Have you noticed your credit card charges rising monthly? Most statements are hard to read and are meant to keep you in the dark. The Dental CFO has many years of experience in helping practices reduce the costs associated with their business operations and can help determine if you’re overpaying for your payment processors.
Each credit card used for payments has a certain wholesale cost that is paid to MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express, and every credit card processor has to pay these mandated fees. The wholesale cost goes to the issuing bank. The cost difference is what the credit card company puts on top of wholesale.
Use Wholesale (Interchange Plus Pricing Model)
Check out your statement. If you see the words surcharge (Surcharge Pricing) or non-qualified (Tiered Pricing), you could be overpaying. Surcharge fees are often charged by each transaction that is processed for credit and debit cards. Non-qualified, or tiered pricing, is charged based on the kind of card that is used to make payments. If the customer uses a company card, there will likely be a much more expensive non-qualified fee charge.
Eliminate the Middlemen
Did you know there are only 10 Tier-One Processors in the World? Why does your office get so many phone calls? Middlemen are re-selling services for the other nine processors! These middlemen typically hire contractors to resell their services without a background check, leaving your practice and patients vulnerable to theft and fraud. The middlemen are independent sales offices, sub-independent sales offices, as well as your bank.
A Piedmont, NC Specialist used his bank to get a great rate on his practice loan and was highly encouraged to use their credit card processing. Within four years, he leased his $200.00 credit terminal and had paid $4800 for it; plus, overpaying $297.00 monthly in charges. A word of advice, never lease a credit card machine!
Common Hidden Fees (Middlemen) include:
- Annual fees
- Non-qualified downgrades
- Padded wholesale fees
- PCI fees
- Terminal fees- Never lease a credit card terminal
- Payment Gateway fees
- Online reporting fees
- Batch fees
- Watch for EIRF
The Bottom Line:
- Ask for reduction yearly and statement review.
- When you’re looking for a credit processing vendor, have your top priorities in mind and ask lots of questions. In the meantime, download a copy of our Dental Practice Start-Up Manual to get more helpful strategies for starting your dental practice.
Renee’ Shuping Cassidy
B2B Specialist, Heartland Payment Systems
(864)561-8374
Renee.cassidy@e-hps.com
Heartland Payment Systems is a Tier-One Processor who eliminates the middleman to make a difference on your bottom line! We are a technology company with the latest platform that digs to find the lowest wholesale rate. We offer next day funding, reduced American Express rates, full breech warranty, 24/7 customer service with a live person, interchange plus pricing and a three-year price lock! We also offer websites payments (ecommerce), as well as recurring billing options.
