CardFellow Credit Card Processing Blog

Credit Card Processing, News

The Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act Financial Reform and Your Business

by Ben Dwyer

Within that, a relatively small portion of the act – the “Durbin Amendment” – has made decisive and controversial changes in the way debit cards are processed. These changes are meant to lower the financial burden on businesses and are already affecting businesses across the United States. What is Interchange? Changes in the Durbin Amendment…

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, enacted in response to the late-2000s recession, contains the most comprehensive set of changes to financial regulation in the United States since the Great Depression.

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Press Releases

CardFellow.com Cautions Merchants about Reduced Fees Proposed by Durbin Amendment

by Ben Dwyer

Leading credit card processing comparison Website CardFellow.com is cautioning merchants that they may not benefit from reduced interchange fees proposed by the Durbin Amendment. The online marketplace is advising merchants to switch to a credit card processor that…

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Credit Card Processing

Credit Card Processing: How it Works

by Ben Dwyer

Knowing the lay of the land will help you to isolate areas of possible savings. Once you’re done reading this article, check out our more detailed breakdown of where credit card processing fees come from. For now, let’s dive in to how credit card processing works. Key Players Cardholder Merchant (Business) Acquiring Bank (Merchant’s Bank)…

It isn’t necessary to have intimate knowledge of the inner-workings of the bankcard system in order to find the best credit card processor. But, it’s a good idea to have a general understanding of how credit card processing works because fees are incurred at various stages of the system.

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Credit Card Processing

Issuing Banks: Where does your money go?

by Ben Dwyer

It’s not really as simple as that, though. In actuality, a variety of entities are working behind the scenes, and it’s the card-issuing bank that ends up taking the largest piece of the pie. The more you know about what affects your business, the better armed you are to improve your position in the market…

If your business charges credit cards, you pay fees. This seems straightforward enough on its surface — you might assume it’s as uncomplicated as Visa or MasterCard taking a cut of your sales.

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Credit Card Processing

Tiered Pricing VS. Interchange Plus

by Ben Dwyer

Understanding how credit card processing fees are determined and how different merchant account pricing models work can save your business hundreds of dollars a month in transaction costs. One of the first questions you’ll ask is “Which should I go with, tiered pricing or interchange plus?” Tiered pricing is never in your best interest, but don’t…

Tiered pricing or interchange plus? How do you know what’s best for your business?

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Credit Card Processing

Credit Card Processing Fees & Rates

by Ben Dwyer

In this article I’ll explain the different aspects that contribute to credit card processing fees to give you a solid understanding of who’s charging what and which areas of cost you can control. Components of Cost Base Fees Interchange Assessments Visa MasterCard Discover American Express Markups Pricing Model Interchange Plus / Pass Through Tiered /…

Credit card processing fees seem complicated. But take away the sales jargon and it makes more sense.

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Credit Card Processing

Interchange Plus Pricing

by Ben Dwyer

What is interchange plus pricing? Interchange plus basis points Is interchange plus basis X points competitive? How does it work? What are the benefits of interchange plus? Is interchange plus the best pricing model? Where can I get it? What is interchange plus? Interchange plus is the term used to describe a merchant account pricing…

Interchange plus pricing is a credit card processing pricing structure that separates the components of processing costs allowing for transparent reporting and interchange optimization often leading to lower costs when compared with other forms of pricing such as tiered or bundled.

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Credit Card Processing

Interchange Rates and Fees

by Ben Dwyer

Historically, interchange has been imposed upon businesses to reimburse issuing banks for lost interest resulting from a cardholder’s grace period for repaying their debt. This is why Visa still refers to interchange fees as “interchange reimbursement fees.” Today, Visa states that “the primary role of interchange is to create an equitable balance of incentives between a…

In credit card processing, interchange is the money transferred from the acquiring bank to the issuing bank for each bankcard transaction. Interchange fees account for the majority of credit card processing costs and are established by the card brands (Visa, MasterCard, Discover) of open-loop processing systems.

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Credit Card Processing exposed