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.
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.
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!
Renee’ Shuping Cassidy