Retain more money when accepting customer credit cards

Credit card brands like Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express made it extremely advantageous for businesses to pay the majority of their bills with a business credit card – and for good reason.

The rewards programs and cash-back incentives attached to business credit cards are tremendous, ultimately increasing credit card acceptance. Whereas most companies accepted cash and checks years ago, more are now being paid via credit card in what’s called the B2B (business-to-business) card-not-present environment.

A number of people are not educated about the credit card processing industry, though. And, unfortunately, a lack of knowledge results in businesses throwing money away every month.

B2B interchange optimizer

Aggregate producers predominately operate in a B2B-type industry. In the aggregate industry, purchasing and corporate cards are eligible for significant savings when processed with enhanced Level 2 and Level 3 data. When Level 2 and Level 3 (B2B) is turned on and the transaction data are built into the back end of these transactions, these payments receive lower interchange rates.

For example, if an aggregate producer accepts a $2,000 credit card payment from a corporate credit card (without B2B rates), he or she will have a net effective rate, for example, of 2.79 percent, which is $55.80 in fees taken out. If an aggregate producer accepts a $2,000 credit card payment from a corporate credit card (with B2B rates) – thus giving away 2.1 percent of the transaction – then the merchant only gives away $42 in fees. That’s more than $13 in savings on a $2,000 transaction.

Aggregate producers, ready-mixed concrete producers and others involved in our nation’s infrastructure are sadly overpaying to accept credit cards. It is so important when accepting credit cards in a B2B card-not-present environment to be set up properly. Otherwise, businesses throw money away every time they accept a credit card payment.

Even in scale houses and dispatch facilities that see their fair share of card-present charges, a proper credit card terminal setup that has B2B technology in the terminal is necessary. This is a game changer for the aggregate industry.

This niche industry operates predominantly in a card-not-present environment. So it’s very important to learn how to run credit card transactions in a card-not-present environment – not only to save additional money, but for reasons such as securely and compliantly storing credit cards on file.

Too many companies keep credit card information on desks in folders or in locked file cabinets – and that is a big no-no nowadays. Should someone steal or misuse a credit card number, the liability lies squarely on the company.

It’s so easy today to store repeat customer credit card and payment info on a fully-encrypted, safe and secure payment gateway. Make sure you’re not overpaying to accept credit cards today.

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Peter Brickman is founder and president of National Credit Card Processing Group. He can be reached at peter@nccpgroup.com or 631-923-2586.