Accepting Credit Cards as a Discerning Business Owner
At the end of each month, every business owner must come to grips with the reality of the costs of accepting payments from cardholders who are less loyal to cash, and more interested in earning reward points for their purchases. A credit card processing company is responsible for defining what a business must pay each month based on many variables that include different card brands and how payments are made.
Commonwealth Consulting Group provides upfront, no-obligation assessments for businesses looking to accept electronic payments, and also for businesses looking to lower their monthly costs. We provide the hardware and software that businesses use to accept card payments.
It is crucial for business owners to understand that their credit card services provider is, in fact, a partner when it comes to the financial aspect of processing electronic payments. It's important to have a relationship of trust with any business partner. We at CCG pride ourselves on industry expertise, and excellent customer support. We offer the latest in technology and solutions, ultimately helping business owners make the most of providing their customers with the option to make electronic payments.
Here's What You Need to Know About the Visa/MasterCard Settlement
As a merchant who accepts Visa and Mastercard as a form of payment, you’ve most likely received a NOTICE OF CLASS ACTION SETTLEMENT AUTHORIZED BY THE U.S. DISTRICT COURT, EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK indicating that the Court has preliminarily approved a superseding settlement of $5.54 billion in a class action lawsuit, called In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation, MDL 1720 (MKB) (JO).
The lawsuit is about claims that merchants (you!) paid excessive fees to accept Visa and Mastercard cards because Visa and Mastercard, individually, and together with their respective member banks, violated the antitrust laws.
In short, if you’ve been accepting Visa and Mastercard anytime between January 1, 2004 and January 25, 2019, as a member of this class action suit you have an opportunity to get paid back a portion of what you have overpaid in interchange fees during the time your account has been active.
We’ve had many questions about this class action lawsuit and the pending settlement, so we are writing to share what we know.
Brief Update
In 2018, and after years of litigation and the reversal of an earlier settlement, the parties reached this superseding settlement, which the Court finally approved on December 13, 2019. Under the terms of the superseding settlement, claim forms are to be disseminated to merchant-class members as soon as the Court’s final approval becomes final, which, unless appeals are filed, would have been on January 21, 2020. Unfortunately, however, several appeals have been filed. As a result, the approval of the superseding settlement will not become final until those and any other appeals are resolved.
Who has to file a claim?
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of all merchants, and all merchants are eligible to receive a portion of the settlement. Only you may file a claim. Please note that, as of this date, the timing of the claim filing process and the determination of how much will be distributed is not yet known.
Can Commonwealth Consulting Group file my claim for me?
No. As a merchant services company, CCG is not involved in the lawsuit, so only you may file a claim and only Visa/MC can reimburse you via the settlement. Even though CCG issues the merchant account you use to process transactions, we don’t set the interchange rates so we are not a part of this suit.
Meet our partner, Financial Recovery Strategies
Although CCG is not permitted to file your claim on your behalf, you may retain the services of our partner, Financial Recovery Strategies (FRS) to help manage your claim and assist in getting back the money you overpaid. FRS is a class action recovery and cost savings firm that specializes in, among other services, class action settlement claims recovery; they are not a court-appointed claims administrator or class counsel. As such, FRS is paid on an agreed-upon contingent-fee basis only upon and from the recoveries they obtain.
How do I retain FRS to help manage my claim?
If you would like to engage Financial Recovery Services, please visit their dedicated portal by CLICKING HERE FOR THE ONLINE AGREEMENT. On that web portal, you may retain FRS by first completing the required fields and submitting the form. This will generate an email with an agreement and an authorization to file your claim. Both of these documents may be signed electronically. FRS will then work with Commonwealth Consulting Group to submit the required documents and information to obtain your recovery.
Note: After you click “Submit” on your online form, you will receive an email from Harris Love, EVP at FRS within moments. If you do not receive the email, please check your SPAM or Junk Mail folder and it should be there to finalize the process.
Do I have to use FRS to file my claim?
