Novera Payment Solutions

Just because we know you've always been curious about what all that "stuff" is on your credit card front and back, we thought we'd give a basic anatomy lesson. A few facts may surprise you, like did you know that VISA card numbers ALWAYS start with the number 4?  Read on!

1. Bank Name
Typically a bank name appears at the top of your credit card. This represents the bank that is lending you money via the credit card transaction, not the company that processes the payments. For exmaple, your VISA or MasterCard will have a bank name at the top ... the bank is the entity lending the money and VISA or MasterCard is the processor.The exception is with American Express or Discover ... they are both the bank lending you money and the processor.

2. Computer Chip
The computer chip is being phased in to United States issued credit cards to improve security and reduce fraud. The credit cards containing chips are called EMV cards. EMV cards are more secure because the computer chip generates a unique code for every transaction you make, whereas the magnetic stripe has static data that can be stolen and re-used. During the phase in, cards will have both, the computer chip AND the magentic strip on the back, but ultimately the magnetic strip will go away.

3. Account Number
The account numer is made up from a series of complex algorithms and each series of numbers has very specific meanings. The details are way too much information to go into here. However, you may be interested to know that the very first number on the card is the "Major Industry Identifier." You can tell what kind of card it is from the first number if you know that all Visa cards start with a 4, MasterCards start with a 5, Discover cards start with 6, and American Express cards start with a 3.

4. Cardholder Name
Credit cards will also have the first and last name of the cardholder or the organization that is associated with the account. Online transactions typically require the name on the card to
exactly match the cardholder name as an added layer of security.

5. Hologram
The hologram displays a three-dimensional image on the two-dimensional surface. This was introduced to help prevent counterfieting of credit cards.

6. Expiration Date or Valid Thru Date
This indicates the last month and year the credit card can be used. Some banks include a day of the month, but typically it's just the month and year.  The day (not shown) is the last day of the month.

7. Magnetic Stripe
Magnetic stripes on credit cards come in three colors colors black, brown or sliver.  They have up to three tracks. The first two tracks contain the card holder data necessary to complete the transactions.  With the new EMV credit cards, magnetic stripes will ultimately be phased out.

8. Signature Strip
Credit cards must be signed to be valid. When you sign the strip it gives businesses an extra tool to guard against fraud, because they can see whether the signature on the cardmatches the one on the receipt.

The signature stripe also includes the credit card security code (CVV or CIV code) on Visa and MasterCard cards. This also provides additional security against credit card fraud because you have to have the card in hand to see the code.

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is a leader in the credit card payments industry. We are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative and trasparent flat fee merchant account pricing models. We are confident we can save your business money on credit card processing fees!

There seems to be several myths surrounding credit cards, their use, and how they may (or may not) impact your credit score as a consumer. We thought we would debunk some of the more common misconceptions.

Myth #1. Applying for multiple credit cards will hurt your credit score.

When you apply for a credit card it does result in a "hard" inquiry which can cause a temporary dip in your credit score. However, for most people, opening a new credit card card can actually help your credit score (over time) because it helps you establish more credit history and reduces your debt-to-credit ratio.  Of course, the exception is when someone applies for multiple cards in a very short period of time and has limited credit history. The dip in credit score from the multiple hard inquiries may not be so temporary.

Myth #2. If you need to improve your credit score, cancelling credit cards helps.

Cancelling credit cards can actually HURT your credit score. The reason is, when you cancel a card you are reducing the amount of credit available to you. This can increase your debt-to-credit ratio (the amount of debt you have compared to the amount of credit available) and thus have a negative impact on your credit score. It's better to pay off the cards, but leave the accounts open if you are trying to improve your credit score.

Myth #3. My card has no spending limit ... cha-ching!

Many of the "exclusive" credit cards (Platinum, Signature, Black, etc.) appear on the consumer side not to have spending limits. Don't be fooled if have one of these cards ... you do not have cart blanc to spend whatever you'd like. Every credit card has a spending limit, some higher than others. What the credit card companies aren't telling you is that non-disclosure of their NPSL (Non-Preset Spending Limit), is how they attract consumers and make them think their card is more "exclusive" than other cards.

