CardFellow Credit Card Processing Blog

Credit Card Processing, News

Is Visa Buying Square? The Truth About Visa’s Stake

by Ellen Cunningham

But some of those clarifications have gotten lost in the noise as investors have rushed to Square (its stock jumped in the days following the first reports) and some began to predict that Visa will purchase Square. Before we jump to conclusions, let’s slow down and take a look at the facts. What Visa Really…

A flurry of reports in early February 2016 claimed that credit card company Visa owns nearly 10% of payment processing company Square. Updates to those stories were posted soon after, as the 10% figure was based on a misreading of a Visa filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Credit Card Processing, Legal

Early Termination Fees: Canceling Your Merchant Processing Agreement

by Nate Baber

In this article, attorney Nate Baber from Aeton Law Partners, LLP explains exactly what to look for in your merchant contract and what to know before you cancel. First Things First: Personal Guaranty Where to Look for a Personal Guaranty Types of Termination Fees Flat Fee Liquidated Damages How to Avoid Paying a Cancellation Fee Can’t…

At some point in business ownership, you’ll probably find yourself needing to cancel your merchant account for credit card processing. When you do, will you be stuck with cancellation fees? Can you be personally held responsible for ongoing costs, like chargebacks that occur after cancellation?

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Credit Card Processing, Security and PCI Compliance

How to Use Verified by Visa 3D Secure Fraud Prevention

by Ellen Cunningham

In this article, we’ll talk about what it is, how it benefits you and your customers, potential drawbacks, and how to use 3D Secure to ensure maximum security for online transactions. What is Verified by Visa? 3D Secure 2.0 What businesses should consider using Verified by Visa? How does using VbV benefit my business? Are there any…

With online shopping more popular than ever, it’s important to take steps to protect yourself and your customers from fraudulent transactions. One option is to utilize Verified by Visa, a way to add an extra layer of security to online transactions.

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Credit Card Processing

Visa CPS (Custom Payment Service) & Your Processing Fees

by Ben Dwyer

In order to understand CPS, you need to understand the fundamentals of interchange and interchange qualification. I’ll briefly cover them in this article. If you’re interested in learning more, which I encourage, check out related articles on the topics of interchange and processor pricing models on CardFellow’s blog. What is Visa CPS (Custom Payment Service)?…

CPS is an acronym associated with Visa’s interchange categories that stands for Custom Payment Service.

In a nutshell, Visa’s CPS allows a business to qualify transactions to an interchange category with a lower rate by following a set of rules.

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Credit Card Processing, Specialty Businesses

Credit Card Processing for Gun Dealers

by Ellen Cunningham

But with guns being a big ticket item, giving customers the option to pay by credit card is important. So how do you find gun-friendly credit card processing? If you’re a gun dealer, here’s what you need to know about finding the right processor to support your business. Taking Credit Cards: The Basics What’s Different…

Gun dealers often face different challenges than other businesses, and that’s true when it comes to taking credit cards as well. Since selling firearms is considered a “high risk” business, some credit card processors don’t offer services to gun dealers.

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Credit Card Processing

Interchange Clearing Fee – Wells Fargo Merchant Services

by Ben Dwyer

It’s pretty clear from our Wells Fargo Merchant Services review that we don’t hold the company’s credit card processing services in the highest regard. We formed this opinion over many years of reviewing quotes, applications, and statements that push opaque, overly aggressive pricing. A relatively recent addition to Wells Fargo’s arsenal of tricks is its…

Wells Fargo Merchant Services slips an opaque “Interchange Clearing Fee” into its interchange-plus pricing, adding more proof to the fact that interchange-plus does not guarantee competitive credit card processing fees.

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Credit Card Processing, Legal

The FTC’s CardReady Lawsuit

by Ellen Cunningham

What is CardReady? Why is CardReady getting sued? What is credit card laundering? What do I do if I use CardReady? Who is CardReady? CardReady is a payment processing company located in California. The company offers services for business that want to accept credit cards. Why is CardReady getting sued? CardReady is being sued…

It seems like there’s been a flurry of lawsuits and investigations in the payments industry lately, with Northern Leasing sued for racketeering, Mercury Payment Systems defending against a second lawsuit for deceptive pricing, and Vantiv embroiled in the DraftKings fantasy sports lawsuit mess. The newest lawsuit is against payment processor CardReady, and comes from the Federal Trade Commission and the State of Florida.

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Credit Card Processing

3 Ways to Tell if You’re Paying Too Much for Credit Card Processing

by Ellen Cunningham

You Have Non-Qualified Rates You’re Using Square or PayPal You Chose a Processor from a Top Ten Processors Type of List I think I’m overpaying. How do I pay less for credit card processing? You have Non-Qualified Rates Check your statements. Do you see the word “non-qualified” or any variation? (NQUAL, nonqual, etc.) If so,…

Credit card processing is a confusing and frustrating part of business. Have you ever looked at your billing statement and thought you’re paying too much for credit card processing but couldn’t be sure? Or maybe a pushy sales person stops by and promises to save you tons of money, and you’re wondering if you’re really overpaying. Here are 3 quick ways to determine if you’re paying too much and how to lower your costs to take credit cards.

paying too much for credit card processing money drain

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Credit Card Processing exposed