Each year, as you sit down to review your books and see how this year matches up to the year before, add in a review of your credit card processing merchant account.
Take the December statements for 2013 and 2012, and do an apples-to-apples comparison on your rates, miscellaneous fees, and total sales reported for the year.
Why, you ask? The short answer is, why not? It takes about 10 minutes in total, and if everything matches up, you’re all set and it’s back to business as usual. Chances are pretty high though that your rates will have gone up, there are new fees that you’ve never seen before, and you may have missed an important security update or new program announcement. If you find that something has in fact changed, the question now becomes, what to do next?
The short answer here is call Superior Financial Systems, regardless of who you process with. As a member of WAIA, you have access to a wealth of knowledge in the merchant services industry through experts ready and waiting to help you review your statements and make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck, and show you ways to make sure it stays that way. To give you an idea of what SFS does during a review of your account, here are a few things we take into consideration, beyond the normal rate review:
- Have there been any major changes in your business in the last year? Things such as expansion for a new product line or location, upgrades to office hardware and systems, launched a new website?
- What growth are you envisioning for your business in the next six months? Twelve months? Five years?
- What type of customers do you accept credit cards from? Business clients? Consumers?
- Do you offer delivery or installation services?
We approach each merchant account review as a consultation; the focus of the review is your business, and making sure your merchant account best benefits you, in whatever capacity that may be. Even if you don’t want an independent review, we still strongly recommend every business owner take a few minutes to look over their statements and make sure everything makes sense, and the rates look reasonable. Ask yourself the questions above, and make sure your merchant account is growing along with you, not against you. In some cases, a simple phone call to your processor can result in hundreds of dollars of savings every year, and who couldn’t use a little extra padding in the coffers? And on the off chance your processor won’t work with you, we will. And as always
Superior Financial Systems is here to help – whether you process with us or not, if you have any questions about credit cards, rates, or your account in general, we are here and ready to guide you.
For further information, please call Todd Lazar at (888) 737-7762 or by e-mail todd@sfsprocessing.com.