Myth #4. Ordering a credit report will hurt my credit score.

There are two types of inquiries associated with your credit report, "hard" and "soft". A hard inquiry is generated when you are applying for credit, seeking pre-approval for a loan, or an inquiry used to determine rates you will pay (e.g. insurance). Hard inquiries require your signature authorization and can ding your credit score temporarily by a few points. Soft inquiries are generated by credit report requests, "pre-approved" credit card offers, employer inquiries, etc. Soft inquiries do not impact your credit score.

Myth #5. People who use credit cards all the time must have a lot of debt.

While it's possible that someone who uses credit cards all the time may have a lot of debt, this should not be your immediate assumption. There are a large number of people who use credit cards for practically everything and pay them off in full each month.

Myth #6. I pay my bill in full each month, so I pay no interest. That means my credit card company probably doesn't like me very much.

This is not true at all. While they may not be earning monthly interest fees from your account (good for you), the credit card company earns a fee from the merchant each and every time you use your credit card. Trust us, you are a valued customer to your credit card company ... whether you pay your bill in full each month or not.

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is a leader in the credit card payments industry.

Why do we care about credit card myths?  Because while you may be a business owner, you are also a consumer who uses credit cards. We care about the success of our clients and strive to provide information and content which can be useful not only in their business but in their personal lives, as well!

We are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative and trasparent flat fee merchant account pricing models.

At Novera Payment Solutions, we serve clients nationwide providing credit card processing solutions, but many of our customers own very local businesses. We all know that getting your business website found in the search engines can be very challenging, especially in large markets where there is a lot of competition. They key is to optimize your website for LOCAL search. There are several elements to this and ensuring you have a presence in local directories is one of them.

Gain a step on your competition by ensuring you have claimed your business listing on the following seven websites. 

1. Google+

With Google being the MacDaddy of all things search, you should start here. It's simple to claim your space on Google+. Simply create the page here (https://plus.google.com/pages/create?ppsrc=bupg8), complete your profile, then verify your page and vanity URL, Add the Google badge to your site (to grow your following), then link your YouTube channel to your page (if you have one). Google walks you through each and every step of the process!

2. Yelp!

Yelp! helps millions of visitors every month find local businesses. To claim your free business page on Yelp! go to https://biz.yelp.com/claiming and click the "Claim my Business" button. Yelp! will walk you through the process of setting up your page listing. You'll be able to enter your business name, address, hours, description, and even add photos to the listing.

3. Yahoo

In spite of Google's dominance in online search, Yahoo remains competitive in local search and news. Yahoo recently made several changes to it's local business listing area and has broken it's listing opportunities into three types: 1) Yahoo Local Basic Listing; 2) Yahoo Local Enhanced Listing (paid monthly); and 3) Yahoo Localworks (paid monthly). With the free basic plan you have all you need. You can add information about your business’ products, include a link to your website, and provide your business contact information. To setup your free business listing, go to https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/local-listings, then scroll down to the center area of the page and click on "Try Local Basic Listing for free".

4. Facebook

If you don't already have a Facebook business page, it's time to make the move. Facebook has millions of users and they check their Facebook news feeds multiple time per day. To create or claim your Facebook business page, go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/.  As with all the other sites, the most important thing to fill out your business profile completely.

5. CitySearch

Citysearch has provided local reviews for about a decade. Citysearch partners with InfoUSA for local business data. They offer an Express Update service that allows merchants to update their listing data as well as add new businesses. Once you’ve added your business it can take  1 – 2 months for the information to be on Citysearch. Find out more at: http://www.expressupdateusa.com.

6. SuperPages

SuperPages is top online resource for finding information and insights on businesses and retailers. Every month they help millions of consumers find local business information, including driving directions, hours of operation, and customer reviews. To claim or edit your business listing with Superpages, go to http://www.superpages.com/about/new_chg_listing.html.

