called ACH allows you to charge recurring monthly fees without having to go run a patient’s card each and every month. And, it saves you a ton on fees.

Non-qualifying fees v. qualifying- Credit cards can be classified as “qualifying” or “non-qualifying”. Some companies suck you in by advertising lower rates for processing but the “small print” is that those fees are only for “qualifying” cards. However, they will rate very few of the cards as “qualifying”. A rip off technique!

Per transaction fees- This is an additional fee you pay per transaction, above the percentage. This fee can often be negotiated, but you should try to get it as low as .19 cents per transaction, if possible.

“How to Give Tony Soprano a Thinner Envelope

without Getting Whacked…”

You’ve seen the Sopranos.

When Paulie Walnuts, or one of Tony Soprano’s crew make a score, he brings an envelope of cash to the “Skipper”, who tucks that “taste” into his jacket pocket. The crew would love to hand over less of a taste, but that’s just the way business is done.

Credit card processing companies get a taste of your business, too. But, you have a choice of what they get as their taste. But, here’s the tricky thing. The fees credit card companies charge businesspeople are so complex that it’s easy to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. The vast majority of business-persons don’t know the percentages they are paying, and don’t even read the statements when they come in. They may as well be written in Greek.

But, knowledge is power. And, knowledge can save you a great deal of money. Here’s my story. After being ripped off thousands of dollars by two credit card processing companies, I got mad. Then, I met Steve Pavent, the “Robin Hood” of the credit card processing business. Steve helped me even the score. Now, not only do I pay a lot less in processing fees, but Steve and I are spreading the word so other business-people don’t get ripped off like I did. Trust me, over 95% of doctors using a credit car terminal in their office could be paying substantially less.

Here’s some valuable information to help you understand the business and how not to get shafted.

Percentages - Some doctors are paying 4.63% in California, 12% in Minnesota, and 9% in Illinois! These percentages add up! Let’s say a doctor is running $3,000 a month through his credit card terminal. At 4.65% over a year, she has forked over $1,674 of her hard earned money to the processor. At 1.4%, that fee goes down to $504!

Equipment purchases- Many processing companies will tell you that “you need to purchase different equipment” for them to accept your business, when often that is just plain false. Many agents make the bulk of their money by selling equipment (terminals, printers, etc.). To test their claim, tell them you aren’t interested, and you’ll see how, suddenly, your equipment can be reprogrammed.

Debit Cards v. Credit Cards- On average, 55% of the payments made in your office are made by debit cards. And, you should be paying substantially less to process those debit cards v. credit cards. If that isn’t so, red flags should go up. You may be getting ripped off. And, if you have a pin-pad (or get one), you could be paying even less to process those debit cards. You should be paying less than 1.40% for those debit cards.

Monthly fees- A feature called ACH allows you to charge recurring monthly fees without having to go run a patient’s card each and every month. And, it saves you a ton on fees.

Non-qualifying fees v. qualifying- Credit cards can be classified as “qualifying” or “non-qualifying”. Some companies suck you in by advertising lower rates for processing but the “small print” is that those fees are only for “qualifying” cards. However, they will rate very few of the cards as “qualifying”. A rip off technique!

Per transaction fees- This is an additional fee you pay per transaction, above the percentage. This fee can often be negotiated, but you should try to get it as low as .19 cents per transaction, if possible.

Knowledge is power. The more you know about how the credit card merchant processing business works, the better off you'll be.
If you are looking to get a better deal on your merchant processing, give Steve Pavent a call at 727-490-2240. Or fax him a recent statement from your present credit card processor. If you'd like, block out any numbers you don't feel secure faxing such as your account number, but write your contact number on your fax so he can call you back and tell you how much he can save you, each and every month. Steve's fax is 888-447-1828.



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