No. Class members have the right to file on their own. You should have received an official claim notice in the mail with details about how to register for your settlement. If you didn’t receive your notice, or if you moved your business to a new location, you may request a new notice by submitting a form HERE.
Questions?
This should pretty much sum it up for you, but if you’d like to go straight to the source for additional information, please use the links below.
Helpful Links:
Settlement Website
Official FAQ
Official Notice
Note: No claim forms are available at this time, and no claim filing deadline has been set. Class members have the right to file on their own. No-cost assistance will be available from the Class Administrator and Class Counsel during the claims-filing period. As set forth in FRS’s Class Action Summary, FRS believes that it provides services that could increase a class member’s potential recovery and that are unlikely to be provided by the Class Administrator or Class Counsel. For additional information, class members can visit the court-approved website at
www.PaymentCardSettlement.com, or contact Class Counsel or the Class Administrator.
Is Owning an ATM a Good Investment?
Automated teller machines (ATMs) were introduced 50 years ago. Although some might argue that cash use is diminishing, ATMs seem to be evolving and trending. We believe they will continue to play an important role and fill a need into the foreseeable future.
Savvy business owners should always be looking for ways to increase their revenue. Some merchants look to ATMs to increase passive income.
Brick and mortar businesses such as restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores, hair and nail salons (and more) may benefit from having an ATM. It can attract more customers and improve profitability. If a customer needs cash to purchase a lottery ticket or wants to leave a cash tip, having an on site ATM is a way to guarantee that these opportunities are not lost.
ATMs have evolved to perform a variety of functions that will only continue to expand.The United States has the highest number of ATMs per capita in the world, and the demand for ATMs is not decreasing.
Do you have customers asking the location of the nearest ATM? Have you had to turn away a customer because they wanted access to cash, but you couldn’t provide it? Maybe you have an ATM in your location, but it is not properly maintained, and is often out of cash or out of service. We can help. If you’re still reading, then the odds are high that your business will benefit from having an on site ATM. It’s not complicated. ATMs exist because there is a demand for convenient access to a customer’s cash, and the technology to make that need a reality.
Commonwealth Consulting Group is a full service provider of ATM products and services. Contact us and we will help connect you with the right solution to best fit your location, situation and needs.
Cash Discounting in A Credit Card World
A savvy merchant knows that being able to accept credit cards from customers is a lucrative part of doing business. The sobering reality of the credit card processing world is that fees associated with swiping credit cards are costly. If implemented correctly, cash discount programs can significantly reduce or eliminate credit card processing fees.
What is Cash Discounting?
Cash discounting is when a business offers a discount to customers who pay by cash, check, or with a pin-based debit card instead of paying with a credit card. Many merchants are exploring cash discount programs with increased enthusiasm as they see a potential to use these programs to negate payment processing fees. Cash discount programs are legal in all 50 states per the Durbin Amendment (part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Law) which states that businesses are permitted to offer a discount to customers as an incentive for paying with cash.
Cash Discounting Vs. Surcharges
What is a surcharge? A surcharge is when a business posts cash prices, then charges additional fees at the register for processing credit cards. Business owners must be careful not to confuse cash discounting with surcharges, which are illegal in some states. Pin debit card and check card surcharges are illegal in all states. Merchants must post prices for a product or service, then cash discounts come into play when a customer using cash pays less than the posted price. A true cash discount program does not add any fees or surcharges at the time of purchase.
Contact Commonwealth Consulting Group to explore cash discounting as an option for your business. We are knowledgeable in the areas of surcharge rules and requirements and will help you create a program to minimize confusion for your customers, keep your business industry compliant, and, most importantly, save you money.
Should my business be concerned about cryptocurrencies?
Anyone who follows the financial industry has heard of cryptocurrencies by now. And because of the potential for cryptocurrencies to disrupt the current payment ecosystem, the business world began paying attention to this new technology a few years ago. With all the talk surrounding cryptocurrencies, many of our clients are wondering if their business will be affected by them. So what is a cryptocurrency and how will it affect your business? Let’s find out.