7. Foursquare

FourSquare learns what it's users like and leads them to places they'll love. A presence on FourSquare is critical if you have a brick and mortar busineses. To add your business or claim your listing on FourSquare, go to http://business.foursquare.com/claim. FourSquare does a nice job of guiding you through the proces os setting up your business listing.

Make Your Listings Consistent

As you work through the process of claiming and verifying your business listings, the key is to ensure that your business information is consitent across each of them. That means your business name, business address, and business phone should be listed exactly the same on each website. For example, if your address 4325 Smith Parkway, don't spell out "Parkway" on one directory and then abbreviate it on the other. Make all listings exactly the same for best results.  While writing this blog post, we logged in on each of these sites and create a business listing ... it took about 90 minutes.  That should give you a feel the time investment for your business in getting your local listings claimed.

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is a leader in the credit card payments industry.

Why do we care about your business' local search engine rankings?  Because your business success is our business success. We care about the success of our clients and strive to provide information and content which can be useful in growing and promoting your business online and offline!

We are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative and trasparent flat fee merchant account pricing models.

What is an EMV Credit Card?

In light of several recent major data breaches, you may have heard the term "EMV credit card" used in news reports. When it was created, EMV stood for Europay, MasterCard and Visa. It is a global standard for credit cards equipped with computer chips, as well as technology used to authenticate chip-card transactions. Simply put, this technology better protects consumers and makes it more difficult for people to counterfeit cards and commit fraudulent activities.

According to EMV Connection, today EMVCo manages, maintains and enhances the EMV specifications. EMVCo is jointly owned by American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, UnionPay, and Visa, and includes other organizations from the payments industry participating as technical and business associates. Information on the specifications and organization is available at http://www.emvco.com.

What Makes EMV Cards Different

When you look at your credit card, if you see a small metallic square, that's a computer chip and it is what makes the card an EMV card. The basic difference between traditional credit cards with magnetic stripes and EMV cards with computer chips is that the magnetic strip cards hold static data and the computer chipped EMV cards hold dynamic data.

If the magnetic stripe card is compromised, the data can be used over and over again because it doesn't change. This makes it easy for fraudsters to profit from stolen card holder data. For the EMV card computer chip, with each transaction, a unique transaction code is generated and cannot be used again. That means if the credit card data is stolen from a single sale or transaction, the next time it is used, the card would simply be denied because the transaction code is no longer valid. This makes it much more difficult for nefarious people to profit from stolen card holder data.

What Does this Mean to Me?

For merchants and financial institutions, the switch to EMV means adding new in-store technology and internal processing systems, as well as complying with new liability regulations. For consumers, the switch to EMV means receiving and activating new credit cards and learning new payment processes.

The fundamental difference in the way the cards are used is with the magnetic stripe the consumer swipes the card through a terminal for the data to be read. With the new EMV cards, the consumer will "dip" the card in a terminal slot and wait for it to be processed. It is a little slower than the magnetic stripe swipe, so consumers will need to get accustomed to it. Technology also exists called "contactless card reading" where the consumer taps the card against a terminal scanner to be read. However this "contactless" technology is not as prevalent in the United States as of today.

When is the EMV Shift Going to Happen?

The shift to EMV technology has already started. This first issuance of EMV cards will have both technologies, magnetic stripe and the computer chip, but will ultimately transition to the computer chip only. The deadline set by major U.S. credit card issuers MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express is October 1, 2015. That doesn't mean that EVERYONE is going to be transitioned by then, but what it does mean is that the fraud burden shifts on that date. Any parties not EMV-ready by October 2015 may face much higher costs in the event of a large data breach. Basically the liability will shift to whoever is the least EMV-compliant party in a fraudulent transaction.

Are You Ready for EMV?

Novera Payment Solutions will continue to publish blogs on this topic because it's important for you as a merchant to be aware of your requirements and your potential liabilities. If you have questions about EMV, please don't hesitate to contact us. Our job is make the transition as easy as possible for merchants.

