What You Don’t Know About Credit Card Processing FeesCan Hurt Your Firm and Your Clients

October 19th, 2021

Dawn W. Brolin, CPA, CFE

Founder of Team Brolin and author of The Designated Motivator, a practical guide for individuals who have the passion for engaging, encouraging and empowering others to reach their full potential in business and their personal lives.

The Designated Motivator for Accounting Professionals: The Proven Path to Increase Profitability and Productivity in Your Practice will be released November 2021.

CEO of Connecticut-based CPA firm, Powerful Accounting Inc.

Owner of Fight Against Fraud, a training organization dedicated to helping accounting professionals and small businesses optimize their operations and reduce their fraud risks.

Insightful Accountant’s 2020 Top Niche Practice ProAdvisor: Forensics” as well as one of the “2018, 2019, 2020 Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting” ~ by Accounting Today.

for Accounting Professionals

There’s a lot of things we don’t know about credit card payment processing fees. It’s unreal! Today Jeremy is going to let us in on the secrets!

Jeremy Layton, CEOVerisave, LLCMerchant Account Auditing since 2001

How is Verisave changing the credit card payment processing paradigm?

How did you start?

Verisave is a disruptive force that accounting professionals should be tapping into:What are the benefits?

How do we take advantage of it for ourselves

and our clients?

Not every business will have an opportunity to trim wasted spend from their processing fees. Usually need at least $100K per month in credit card transactions.

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty numbers...how much in potential savings are we talking about?

Our mission is to secure a significant refund or reduce the average credit card processing fees for merchants by more than 25% — WITHOUT having to switch away from current processors or having to change anything about accounting systems or point-of- sale.

Covid’s Impact on Credit Card Transactions…

• During Covid lockdowns, credit card use plummeted, products and services weren’t available, either.

• Early in pandemic revolving debt decreased 40%.

• Stimulus checks and PPP propped up personal and business finances, slowing card use further.

The Credit Card Processing System 101…

Issuing Bank –

Issues the credit card to the cardholder

Network, or Card Brand –

Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express

Acquiring Bank –

Processes the transaction (and takes most of the risk)

ISO –

Provides processing services to merchant (including gateway/POS) Where most fees actually take place - interchange

Recovery Rebound Credit Card Processing Fees…

• Businesses are naturally going to be delighted at the increasing revenue that comes with a recovering economy.

• But their costs of doing business are increasing, too, in some cases it’s out of proportion with their revenue growth.

• This is certainly true with credit card processing fees…

Processing Fees Are Increasing, Too…Global Payments issued this notification to their clients:

•It indicates the card brand increase

•Hints at increases to fees that are unrelated to the card brands

•All while placing the blame on the card brands

•Other processors have issued a similar notice

The Visa Interchange Increase is One Example…

• We only know about them because they showed up on client statements.

• Even processing banks didn’t know. • Business interchange was affected most. • Some fees increased 20%.

The Visa Interchange Increase is One Example…

• Visa also introduced a new fee related to EMV chips• Cards with an EMV chip that are swiped rather than

chip-inserted incur an additional fee to the merchant• Visa justifies this as a way to reduce risk … and they’re right• But most merchants were not warned

Why Aren’t Businesses Trying to Save Money?

• In growth times, cost reduction projects can be a distraction• Cost reduction projects can be difficult • It is estimated that 68% of cost reduction efforts are abandoned• The abandonment rate increases depending on the complexity of

the cost reduction effort

Why Aren’t Businesses Trying to Save Money?

• Also dependent on the amount of expertise required to address any particular area of spend

• Some companies simply do not have the expertise on staff to handle the more complex cost reduction projects

Verisave’s Role in the Process…

Verisave makes micro-adjustments on the back-end of the workflow to optimize fees and return money to your bottom line.

Your ProcessorYour Company Your Payment Systems and Processes The Banks

1. Complimentary Analysis: Errors and Overcharging• Our analysts review your merchant statement to identify overcharges and errors.

2. Strategy Formulated• We pinpoint all of the adjustments and optimizations needed to eliminate wasted spend.

3. Account Optimization• Our team does all of the work to implement these strategies between the processor and

the banks, without disrupting your systems or client experience.4. Monthly Monitoring & Reporting• We continue to monitor, analyze and re-optimize your account to adapt to rule modifications

and capitalize on new savings opportunities that may arise

The Verisave Process…

What’s Missing Here?

• The "Total Amount Submitted" relates to the current month

• "Fees Charged" shown are for the prior month

• This is not unusual

Chase: obscure fee coding.

• Very little detail given and what is given is not clear.

Paya: Hidden markup.

• Statement shows 0.10% discount fee. • It’s actually a 0.13% fee. • This extra markup can add up

significantly over time.

So now we want to tap into you, as a Designated Motivator, Jeremy, what keeps you motivated to help us save money on credit card processing fees and what else is a motivating force in your life?

Visit Verisave.com schedule a complimentary consultation.

Disrupt the credit card fee craziness for your practice and your clients!