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How to Compare Credit Card Processing Companies
Did you know that there are four different rates to consider when selecting a merchant account provider? The first important rate to consider is the discount rate. This is the rate that is applied to each sale or transaction that you make when you process a credit card or debit card transaction.
Usually the rate is between 1.69% and 2.39% depending on the type of business you have the risk that is involved. Some very volatile markets such as gambling and adult websites can pay up to 6% or higher. Basically if you process $100 per transaction and your discount rate is 1.79% you would pay $1.79 per transaction that you process. This does not include the transaction fee which will be discussed next.
The transaction fee is like a service fee for transferring the transaction over the bank's network. Usually the charge is $.25 but $3.0 and $.50 are also common charges as well. So if you process several transactions per month you may want to find a very low transaction rate.
The next fee that is usally charged is a monthly minimum. This is a fee that is charged should you not meet your minimum requirements. Some companies charge a monthly minimum of $15.00. This means if you process only $13.50 worth of transaction fees you are charged an extra $1.50 to meet the monthly minimum of $15.00. This is kind of like a monthly guarantee to the credit card processor that you will pay that amount at least per month.
The fourth most common fee is the monthly gateway fee. This only applied to internet merchants who process transactions through a website. This fee is most common to cost $15.00 to $25.00 and is charge don top of the discount rate, transaction fees, and monthly minimum requirements.
If you have a monthly minimum of $15.00 and a gateway fee of $15.00 you will pay at least $30.00 per month to process transactions. If you are an internet merchant you will know right away that processing credit card transactions online is a crucial part of business, so finding a merchant account provider that meets your specific needs is critical.
Below is a list of the credit card processing companies and their rates.
DISCOUNT RATE |
TRANSACTION
FEES |
MONTHLY STATEMENT FEE |
MONTHLY GATEWAY FEE
|
RANK |
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3.95% Process Wirelessly from Any Phone |
Pay No Transaction Fees $0.00 |
$5.00 |
$0.00 |
5
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1.68% Retail 2.18% Internet |
.25¢ |
$5.00 |
$0.00 |
5
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2.9% Internet |
.25¢ |
$0.00 |
$0.00 |
4.7 |
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3.9% Internet |
.45¢ |
$20.00 |
$0.00 |
2.2 |
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