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is a leader in the credit card payments industry. We are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative and trasparent flat fee merchant account pricing models.

What is Slideshare?

SlideShare launched several years ago with the goal of share knowledge online. Since then, SlideShare has grown to become the world’s largest community for sharing presentations and other professional content.

How Does Your Business Benefit from Slideshare?

According to the SlideShare website:

SlideShare consists of more than 15 million uploads from individuals and organizations on topics ranging from technology and business to travel, health, and education. Share the content that matters to you with your colleagues, customers, friends and followers. SlideShares can be embedded into websites and blogs, and are easily shareable on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other popular social media platforms. They can be viewed publicly and privately. Connect with other SlideShare users via comments, “likes,” and profile pages.

Have content, presentations, photo collections or expert knowledge on a topic?
Upload it to SlideShare and you'll reach a wide audience!

A few tips for making the most of your SlideShare marketing:

1. Use the lead capture capabilities of SlideShare (You have a couple options for this)

• If the viewer wants to download the original presentation, he/she is prompted to fill out a short contact form first.
• When the viewer is browsing the presentation, the contact form displays at an increment specified by you (on a specific slide, at the end, or via a button that's displayed throughout) 

2. Upload White Papers to Showcase Your Expertise

SlideShare is more than PowerPoint. You can also upload documents, including PDFs. Why EVERY business doesn't take advantage of this feature is beyond us. It's simply another way to publish your information and make it easy for people to share. TIP: Be sure that you include your contact information on EVERY business piece you publish, as well as a call to action!

3. Promote Your SlideShare Content Across Other Social Channels

Don't stovepipe your marketing efforts across the social channels ... be sure to share and promote across all of them. Certain segments of your audience may only be on Facebook and may have never heard of SlideShare. If you aren't promoting your SlideShare channel on your business Facebook page, you could be missing an entire group of people.

4. Post your Presentations to LinkedIn

Add your SlideShare content to your LinkedIn profile summary page. LinkedIn has really become the go to platform for business to business marketing, network building, and reputation growing. Tying your SlideShare presentations to your LinkedIn profile can only enhance your credibility in your field.

5. Write "How To" Guides for your Area of Expertise and Share them on LinkedIn

People learn visually. Any time they need to know how to do something these days they Google it. This is a perfect combination for your business! A great "how to" guide featuring something in your service arena or area of expertise on SlideShare can be indexed by Google and findable by your prospects. This type of content is highly popular and very sharable.

6. Use audio in your slides

Did you know you can add voice-overs in PowerPoint?  If it makes sense for your content, include a voice-over in your slides. When you upload the presentation to SlideShare, the voice-over stays with the presentation and can be listened to by anyone viewing it. Talk about powerful!

7. Embed Your SlideShare Presentations on your Website

When you upload a presentation to SlideShare, they offer you a nice little "widget" that you can send to your webmaster to add to your website. This literally embeds the presentation right on your website. Visitors don't have to leave your website to view the presentation. If you've added a lead generation form to the presentation in SlideShare, this carries over to the embedded presentation too.

Shhh ... it's a secret!

SlideShare is "best kept secret" of professional marketers ...but it's actually free for any business who wants to use it!  Of course, there is a paid option available that unlocks additional features. We encourage you to check it out and use this powerful tool in your content marketing plan for your business! Visit their website at http://www.slideshare.net

About Novera Payment Solutions

Novera Payment Solutions is a leader in the credit card payments industry. We are committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative flat fee merchant account pricing model.

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with businesses  to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today!

Novera Payment Solutions and WorldPay offer businesses the most reliable and affordable payment processing services in the industry.

Who is Novera Payment Solutions?

Novera Payment Solutions, LLC  is based in Atlanta and is a registered Member Service Provider (MSP) of WorldPay. Novera is also a registered Independent Sales Organization (ISO) with Visa & MasterCard.  We represents an innovative approach to doing business in an industry where integrity and a positive customer experience is absent at many levels.

What does this mean to you?