What are cryptocurrencies?
A cryptocurrency is a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, all while operating independently of a central bank. Each transfer of funds is entered into a peer-to-peer (P2P) database that no one can change without fulfilling specific conditions. Now that we know what cryptocurrencies are, lets discuss how they operate.
How do cryptocurrencies work?
The technology that allows cryptocurrencies to function is known as the blockchain. The blockchain is a continuously growing list of records, called “blocks”, which are linked and secured using cryptography. Each block typically contains three things: a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data.
When a new transaction occurs, the requested transaction is sent out to a P2P network consisting of computers known as nodes. Using algorithms, the network of nodes attempts to verify the validity of the transaction. If all the nodes agree that the transaction is valid, a new record of the transaction (a block) is created and added to the current blockchain in a manner that is permanent and unalterable. This means that, by design, a blockchain is inherently resistant to modification of transaction data.
Do you need to be worried about cryptocurrencies within your business?
The short answer is no, you don’t need to be worried about cryptocurrencies within your business. However, the technology that is running all cryptocurrencies has the potential to revolutionize the payments industry. How?
A few months ago, Visa’s blockchain team was looking at options to make transactions run faster and more securely, on the back of blockchain technology. To do this, Visa partnered with a blockchain technology company, Chain. This is what Chain had to say about their new partnership with Visa:
“Visa is working with Chain to build Visa B2B Connect using Chain Core, an enterprise blockchain infrastructure that facilitates financial transactions on scalable, private blockchain networks. Building on this technology, Visa is developing a new, near real-time, transaction system, designed for the exchange of high-value international payments between participating banks on behalf of their corporate clients. Managed by Visa end-to-end, Visa B2B Connect will facilitate a consistent process to manage settlement through Visa’s standard practices.With Visa B2B Connect, Visa aims to significantly improve the way international B2B payments are made today by offering clear costs, improved delivery time, and visibility into the transaction process—ultimately reducing the investment and resources required by banks and their corporate clients to send and receive business payments.”
As you can see, this example is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what will soon be possible with blockchain technology. As other industries and companies begin to utilize blockchain technology, it’ll be fascinating to see all the new fintech ideas that result from its use and modification.
Conclusion
In closing: No, you don’t need to be concerned about the effect of cryptocurrencies on your business. In fact, you should be excited to see the new ways this technology will be utilized to improve banking transaction processes and efficiency.
What Are Mobile Payments and Why They’re a Good Thing
Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay are all mobile payment tools utilizing near field communications (NFC) technology. NFC has been around since the early 2000s but up until the last few years it hasn’t been a common way to make a payment. The adoption of chip based (EMV) credit and debit cards in the U.S. has forced most merchants to upgrade their payment acceptance hardware to allow for chip payments. In doing so, NFC capable devices became a lot more prevalent in the marketplace. Today, in the U.S., you can pay with a smartphone or smartwatch at most major retailers and at approximately half of all small businesses.
The mobile wallets behind Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay safeguard your payment information when you complete a transaction by utilizing a unique card ID every time. By doing this, it makes that card information useless to a thief or hacker as that card number was only good for that one transaction. This level of protection is a main driving force behind why consumers are using mobile payments more often. Secondly, not having to search for a card in your wallet or purse makes the payment transaction a lot more convenient.
In Europe, mobile payments have become much more common because public transportation systems are utilizing NFC based smartphone wallets for fares. Passengers who use smartphone wallets eliminate the need for paper or plastic cards and can add money to their public transportation wallet, for the system that they are utilizing, right through their phone instead of on a machine at each subway or train stop. As this type of technology comes to major cities in the U.S., there will likely be a significant increase in the use of mobile payments compared to taking out a physical card. It should also help reduce the overall operating costs for our various public transportation systems.
By combining technology with real world systems, mobile payments will make soon make transactions like riding the subway easier and help ensure consumer credit and debit card safety. This win-win scenario is a sign of things to come and a boon for business and consumers.