Increased competition in the credit card processing industry has prompted many merchant service providers to resort to misleading marketing and sales tactics.  Sadly too many unsuspecting merchants are falling victim to dishonest credit card processors and getting the false impression that they are getting a fair deals that are simply too good to be true.

Unless a Merchant is very cautious, they may get burned. Few things in life are free, including a wireless credit card machine worth $600.  In general, there is simply not enough monthly residual income generated competitively priced credit card processing deal to justify a merchant service provider to take such a loss.  Whether or not you choose 1st National Processing as your Credit Card Processing partner, the following information should help you avoid costly agreements.

So how and why do they do it?  They do it by having their sales reps only disclose about one third of the fees and commitments applicable to the credit card processing account.  The naked eye will see a low up-front set-up fee, a seemingly competitive qualified discount rate and transaction fee, and a fairly average monthly service fee.  These merchant account rates, combined with the “Free Wireless Credit Card Machine” an up-front savings of about $600, makes it appear to be the best credit card processing deal around.  What these credit card processors do not disclose is an extremely long term commitment with a severe early termination fee, a very high monthly minimum requirement, excessive mid qualified fees and non qualified fees, and additional wireless transaction fees.  The truth is that a credit card processing account with this type of set-up will generate about ten times the profit than a standard account.  The merchant will actually end up paying for the terminal several times over within the 1st year, but the merchant will never own the machine. In addition, credit card processors are protected from the merchant skipping with their equipment because they have them locked into a long term 3-5 year contract with a cancellation fee ranging from $750-$2000.  So the risk has been mitigated entirely and the often deceptive tactics of using the word “FREE” is successfully generating an enormous amount of credit card processing business. 

This has had a domino effect which is driving an extremely large percentage of credit card processing companies into a panic because of their lost market share.  Too many credit card processors are therefore mimicking this deal, some even sacrificing their honesty and their integrity, and thus taking unfair advantage of unsuspecting merchants.

We at 1st National Processing pride ourselves on honesty, full disclosure and superior service and support.  We have so much more to offer to a merchant than simply low rates and upfront fees although ours are the most competitive in the credit card processing industry.  Forty percent of our business comes from referrals of customers who have found that our word is gold and our credit card processing service is second to none. We would never consider sacrificing our impeccable reputation in a crooked attempt to generate more business.  While we do offer the  “Free” credit card machines, our merchant partners receive a detailed full disclosure list of every single fee and detail that would apply to that type of merchant account. They also receive our expert opinion in regard to the potential pitfalls of “Free Wireless Credit Card Machines”.

We are sometimes disappointed by the practices of credit card processing companies and what it has done to the industry.  Our sales reps now have to spend significant amounts of time explaining to perspective merchants that the credit card processors saying “Free, Free, Free” may not being honest and forthcoming.  Below we have listed three sample credit card processing deals.

The 1st is the typical “Free Wireless Credit Card Machine” deal which is crooked and only discloses about 1/3 of the information about the credit card merchant account. The second example is a full disclosure of the same “Free Wireless Credit Card Machine” deal pointing out all of the fees that the credit card processors have hidden as in example one. 

And the 3rd example is the wireless credit card processing deal that 1st National recommends where the merchant buys a credit card machine for an up-front fee of $619, owns the machine, and saves a significant amount of money in the long run because they are getting the best possible rates and monthly fees in the industry.  

EXAMPLE #1:  Typical Free Wireless Credit Card Machine Deal

EXAMPLE #2: FULL DISCLOSURE :  EVERYTHING THEY ARE HIDING

EXAMPLE #3: THE SMART MOVE: Buy a machine, own it and get great rates!!!