Our payment processing services are designed to bridge the gap between the  brand and buying power of WorldPay, combining that with the sales and service experience of your smaller home town business.

Who is WorldPay?

WorldPay is one of the most reliable and affordable credit card processors in the industry. WorldPay offers fast, reliable payment processing for the full range of card types, including credit, debit, prepaid, loyalty, and payroll. WorldPay provides access - and advocacy on its customers' behalf - to the credit card associations including Visa®, MasterCard®, Discover®, American Express® and all of the major PIN-secured debit networks. Its customers are also on the forefront of new payment acceptance, including RevolutionCard®, the nation's first PIN-secured credit card.

WorldPay acquires transactions coast to coast and around the globe ranging from brand name companies you already know to independent businesses in your own community. Point of sale authorization through settlement of funds, WorldPay provides the highest standard of payment processing to businesses ...businesses just like yours. WorldPay also offers seamless support and integration with industry-leading point-of-sale platforms and middleware providers, and it works with POS providers to certify new systems to their network on a ongoing basis.

What Makes Us Different?

Our flat fee pricing for payment processing saves merchants thousands and tens of thousands per year over other merchant account providers. If you are looking for a credit card processing program that can deliver maximum savings for your business (or for your  merchants) we can provide the guidance and know how to help you accomplish your objectives, save money on fees, and be as competitive as you want to.

Novera has a unique pricing format that passes along all the direct transactional costs; a) interchange, b) the processor fees (including mark-up) and features a c) TRANSPARENT FLAT FIXED FEE per month depending upon the monthly merchant volume.  

This flat fee merchant account pricing format delivers:

• Substantial savings based upon volume
• Transparency in pricing
• Detailed reporting on statement
• One of the best “cost plus formats” available

Contact Novera Payment Solutions today!  We'll do a free, no obligation cost/savings analysis with your current merchant processor and let you know how much money Novera's flat fee merchant account can save you annually.

Sys2K’s Infinity complete dealer management software now offers U.S. customers integrated PCI compliant payment processing through a new integration with Novera Payment Solutions, LLC.

Sys2K™, a leading provider of Windows®‐based dealer management software that features real‐time integration across all dealership departments, is pleased to announce a partnership with Novera Payment Solutions, LLC. The Novera integration allows US customers to securely process credit card payments directly through the Sys2K. Infinity software suite.

As part of this partnership, Novera provides its integrated payment processing solution to Sys2K customers utilizing a cost‐effective, transparent monthly fee structure; all additional fees normally associated with payment processing integration such as gateway fees, interface setup, and maintenance fees have been absorbed into one bundled package.

“The partnership between Novera and Sys2K is exactly the type of relationship we look for with Integrated Software Vendors or (ISV’s)… The collaborative effort between Sys2K and Novera has produced a great offering for Sys2K clients, and we are extremely pleased to be partnered with them,” said John Wisniewski, Director of Business Development for Novera Payment Solutions, LLC.

“With Novera, we are excited to offer our clients a straightforward, secure and robust integrated credit card processing solution that will save them time and money,” said Carl Sconnely, President of Sys2K.

About Novera

Novera specializes in partnerships with Integrated Software Vendors or (ISV’s) for payment acceptance.

These partnership programs include the initial design plan, including optimization for maximum adoption of uses and the ongoing management of the program. Novera is one of the largest registered Member Service Providers (MSP’s) for WorldPay and delivers flexibility in accepting credit card payments, debit card payments, and virtual terminal solutions through PCI‐compliant payment processing plans.

About Sys2K

Sys2K™ (Systems 2000, Inc.) is a premier provider of Powersports, Bus, Marine, Automotive, and Class 8/Heavy Duty, and RV dealership software. Sys2K’s Infinity software is a fully integrated, indows®‐based DMS that features modules including CRM, F&I, Parts and Service, Payroll, Accounting, Rental, Advanced Reporting, Premium Websites, Cloud Hosting, and Mobile Apps. Founded in 1984, Sys2K prides itself in developing the highest‐quality software solutions for the dealership environment. For more information, visit http://www.sys2k.com.

For more information, visit: www.noverapaymentsolutions.com/sys2k

There's no doubt that Twitter is one of the largest and most influential social media platforms.  Business owners know they they need to be on Twitter, but too many of them create an account, start tweeting, and then crickets ... no one is hearing them, following them or interacting with them.

If this sounds like you, don't despair! 

Here seven tips to help you gain more followers on Twitter.
 

About Novera Payment Solutions

Pronounced like "fishing", phishing is a technique used by those with malicious intent to trick you into providing sensitive information online, like username/passwords, credit card payments information, and bank account information. This is obviously important for you to be aware of as an individual, but even more so as a business owner.

People who engage in phishing techniques vary in skill. The idea is they masquerade themselves as a known and trusted business, send you an email that appears to come from that business, and then ask you to click on a link in the email to confirm or enter information. Some phishing attempts are obvious, with blatant typos in the phishing email, shabby graphics, and suspect English. Others are highly skilled ... and even the most savvy internet user can be "taken" by the deceptive phishing attempt.

Phishing attempts used to be limited to email for the most part, but now you'll find phishing attempts across social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. Some of the phishing attempts you may have seen in recent years appear to come from well known banks and the IRS. If you've ever been manipulated by a phishing scheme, you know the stress and trauma it can cause, not to mention the potential financial issues that can arise.

As a business owner who accepts online credit card payments, it's important to understand what phishing is. The worse case scenario is a malicious attempt to masquerade as YOUR business and solicit your customers for personal information. Business system security is the first step in protecting your business against this activity, but understanding what phishing criminals do to try to manipulate you and your customers is also essential. Information is power.

Types of Phishing

Phishing
As we've already defined it, phishing is a simple attempt to collect sensitive information using a disguised electronic communication.

Spear Phishing
This is a more targeted phishing attempt in which the perpetrator gains personal information about the target before sending the phishing attempt.  Personalizing the communication makes it more effective.

Clone Phishing
Clone phishing is when a perpetrator takes an ACTUAL email that was sent from a trusted source, copies it, and then resends it. These are highly effective for phishers, as well.

Whaling
Whaling is a phishing attempt targed at high level executives or high profile individuals.

Rogue WiFi
This phishing technique is slightly different in that the perpetrators setup rogue free WiFi hot spots rather sending electronic correspondence. They configure them to run man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks to steal sensitive information.

Phishing Techniques

Link Manipulation
By far the most common technique used is link manipulation. An individual will receive an email that appears to come from a trusted source (i.e. their bank) asking them to click on a link to verify information. Often, there is a scare tactic used. For example, "your account may have been compromised ... click here to reset your password".

The example below is a low quality phishing attempt, but rest assured, there were likely thousands of people who fell for it.

Notice the email appears to be from Wells Fargo. However "Wells Fargo" is misspelled as "Wellsfargo".  The email address it's from appears to be legit as serviceaccount@verify.wellsfargo.com.  In this case, the quality of the writing in the email is suspect, but it provides a link for the recipient to click to update their account information. Many people will simply click the link and do what is asked of them ... this is a mistake. When you roll your cursor over the link, you can see that the link does NOT take the user to Wells Fargo. Instead, it takes the user to a website called "www.successlibrary.info". This is definite evidence of a phishing scheme.  Once on this "suspect" website, the user may be asked to enter login information ... OR the website may just automatically download a trojan virus or keystroke tracking malware to the user's computer.

There are several other phishing techniques out there including filter evasion, website forgery, phone phishing, and tab nabbing. However, by far the most common technique involves link manipulation in emails that come from what appear to be trusted sources.

Protect Your Business & Your Customers

As a business owner who accepts online credit card payments and debit card payments, and who may have login areas for customer access, it's important for you to understand that there are criminals out there who attempt to take advantage of businesses to gain access to customer card holder data and bank account information.

You should educate your customers about never clicking on links in emails. As a customer, they should ALWAYS go directly to your website by entering the URL in their browser window before entering any type of payment information, login information, or personal information of any kind.

It's also critical that you keep your business systems secure so your client lists and their contact information cannot be compromised. If a perpetrator gains access to your client list they can engage in spear phishing ... it empowers them with information that enables them to personalize phishing emails to your customers, making it more likely that your customers will click through to the nepharious link.

Who is Novera Payment Solutions?

Novera Payment Solutions is well known as a leader in the credit card payments industry and is committed to helping businesses improve their bottom line by providing significant savings on credit card processing fees through our innovative flat fee merchant account.

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with small businesses to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today for credit card processing and debit card processing.

What You Need to Know

The most important thing to understand is that risk is the single largest factor that merchant account providers look at when determining whether to establish a credit card processing account account for a business. Risk is determined by the potential for fraud and the number of chargebacks a business may experience.

What is a Chargeback?

A chargeback happens when a consumer contacts their credit card company and requests a refund for a purchase they made on that credit card. It could be that the consumer didn't recognize the charge, was dissatisfied with the product or service, or never received the product or service. It's not uncommon for the consumer to bypass the merchant and directly reach out to their credit card company first. Right or wrong doesn't really matter ... when the consumer reaches out to their credit card company to demand a credit, a chargeback is initiated. This is not good for merchants because too many chargebacks can result in higher fees and even closure of their merchant account if too many occur.

Reserve Accounts

One way credit card processing companies protect themselves is to hold a "reserve". A reserve is basically funds processed by the business that the merchant account provider holds in a reserve account instead of transferring the funds to the business bank account. The amount of the reserve can vary greatly.  It can be a small fixed amount, a large fixed amount, or even a full month of funds equal to the amount of the businesses credit card sales. The amount is determined by perceived risk associated with the busineses.  Having a reserve protects the merchant account company from future risks, including fraud and chargebacks.

Higher Risk Business Sectors

In the credit card payments industry, some business sectors are considered higher risk than others, but the list really varies from provider to provider.  A partial list of business sectors that often fall into the higher risk category include:

• Adult Related Businesses (Book Stores & Entertainment)
• Check Cashing Businesses
• Credit Repair Services
• Gun Stores
• Jewelry Stores
• Multi-level Marketing Companies
• Telemarketing Firms
• Time Share Sales
• Vacation Packages

Businesses in these sectors are often subject to reserves, as well as higher credit card processing rates. This provides the merchant account company some protection from the higher levels of fraud and chargebacks often associated with these sectors.

Merchant Account Holds & Freezes

One of the most financially devastating things that can happen to a business is a merchant account hold, or freeze. When this happens to a business, they cannot access the account.  The funds from open authorizations are also held without deposit for an undisclosed period of time. This means that the business cannot accept new credit card transactions and the income from recently processed transactions is not be deposited for days, weeks or longer.

Despite the horror stories, merchant account freezes are usually a result of the business violating the terms of their merchant account agreement. Violations can include utilizing the merchant account for personal use, selling items that were not included or defined in the merchant account agreement when the account was setup, accepting credit card payments for other businesses under their merchant account, as well as other fraudulent activities.

As a business owner, you can protect yourself from this by first following the terms of your agreement with your credit card processing provider.  If something changes in your business that impacts your credit card sales, you should contact your merchant account processor right away. This might include anticipated changes in average ticket amounts or new product or service lines introduced into the business. If you are running an unusually large ticket as a one time occurance, contact your merchant account provider's risk department prior to processing the transaction and let know the details.

The Novera Advantange

• Novera’s consultative approach allows us to thoroughly educate our clients, equipping them to better understand this complicated industry.
• We educate our clients about chargebacks, reserves, and holds, so they are informed and can better prevent these things from happening.
  
• We take the mystery out of the credit card processing business.
• We work with all types of businesses across the country

Contact Novera to learn more about how we work with businesses to provide the most fair and transparent pricing structure available on the market today for credit card processing.